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Producer Gathering bursary recipients announced
Thu 10 Nov 2022
Earlier this year we released a bursary callout through Producer Gathering.
Producer Gathering is a project led by independent producers which seeks to support, develop, nurture and sustain producers that reflect the diversity of our communities and address an on-going lack of available support for independent producers across the arts sector, who are often overlooked for development opportunities. For more on the origins of Producer Gathering you can read a blog from co-founders Xavier de Sousa and Sally Rose here.
The last few years have been really tough for many, and in response to this and how overstretched arts workers can be, we offered 3 self-directed bursaries, to be used for whatever the recipient felt to be most useful for them at this time. This could include: Supporting their independent practice, professional development, training courses, rest and wellbeing time, space to dream up a new project, or also cover unpaid work.
This year we made the application process into 2 stages, a simple expression of interest and then a more detailed application for a group who were selected at random from the EOI. This process was largely successful and received great feedback in terms of its attention towards people’s time and toll of making applications. We received 68 eligible expressions of interest and then selected at random 13 people to make applications, each were offered a £40 honorarium for their time.
Sally Rose (Producer Gathering Producer) & Kayza Rose (PG Critical Friend and Founding Director of BLM Fest) were on the panel and felt that all applications were really well deserving, so of course it was really difficult to make the decision.
We offered the bursaries to those we felt had shared a very clear idea for how it would impact them and their producing practice now and in the future, and details of the ways they would utilise the bursary. The process was a difficult one, making subjective decisions based on an application is by nature, and we really felt everyone was deserving of support.
We’re really pleased to announce the producers who will receive the three Producer Gathering bursaries this year are:
Burong Zeng, Joseph Ballard, Finlay Carroll
Photo credit: Sushri Sangita Puhan. Graphic design: Sarah Ferrari.
Burong Zeng (She/her)
Burong Zeng is a playwright, theatre producer and live art practitioner-researcher based in Beijing and London. Zeng has exhibited and performed internationally while writing journal articles, interviews, plays, short novels and books. Her doctoral research at the University of Sussex investigated how ‘sticky’ and viscous materials used by women and non-binary artists can broaden the scope of thinking about embodiment, otherness, gender and body politics.
Burong will utilise the bursary to secure mentoring as she establishes herself as a freelance producer, and to support her development of a project exploring UK/China Connections.
[Image description: An Asian woman with short black hair and purple eyeglass frames wears a black dress with white flower illustrations and a thin black choker, sitting in front of a blurred, multicoloured tinsel background.]
Photo credit: i101. Graphic design: Sarah Ferrari.
Joseph Ballard (he/him)
Norfolk based Joseph’s creative drive leads him to writing and producing new theatre with his theatre company New Stages. He has also fulfilled roles in programming, directing and also establishing new theatre venues. He has also performed as Titania Trust since 2011 and having been targeted by far-right groups this summer for performances in libraries with Storytime with Auntie Titania, he will be working on a new show reflecting on that experience.
Joseph’s bursary will offer time to explore creator/producer wellbeing practices, mentoring, and ideas for a new show from Titania Trust.
[Image description: Black and white headshot of Joseph Ballard, smiling in a black t-shirt.]
Photo credit: Hanife Hursit. Graphic design: Sarah Ferrari.
Finlay Carroll (he/him)
Finlay Carroll is a theatre maker and producer based in Hertfordshire, specialising in musical theatre or work with queer/ecological themes. He is passionate about putting community and care at the heart of creative action. Most recently, in 2022, Finlay led a team of queer theatre makers in Devon to produce a play titled LAVENDER. The project celebrated LGBTQ+ creativity in South West England, and briefly toured to London in February.
Now, Finlay runs an ecological musical theatre company called Scatter – hosting monthly cabaret nights at the Omnibus Theatre in Clapham – as well as developing his skills as an associate producer at Theatro Technis @ 26 Crowndale in Camden.
Finlay’s Bursary will focus on training, setting up solid frameworks and good working practices as an early career producer, as well as developing ideas for a new musical theatre production thats is a queer eco response to the climate crisis.
[Image description: A headshot of a white person with brown hair and a short fringe. Smiling and wearing a green jumper with a print of a wolf on the front. A rehearsal room with brown walls in the background.]