Genesis Kickstart Fund project activity | Oct – Nov 2022

2 November 2022

The image is split into three equal thirds. The left image: Inside a busy classroom with school pupils in school uniforms, an adult with medium length blonde hair and a purple top sits with a child with long brown hair at a table with musical instruments. The child is holding a drum stick for a drum in front of them. The middle image: Inside a large cathedral with tall ceilings and grand arches, a giant globe model of planet earth is suspended in the air, its glow lighting up the dark space around it. Below the globe is a crowd of people, silhouetted by the shadows the globe creates. The right image: Centred in the image is a cello player sat with their cello, and a dancer wearing ballet shoes is crouched beside them, looking downwards. Behind them is a plain grey wall.

Images: Blue Sky Counterpoint (The Cumnock Tryst), All The Ends of the World (The Sixteen), Here Lies (Tala Lee-Turton, Photo: Sara Turton)

Music

All the Ends of the World | The Sixteen

Last week, The Sixteen performed alongside violinist Lizzie Ball in All the Ends of the World, an hour-long concert which explored the impact of climate change on our planet.  

The concert took place at both Southwark Cathedral and Rochester Cathedral across two evenings, and featured artist Luke Jerram’s ‘Gaia’: a slowly rotating, floating art installation reflecting the Earth’s surface, designed to portray the beauty and true nature of our planet. 

Classic FM featured Lizzie playing under the globe installation at Southwark Cathedral on their social channels.

Watch the clip

Blue Sky Counterpoint | The Cumnock Tryst

The Cumnock Tryst’s collaborative project Blue Sky Counterpoint, which allowed pupils at Hillside School in Cumnock, Scotland, to create a new piece with founder and conductor Sir James MacMillan and composer Matilda Brown, has culminated in a performance by the Hillside pupils and singers from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

This project was run by The Cumnock Tryst, founded by James MacMillan, and was designed for pupils with complex additional support needs.

Learn more about The Cumnock Tryst 

Inside a large classroom, a group of school pupils in school uniforms sit with sheets of music on a table in front of them, or stand holding the sheets of music. In front of them, facing away from the camera, is James MacMillan who is conducting.
Inside a busy classroom with school pupils in school uniforms, an adult with medium length blonde hair and a purple top sits with a child with long brown hair at a table with musical instruments. The child is holding a drum stick for a drum in front of them.
An adult with long blonde hair and a pink top sits with a child wearing glasses and a school uniform at a table with electronic musical instruments on. The child is looking at the adult, smiling and pointing forwards.

Horizon Project | DEBUT

Pianist, composer and DEBUT Horizon Artist Reiko Makita recently premiered her piece Sunflower at Shoreditch Treehouse, with clarinet by fellow DEBUT Horizon Artist Guillermo Ramasasa.   

DEBUT’S Horizon Project is a fully funded development programme for emerging musicians, which bridges the gap between conservatoire training and the professional industry. The project includes filmed live performances, musical showcases and behind-the-scenes insights. Sunflower was made as part of this project. 

Watch the full recording of Sunflower 

Visual Arts

Digital Research Residency | Yinka Shonibare Foundation & Guest Projects Digital 

Artist Chiizii, who is the recipient of the Yinka Shonibare Foundation and Guest Projects Digital’s Digital Research Residency, has created an online research archive and teaching tool designed to educate and encourage conversation around pre and post-colonial Igbo diets. 

The archive, titled Nni Bu Ogwu, was developed throughout Chiizii’s residency, and explores how Igbo Nigerians have used art to exchange food information, whilst simultaneously investigating how art can be used as an accessible tool for educational enrichment. 

Explore the archive  

For Such A Time As This | Young Identity  

Young Identity’s P. A. Bitez has been named Big Syn Festival London’s LGBTQI+ winner, and has been awarded a Laurel by the International ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival, for her short film Mother Messiah,

The film featured a poem written and performed by Bitez. It was directed by CCCompasss and produced by Nicole May.

Selected from over 1,200 entries, Mother Messiah will showcase at the Berlin ZEBRA Film Festival from 3 – 6 November. 

Bitez’s film was made as a result of For Such a Time As This, a two-week R&D, supported by the Genesis Kickstart Fund, which allowed emerging poets to devise and create original work which integrated poetry, film and projection. 

Watch a clip of Mother Messiah 

A distorted photo of a brown two-person sofa in a room with a brown carpet, and a glass table with two candles in front. P. A. Bitez lies on the sofa in a white period dress, with her arms spread out wide. In the bottom left corner is the text ‘Mother Messiah. A poem by P. A. Bitez. Princess Arinola Adegbite’.
Inside a dimly lit room with a tall green plant at the back, and several glass ornaments sitting on a wooden cabinet. Three people sit on a sofa with a glass coffee table in front of them. A single lit candle sits on the coffee table. The three people look directly at the camera with neutral expressions.

Dance

Here Lies | Tala Lee-Turton 

Rehearsals are currently taking place for Here Lies, a 10-minute ballet/ physical theatre duet between a dancer and a cellist.  

Produced by dancer and creative producer Tala Lee-Turton, Here Lies is a collaboration with Sheffield General Cemetery, exploring the unrecorded lives of women buried in the cemetery. Tala’s creative team features choreographer Krystal S. Lowe and cellist Roxanna Albayati .

The performance will take place at Sheffield General Cemetery in South Yorkshire later this year.  

View some of the rehearsal footage  

Theatre

Women, Beware the Devil | Lulu Raczka 

Lulu Racza’s Women, Beware the Devil premieres at the Almeida Theatre next February. 

The play, directed by the Almeida’s Artistic Director Rupert Goold, is set in the 17th century, amid the Witch Trials and the beginnings of the Civil War. The Genesis Kickstart Fund supported the play’s research and development.

Booking will open later this month. To be notified when tickets go on sale, sign up to the Almeida’s mailing list. 

Read more on the Almeida’s website 

View all our Genesis Kickstart Fund projects

Partners