Earlier this year we sought young dance and theatre makers across Dorset, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.
We offered creative development bursaries of up to £500 to fund new ideas or to develop a young person’s practice as a theatre or dance maker starting out. These awards were made available with the support of generous donors interested in helping young performance makers who might not otherwise get support.
We are delighted to say we are now working with five young people, between the ages of 24 and 27, across a range of projects.
David, aged 26, is a Bournemouth-based producer, theatre-maker and collaborator who works on theatre and arts projects. David has been successful in securing £500 to work with someone to build a website where he can showcase his skills and create a platform to share projects he’s worked on. This will help him display what he can potentially offer to prospective collaborators or employers.
Emilie, aged 27, is a professional marketer, dance practitioner, contemporary performer, and choreographer. She is interested in dance, arts, the body and movement. Emilie has been awarded £500 to support voice development for her first choreography project, ‘The Call’, a solo dance and physical theatre performance first staged at Motus Dance’s ADJUSTMENTS Platform in 2019.
Jorja, 25, is a freelance contemporary dance artist based in Wareham, Dorset. Passionate about performing powerful and thought-provoking work, she enjoys improvisation and collaborating with artists from other forms, as well as teaching all ages and abilities. Jorja has also been awarded £500 to cover studio hire and to develop her work, Upside Ways, inspired by The Obstacle Is The Way by Ryan Holiday and The Art of Looking Sideways by Alan Fletcher. Both explore themes of perspective and resilience through very different tones and uses of language.
Roni is 24 and a writer and stage manager, living in London and working in both London and Dorset. Their work centres itself in conversations around language, gender, and voices of those who are unrepresented in the theatrical landscape, such as young voices, transgender voices, rural voices. Roni has also been awarded £500 to fund an intensive week of writing and a crash course in scuba diving to help develop an untitled show that revolves around diving.
Tilly, aged 27, is a theatre maker who has moved to Bournemouth after finishing university. She is undergoing a Master of Research (MRes) degree at Royal Holloway and her practice centres around body politics, invisible disabilities and feminism. Matilda will use a £500 bursary award to develop Queen Arthur, a one-woman show which is a DIY style medieval romp as one arthritic knight strives to earn her rightful place on the throne.
Each bursary recipient will receive support from Activate Producers as they develop their projects, and in addition Activate will broker relationships with creatives and venues who can work with them. We wish them the best of luck!
We’d like to continue this creative bursary scheme annually. If you’d like to donate to this, then please get in touch with us to help support the next generation of makers.