The North East Artist Development Network has announced the next set of residencies which have been awarded as part of the Network’s 2014/15 schedule of activity.
Northern Creations, ivo, Fun in the Oven, Lydia Cottrell, Mat Miller, Ranger, Zoe Murtagh, Aidan Moseby and Tessa Parr have all been selected as recipients of the residency packages.
They have each been paired up with one of the host venues for their residency, and will receive cash support to develop their ideas. The residencies are designed to provide an opportunity to work up an idea, with the support of a venue, to the point where is it commission ready, so they can then seek funding or other support to realise the work.
Completing the residencies are:
• Aidan Moseby and his collaborator Penny Newell will be residing at Queens Hall Arts Centre in Hexham, where they will be exploring their shared interest in the weather, as both a physical entity, the action of going outside and being in it, and as a metaphor.
• ivo, the collaboration between Olivia Furber and Jo Tyabji, will be resident at The Witham in Barnard Castle from Wed 22 –Tues 28 April. They will be working on examining the relationship between the state and the individual, and the impact and implications of invasive surveillance.
• Northern Creations will be in residency at the Hartlepool Town Hall Theatre from Mon 6 – Thurs 10 Apr, working on their new piece, Coal Girls, a comical, fictional insight into the wives and girlfriends of the Pitmen Painters.
• Tessa Parr is going to be resident at The Maltings in Berwick, from Mon 8 – Sat 13 June. The piece she will be working on is, in its most basic terms, about the well-known past time of train spotting.
• Fun in the Oven are going to be working on a piece that explores gender roles and gender politics through comedy and clown, using the historical material on the Munitionette’s; British women who were employed in Munition factories during the First World War. They will be spending their week in residency at the Customs House in South Shields from Mon 24 to Fri 30 August.
• Lydia Cottrell is going to be spending Mon 29 Jun – Sat 3 Jul at Dance City. She will be working on her new piece Atlantis, an adult themed performance, taking audiences on a journey from the lost city of Atlantis, to our modern day consumer society, and beyond.
• Matt Miller is spending his week in residency at the Gala Theatre in Durham, exploring the character of Tyneside, home, and discovering it in a way he never did whilst growing up there.
• Ranger will be spending their residency week at Seaton Delaval Arts Centre. They will be developing their first project, Patrol Base, about the return of a soldier from active duty in Afghanistan and his visit to a woman who has corresponded with him during his tour.
• Zoe Murtagh will be resident at Live Theatre for a week from Mon 8 Jun. Her show will be about anxiety – about the science and electricity behind the condition, about modes of escapism and coping, and about the decision to seek or not seek help, and the challenges that this pose.
At the end of each residency, the artists will share their progress during the week with venue programmers, providing an opportunity to reflect on their work to date and identify next steps.
Host venues are; Alnwick Playhouse ; ARC, Stockton ; Arts Centre Washington ; Customs House, South Shields ; Dance City, Newcastle ; Gala Theatre, Durham ; Gateshead Arts Development; Hartlepool Town Hall Theatre ; Live Theatre ; Middlesbrough Theatre ; Northern Stage, Newcastle; Queen’s Hall Arts Centre, Hexham ; Seaton Delaval Arts Centre ; The Maltings, Berwick ; The Witham, Barnard Castle
The North East Artist Development Network is led by a small group of organisations committed to supporting artists to develop their work. The Network’s vision is to make the North East the best place in the UK for artists to develop work, by creating a strong and effective artist development infrastructure that not only retains talent in the region, but also attracts talent to the region.