Images: The Walk with Little Amal, Burum

The £1 million Genesis Kickstart Fund was launched to support freelancers in the creative sector and specifically to help them survive and thrive in an environment transformed by Covid-19. 41 grants of mostly £10,000 have been allocated to creative freelancers throughout the UK, to produce future-facing arts projects.

Here is an update on the projects that have upcoming activity in November.

Theatre

The Walk (Pathway for Puppeteers) | Good Chance Theatre

The Walk is a travelling festival of art and hope in support of refugees.

At the heart of the festival is Little Amal, 3.5 metre-tall puppet of a young refugee girl that is travelling over 8,000km across Turkey, Greece, Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and the UK, to focus attention on the urgent needs of young refugees and suggest new ways to think about the meaning of ‘community’ and of ‘home’.

Good Chance Theatre used the Genesis Kickstart Fund to train the puppeteers steering Little Amal through the UK tour, which includes Dover, London, Oxford, Coventry, Sheffield, Rochdale and Manchester.

Little Amal arrives in Manchester, her final destination, on 3 November. Find out more details.

Photography

The Troubles Generation | Seen Fifteen

Seen Fifteen is an independent gallery and project space in Peckham, South East London. Marking the beginning of its long-term curatorial project, The Troubles Generation, with No Country for Young Men – a solo show of new works by Northern Irish artist, Martin Seeds. Seeds looks back, via appropriation, at a series of found portraits in a Belfast school yearbook from 1965, a few years before the civil conflict known as “The Troubles” started, when political tensions in Northern Ireland were rising and trouble was brewing.

The Troubles Generation series examines the legacy of The Troubles from the viewpoint of artists born into its divided society and with lived experience of growing up during the conflict. Taking a phased approach to developing photographic projects and new writing. The ultimate ambition is to create a large-scale touring exhibition to coincide with the 25th anniversary of The Good Friday Agreement in 2023.

No Country for Young Men opens on 4 November. Find out more about this exhibition.

Music & Opera

Burum R&D Welsh jazz/folk | Burum

Burum are a Welsh jazz/folk sextet. Members of the group are leading Welsh trumpeter Tomos Williams, who straddles both the jazz and folk worlds, Patrick Rimes (pipes and flutes), Aidan Thorne and Mark O’Connor (rhythm team), Dave Jones (piano) and Daniel Williams (tenor sax).

Fusing Welsh folk music and jazz, Burum are developing new music inspired by the art of immigrant artists into Wales. In September, the sextet went to the studio at Llanbadarn Fynydd (Mid-Wales) to create a number of new suites of music.

Video clips of the session will be available online soon. Find out more about Burum.

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Insurrection | Peter Brathwaite

Reuniting the team who made ‘Effigies of Wickedness: Songs Banned by the Nazis’ (Gate Theatre/English National Opera), British Baritone Peter Brathwaite has joined Ellen McDougall, Artistic Director and Joint CEO at the Gate Theatre, to develop Insurrection – an exploration of the music and history of Barbados.

Insurrection will present newly-arranged versions of Bajan songs, reuniting them with African musicians and instruments and reimagining them as cultural sites of resistance that contributed to the wider self-emancipation movement of enslaved people. It will give space to the voices and musical traditions that were silenced by English colonial oppressors. The Genesis Kickstart Fund supported the week-long research and development for the project. Stay informed on this project’s development.

Visual Arts

The Front Room | Valleys Kids

Based in the most disadvantaged areas in South Wales, Valleys Kids is a community regeneration charity, that has engaged with its communities for the past 43 years, opening opportunities to help people of all ages to fulfil their potential.

The Front Room is a pop-up art installation, inspired by the meaning of ‘Home’. It will provide an interactive place for visitors to engage in conversations and share memories and stories connected to reference points in the room. Visitors will also be able to be involved in the installation through simple creative art activities, such as felting or silk screen painting, to create a piece of community-inspired art.

The Front Room launches on 24 November 6-8pm at The Factory in Porth. Find out more about The Front Room.

