TYA-UK is expecting a large delegation of members to attend the Cradle of Creativity – ASSITEJ 2017 in Cape Town. We’re looking forward to, after welcoming so many of you to the UK last year in Birmingham for ON THE EDGE.
As part of the delegation, TYA-UK has provided bursaries for 6 UK artists, who have never been to an ASSITEJ congress before, and we hope you will extend them the warmest of welcomes.
Artists attending with the support of a bursary are:
- Tayo Akinbode was born in London to Nigerian parents and discovered the theatre at the Royal Court’s Activists Youth Theatre. His is a composer and musical director.
- Victoria Amedume is the Artistic Director and Chief Executive of Upswing, a contemporary circus company which she founded in 2006 after a career as an aerialist.
- David Gilbert is a freelance director and theatre maker from Zimbabwe, who lives and works in London.
- Ryan David Harston is Artistic Director of a multidisciplinary arts and media company URBAN conceptz, whose work is renowned for being extremely energetic and visual.
- Louise Katerega is a dancer/choreographer, mentor/coach and creative producer based in Leicester.
Bhavik Parmar is an emerging artist dedicated to making high quality theatre for young audiences where interactivity, inclusivity and cultural storytelling is at the heart of his practice.
These bursaries are funded through an action-research project called Quality of Difference (1), through which we are seeking to answer the question:
‘What do we need to put in place to ensure theatre for children, young people and families is reflective of the society we live in today?’
These 6 artists – alongside TYA-England Committee Members (Action Transport Theatre, Birmingham Rep, Half Moon, Kazzum, Prime Theatre, Travelling Light, and Z-arts)- will interrogate this question through their attendance at ASSITEJ 2017. We expect the vibrant and exciting programme in Cape Town – alongside the debates, conversations, and provocations we will share with colleagues from all over the world – will provide real food for thought in how can create a more diverse TYA sector representative of the contemporary United Kingdom.
