I’m Here, Where Are You?
‘I’m Here. Where Are You?’ is a celebration of disability arts in the UK. ‘I’m Here Where Are You?’ festival took place at Cambridge Junction Co-founded and produced by Liz Counsell and Linda Rocco, supported by Unlimited and Arts Council England in April 2019 and April 2023.
The project included focus groups and participatory workshops with those less able to access arts provisions, The Festivals included live performances, exhibitions, discussions and in 2019 a recording of the BBC Ouch! podcast.
Bristol Harbour Festival -Ebb and Flow
I co-produced brand new project Ebb and Flow was a flagship project at 2022’s iconic Bristol Harbour Festival alongside Kate Webb (Circomedia, Green Space Dark Skies, Imayla) alongside emerging Producer Esther Afikiruweh (Trinity Community Arts, Afrika Eye.)
Kick starting a step change for the festival, this project worked with several of Bristol’s most important communities and exceptional freelance artists who co-created free to experience installations during the festival weekend in public spaces along Bristol’s Harbour Festival. These installations told important stories about the people and history of Bristol and it’s nature as a city of welcoming people in and out of it’s diverse communities.
Image by Andre Pattenden of Grit Awards created by Racheal Clerke for Caring in Bristol
Trinity Centre, Bristol
From 2018 to 2021 I was the Programme Director (Maternity Cover) and then Creative Producer at Trinity Centre, one of Bristol’s most infamous music venues and unique theatres, with community workshops and rehearsals by day and live music and theatre by night, this much-loved historic landmark is a cultural hub for East Bristol and one of the city's few remaining independent live-music venues, used by over 60,000 people each year.
I developed and deliverd programmes such as IGNiTE - an in-house performing arts programme developing under-represented artists and audiences as well as hosting artist residencies. Including producing Roxana Vilk’s Lullabies, under commission from Trinity as part of a national partnership with Future Arts Centre’s Here and Now Project. And Making Tracks - a partnership Youth Music funded programme which provides 1:1 tutoring, workshops and development initiatives for young people at risk of exclusion from society, to take their first steps in creating and playing music, as well as developing a youth voice and leadership scheme.
MAYK Strategic Touring Project
In 2018 I worked with MAYK to produce the ACE funded Strategic Touring Project working with partners in Bristol, Weston-super-mare, Derby, Folkestone and Gloucester to bring 3 large-scale participatory, international shows from Canada, Australia and Japan to new audiences in the UK.
photo: Paul Blakemore
Deaf Men Dancing
From February 2016 to March 2019 I was the Producer of all male dance company Deaf Men Dancing. DMD is a collaboration of professional male dancers who, like Artistic Director, Mark Smith are deaf. They’ve created and developed a fusion of different styles of dance with sign-language incorporated into choreography creating a unique, interesting and original aesthetic.
I produced the national tour of Corazon a Corazon (2016) an outdoor aerial circus and dance performance with the Without Walls outdoor touring network and toured three performances internationally with the company to Dubai in (2017 & 2019) Georgia (2017) and Azerbaijan (2018) sharing best practice in creating accessible arts.
MAYFEST
In 2018 I worked with MAYK to produce the 2018 biennial, international festival Mayfest, a multi-venue 10 day festival of theatre, dance and music, with performances from international companies such as 2b theatre to home-grown talent such as Caroline Williams’ with her incredibly moving ‘Now Is The Time To Say Nothing.’
Image: Credit Paul Blakemore.
Paraorchestra - The Nature of Why, Bristol Old Vic.
nabokov
From 2016 - 2018 I was the Producer at nabokov. A cross art form organisation telling current and political stories of our time.
This includes presentation and touring of several middle-scale shows Slug (2016) Last Night (2017-18) Box Clever (2017) and delivery of a complex outreach project ‘The Storytelling Army’ at Brighton Festival (2017)
Vanessa Kisuule - SEXY
National Tour
Through dance, spoken word, comedy and various states of undress, SEXY explores our obsession with what is sexy and whether this ultimately empowers or traps us.
Supported by Roundhouse, Camden People's Theatre and Bristol Old Vic.
Click here to read Vanessa's blog on the development of the show
Written and Performed by Vanessa Kisuule
Directed by Rob Watt
Movement Direction by Lucy Bairstow
Jerwood Live Literature Research Project
In 2017 I was awarded a Performing Arts Micro Bursary for a research project to look at how to encourage more venues to programme live literature (in the broadest sense of the term) and more producers to work in the field.
