Collaboration

Mercury Theatre in Colchester has announced a partnership with four new associate theatre companies in a bid to broaden its appeal and develop new audiences.

The 530-seat theatre, which underwent a major renovation and refurbishment in 2021, will partner for three years with English Touring Theatre, Frantic Assembly, Graeae, and Paines Plough.

The companies will work with Mercury to co-produce new work and receive touring productions. They will also collaborate on community and talent projects.

Mercury Theatre's Creative Director Ryan McBryde said: "Partnering with these extraordinary, world-renowned theatre companies will allow us to broaden the scope of our work, deepen relationships with our local community and provide more springboards for artists across our region."

He added: "We look forward to learning more from our new associates, developing and improving our own practice, and ensuring we’re the best we can be, for all of the brilliant, diverse communities across our region.”

Scott Graham and Kerry Whelan from physical theatre company Frantic Assembly said: “Partnerships like this are exciting opportunities to grow, inspire and learn from each other, finding innovative ways to share work and process."

Croydon has shared its programme of arts and cultural events for its stint as London Borough of Culture.

The timetable will run from April through to March next year, featuring street festivals, dance, music and theatre productions.

It commences on 1 April with Oratorio of Hope at Fairfield Halls, an orchestral commission led by London Mozart Players involving more than 250 of the borough’s young singers and instrumentalists.

The programme has been arranged by This is Croydon, a partnership between residents, cultural groups and the council.

The group says events will focus on grassroots talent, unsung cultural heroes, young people and disability-led productions.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan commented: “Croydon has a rich history of creativity, diversity and talent, and I’m delighted that this will be reflected through a huge range of inspiring art and performances in their year-long programme.” 

“It will be a fantastic example of how culture can inspire and unleash the potential of the next generation as we build a better London for everyone.” 

Croydon’s year of events marks the fourth iteration of the Borough of Culture project. Croydon is taking the torch from Lewisham, which hosted the 2022 edition, following on from Waltham Forest in 2019 and Brent in 2020.

A project collating the diversity of arts and humanities research infrastructure in the UK is underway.

The Mapping the Arts and Humanities Project is being conducted by the School of Advanced Study, a postgraduate institution of the University of London.

It plans to capture the institutes, centres and networks supporting arts and humanities research across the country, to produce an interactive tool that will allow researchers to connect with potential collaborators outside of their existing networks.

The project teams also hopes the interactive tool will be used by policymakers to locate where policy-relevant expertise is concentrated, and external organisations to identify academic partners.

Dean of the School of Advanced Study and Chair of the Mapping the Arts and Humanities project board, Professor Jo Fox, said that despite having access to more information than ever before, research networks in the arts and humanities can still be hard to find.

“Our new map will provide a consolidated source of information that will help us all to find and connect with research activity more easily, and boost visibility for research infrastructure across the country.”

The project team have already collected hundreds of pieces of research infrastructure across the country but say they “have only just scratched the surface”. 

The final map is expected to launch in November this year, with the project team planning to share interim findings and insights from the mapping process on the project’s blog. 

A new bursary scheme has been launched to support and develop the career of a first-generation migrant theatre producer.

PROJEKT EUROPA and Chris Grady Org (CGO) will award one aspiring producer a fully funded place on the CGO Diploma in Creative Producing and a 16-week paid work placement with PROJEKT EUROPA.

“The world needs more producers, especially producers who reflect the communities that artists wish to serve, and the stories that need to be told,” said Chris Grady, Director of CGO.

He added that CGO aims “to make connections for, and develop the skills of, those who will change the world one show at a time”.

Maria Aberg, Artistic Director of PROJEKT EUROPA, said the theatre company “is committed to internationalising the UK theatre industry by championing  and platforming migrant talent, creating a more diverse and international sector”.

The diploma course runs from February to June 2023 and the placement will run from April onwards.

Candidates can be based anywhere in the UK. Applications close on 18 January.