UKNA selects three projects for its New Future Producers Programme

UKNA (UK New Artists) has announced the three selected projects for its New Future Producers Programme that Arts Council England funded through National Lottery Project Grants.

Future Producers is an exciting programme to support artists and creatives across the UK and invest in the next generation of creativity.

This summer, UKNA ran a ‘call for ideas’ seeking three projects led by artists. UKNA will help the chosen artists achieve their projects with money, time, space and the support of three exceptional mentors; Garth Gratrix, Olwen Davies and Saziso Phiri.

The selected projects are as follows:

Nikita Queeley-Gill x WeR1 – Let the Winds Rush

Mentored by Saziso Phiri

Let the Winds Rush is a short film with WeR1 mas band about the Afro Caribbean carnival tradition of storytelling through performance. We will be exploring themes of carnival as celebration and protest, identity, togetherness and the decolonisation of space. 

The film will be accompanied by a public, socially inclusive programme that will connect with and centre the Afro-Carib community in Lincoln, and unlock curiosity in those who may not have engaged with Black British cultural histories such as carnival. 

This project will begin to explore the possibilities of a digital response to this pandemic intermission of regular carnival activity, particularly in the regions outside of London.

Let the Winds Rush is presented by members of the WeR1 family: WeR1 are an Afro Caribbean, Women Led, Carnival inspired team with a goal to build up one of the best Mas Bands in the North West.

Artists:

Mas Band Leader – Kezia Daniel

Mas Band Choreographer – Rachel Daniel 

Creative Practitioner – Nikita Queeley-Gill 

There will be commissioned poetry by Dr Margaret Gill, Mother Poet of Barbados

And music by Steel Pan musician and teacher Kently Gill.

Pierce Starre, Performance N’ Tha – Reet Good

Mentored by Olwen Davies

Reet Good is a new Performance Art pilot initiative hosted in Derby by Performance N’ Tha with the support of UK New Artists. 

Performance N’ Tha is a vital platform for Performance Art in the UK and hosts the Arts Council funded, internationally recognised event of Performance Art; SPILL YER TEA. Performance N’ Tha is run by Pierce Starre, a neurodivergent Performance Artist and Performance Art Producer, who studied at the University of Derby and lived in the City for 10 years. 

The name Reet Good, which is a reflection of the City of Derby and its distinct dialect, will centre around individuals who are D/deaf, disabled or neurodivergent. The project will empower, break down barriers and provide artists with the much needed space to create and re-imagine work within the context of the Derby City Landscape.

Reet Good will provide visibility in Derby of the less traditional Live Performance Art practice by delivering social engagement workshops with Deaf, Disabled and Nuerodivergent individuals from the City and by hosting four days of cross pollinating in Derby between five Deaf, Disabled and Nuerodivergent artists. The work will culminate in a live public sharing and will be filmed and publicly shared both locally and online through the Performance N’ Tha website; Performancentha.com.

Queerly Made (Daniel Fountain and Matt Gale) – First Outing

Mentored by Garth Gratrix

Queerly Made is a curatorial project that examines queer approaches to materials and making in artistic practices. Set up by the artists Daniel Fountain and Matt Gale, Queerly Made has provided a platform to showcase the work of LGBTQIA+ artists both in the UK and internationally, initially via Instagram.

A pun on the term ‘outing’ as the act of disclosing one’s sexual orientation or gender identity, ‘First Outing’ will be our first physical exhibition and it will take place at Abingdon Studios, Blackpool, in September 2021 (Dates TBC).

Artists involved with the exhibition include Matthew Rimmer who uses abstract plastic materials to explore intersex identity, Dan Chan who explores queer, racial and spiritual identities through wearable textiles and performance, and Claye Bowler whose work has focused around the physical transition of their body. Our aim is to hold space for emerging queer talent, and generate conversation around transformation and transitioning bodies. The exhibition will be accompanied by a panel discussion as part of the a-n assembly.

©2021 UKNA