Jerwood Charitable Foundation is dedicated to imaginative and responsible revenue funding of the arts, supporting artists to develop and grow at important stages in their careers. The aim of its funding is to allow artists and arts organisations to thrive; to continue to develop their skills, imagination and creativity with integrity. It works with artists across art forms, from dance and theatre to literature, music and the visual arts. For more information visit www.jerwoodcharitablefoundation.org
Words First
Words First was a major partnership project between BBC Radio 1Xtra, BBC Arts, Roundhouse and Arts Council England. Which included a dynamic and ground-breaking national programme of work that saw young artists (aged 16 – 25 years) from around the UK take part in workshops and performances in six regional cities and have their work documented and profiled on a range of platforms both digital and live.
Six young artists from around the country from January to June 2016 were commissioned to create work for Roundhouse, BBC iPlayer (including a short film, the first non fiction commission for iPlayer of its kind) and other BBC platforms both on TV, radio and digital.
The project culminated in a sell-out performance in the iconic Roundhouse, London main space headlined by Kate Tempest and featuring George The Poet and Kojey Radical.
Words First also supported organisations from underprivileged areas with mentoring and financial support to begin working in their local area with the aim of increasing the access and provision to the arts locally. I was delighted when Words First won a 2016 BBC Radio Award in recognition of engaging new audiences.
For the Words First archive visit the BBC website here
LOCO FILM FESTIVAL- Comedy Writing Programme Table Read
The CTBF, in partnership with Big Talk Productions and LOCO (The London Comedy Film Festival) present the fully cast table read of the Betty Box and Peter Rogers Comedy Writing Programme showocasing four emerging comedy writers as they develop a comedy feature film screenplay or pilot script for a narrative comedy television series.
BAZ PRODUCTIONS - DER PROCESS R&D
Wiltons Music Hall -supported by Arts Council England
R&D of new adaptation of Kafka's The Trial aiming to create a bi-lingual performance with spoken English and BSL with a mixed casting of d/Deaf and hearing actors.
Directed by Sarah Bedi
RICHARD MARSH - TODD AND GOD
EDINBURGH FRINGE FESTIVAL, THE PLEASANCE
God is fixing her mistakes (namely, wasps). Rebooting religion, she picks atheist Todd as her Chosen One. This is her latest start-up. This is religion 2.0. with UK slam champion Sara Hirsch taking on the role of God. But how does Todd even begin to do good in a world where evil is riding so very high? And what does Todd’s wife make of his overnight conversion? A play about why we believe, that asks: what would you do, if you could change the world?
CECILIA KNAPP - FINDING HOME
NATIONAL TOUR
Cecilia Knapp's first full length Spoken Word theatre piece. Performed to a sold out run at the Roundhouse's 2016 Last Word Festival as well as a 2016-2017 national tour including Halifax Square Chapel, Cheltenham Literature Festival and The Marlowe, Canterbury as well as internationally. The show advocates sharing stories as a means of getting through difficult times, and a way to raise awareness around mental health.
Supported by Arts Council England, Roundhouse and Richmix.
BLAZON THEATRE - ICONS
Hull City of culture - heads up festival/wow festival
The world has changed. The future is uncertain and nothing has been learned from the past. Grown out of the chaos is a tribe led by four warrior sisters. Displaced through war, the tribe settle where they can - until outsiders interfere. How will they carve out their own stories before they are twisted by the words of others? How does the tribe survive when each of the sisters meets her greatest challenge yet?
A bold modern re-telling of the Amazon warrior myths, ICONS pieces these fractured stories together to re-build an extraordinary timeless world.
ODD EYES THEATRE - #HATERS
NATIONAL TOUR
Based on a real incident. June 2014. A stab, a tweet and a social-media storm rip the sultriness of the hottest summer on record since 1976.
Two young heroes worlds apart gravitate towards each other against the will of alluring internet chimeras. Two epic journeys set out in the storm of urban regeneration.
Baz Productions - Dreamplay
The Vaults, London
A mysterious woman arrives on Earth, intent on uncovering the truth about human suffering. Her dream-like quest leads her through shifting landscapes and into contact with a host of disturbing characters as she searches for the ever elusive Door, behind which she is certain the answer lies ... Can she discover the unconscious truth and return home? BAZ brought its unique brand of magic to the Southbank, inviting audiences to an exploration of dreams, desires and anxieties in a re-imagining of Strindberg's epic play in the tunnels underneath Waterloo Station.