Bristol Old Vic’s Legacy Writer announced as part of Genesis Foundation Prize winner Nancy Medina’s Five-Year Commitment
26 September 2024
(c) Matt Roberts
Bristol Old Vic today announces Winsome Pinnock as the first Legacy Writer as part of its Five-Year Commitment residency programme.
The first year of the programme was launched with the £25,000 Genesis Foundation Prize awarded to BOV’s Artistic Director Nancy Medina in May this year, and supports three writers at different stages of their careers: one legacy, one mid-career, and an early-career writer.
The Genesis Foundation Prize recognises an outstanding mentor of artistic talent whose work has effected real change in the practice and careers of arts professionals or graduates. Now in its twelfth year, it is the only prize to acknowledge mentors in the arts and, through its funding, to give winners the means to invest further in their work.
Nancy Medina said: “It is a deep joy to welcome Winsome as our inaugural Legacy Writer. Winsome is somebody whose work we believe should be firmly enshrined in the canon of British playwriting excellence and we are delighted to be able to say that she has accepted our offer and will be collaborating with us across the next five years. From our first meeting Winsome has brought generosity, warmth and deep thinking around the potential of this long-term support; we can’t wait to see what we create together.”
John Studzinski, Founder and Chairman of the Genesis Foundation, said: “We were delighted to reward Nancy with the Genesis Foundation Prize in 2024. We first recognised Nancy’s talent as a director in 2017 when she received the Young Vic’s Genesis Future Directors Award: this continued support shows our belief in Nancy’s work and in her value as a mentor to other artists. We were impressed with her ambitious plans for The Five-Year Commitment at Bristol Old Vic and hope this programme will show how vital it is, perhaps now more than ever, for the creative industries to hold space for writers, to nurture them and invest in their long-term literary development. We are delighted that the Genesis Foundation Prize is funding the pilot year of the Five-Year Commitment.”
The Legacy Writer position of the Five-Year Commitment residency aims to amplify the work of a British writer who is a celebrated, published and produced contemporary modern dramatist and somebody whose influence and talent Bristol Old Vic want to particularly honour in this moment.
Winsome Pinnock is an award-winning writer for stage, radio, film and television, described as “the godmother of Black British writing” (Guardian, 2003). Her work has been produced on the British stage and internationally since 1985. She was the first black British female writer to have a play produced by the National Theatre. Her phenomenal body of work includes Leave Taking (Bush Theatre, Liverpool Playhouse, National Theatre), Rockets and Blue Lights (National Theatre, Manchester Royal Exchange, BBC Radio 3), Mules (Royal Court Theatre) and more.
Winsome Pinnock said: “It is an honour to join this groundbreaking initiative at a time when the landscape for new writing is particularly complex. Bristol Old Vic’s commitment to investing in writers over a five-year period is both inspiring and necessary, recognising that the creation of new plays requires time, trust, and nurturance. I look forward to having the space to explore and develop my work within such a supportive community and to contribute to the theatre’s legacy of innovation and storytelling.”
Winsome joins Bristol Old Vic as the theatre begins the process of finding the early-career and mid-career writers, who will be confirmed by December 2024 ready to begin the residency in January 2025.
Applications for the two remaining positions are open from 26 September – 25 October.
Find out more details about how to apply for the early-career and mid-career writer positions