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View phase 1 GKF recipients

View phase 2 GKF recipients

“Hex is our big-hearted, mythic new musical that goes beyond the waking kiss in Sleeping Beauty.”

This Christmas, the National Theatre will premiere Hex, a new musical based on the Sleeping Beauty folk tale, directed by Artistic Director Rufus Norris.

Penned by Tanya Ronder with music by Jim Fortune and lyrics by Rufus Norris, the piece tells the classic tale from the perspective of Sleeping Beauty’s “bad fairy”. Hex will run in the Olivier from 4 December until 22 January 2022.

Rosalie Craig, Tamsin Carroll, Kat Ronney and Michael Elcock will lead the company, alongside Esme Bacalla-Hayes, Madeline Charlemagne, Tamsin Dowsett, Eleanor Kane and Daisy Maywood. The piece has orchestrations by Simon Hale, music supervision by Marc Tritschler, music direction by Tarek Merchant, lighting design by Paul Anderson, choreography by Jade Hackett with consultant choreography by Bill Deamer and sound design by Simon Baker.

Jim Fortune started developing Hex at the Genesis Music Theatre Programme.  

Since 2017, the Genesis Foundation has supported artists at the National Theatre as they develop bold, accessible new forms of British music theatre, tackling compelling stories and setting out to engage diverse audiences. The Genesis Music Theatre Programme was conceived by the National Theatre’s Director, Rufus Norris (the inaugural Genesis Director at the Young Vic), who leads it with Marc Tritschler, the NT’s Creative Director of Music, and Nina Steiger, the NT’s Head of Play Development.

Music has always played an important part in the work of Rufus Norris, artistic director of the National Theatre. He strongly believes that the future of music theatre rests in fostering successful, collaborative partnerships that can sustain over the long term, while providing time and space for private development of ideas.

There are three further musicals in development currently being workshoped through the Genesis Music Theatre Programme that the National Theatre hopes to stage over the coming seasons.

On our podcast, Rufus Norris and Nina Steiger had a lively discussion on the need for more UK music theatre and developing new work at the National Theatre. Listen to the episode

Book tickets to Hex

Images: Dr Sita Thomas, Dark Skinned Representation cr. Mathushaa Sagthidas (_inventory platform), Katie Scott (Box of Tricks Theatre)

The £1 million Genesis Kickstart Fund was launched to support freelancers in the creative sector and specifically to help them survive and thrive in an environment transformed by Covid-19. 41 grants of mostly £10,000 have been allocated to creative freelancers throughout the UK, to produce future-facing arts projects.

Here is an update on the projects that have upcoming activity in October.

Digital Art

Where I’m Coming From | _inventory platform

Conceptualised and curated by Linda Rocco and Rhine Bernardino, co-directors of _inventory platform, Where I’m Coming From is a month-long digital programme dedicated to languages that are present and spoken by migrant communities in the UK.

The programme aims to open up conversations around the exclusivity of language in accessing the production and consumption of arts and culture, alongside considering the wider cultural presence of underrepresented artists and groups in international art debates. It challenges the assumed position of the English language and its hegemonic stature as a given and universal form of communication. In doing so, Where I’m Coming from highlights the beauty, intricacies and complexities of a multitude of languages featured through the project. 

Week 1 – Thai

Week 2 – Tamil

Week 3 – Burmese

Week 4 – Ewe

Where I’m Coming From begins on 4 October. Find out more about the programme

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The Museum of Austerity | Sacha Wares

The Museum of Austerity is a mixed-reality exhibition that preserves memories of public and private events from the austerity era.

Room 1 of the exhibition, previewing at London Film Festival, records personal stories of disabled benefit claimants who died between 2010-2020. Combining verbal testimony, original music and ground-breaking volumetric capture, this exhibition invites audiences to contemplate close-up the human impact of austerity.

Co-produced by English Touring Theatre, the National Theatre Storytelling Studio and Trial & Error, this powerful installation combines the skills of theatre/XR director Sacha Wares with the in-depth knowledge of John Pring, editor of Disability News Service.

The Museum of Austerity previews run from 6 – 17 Oct. Book tickets

Film

Sudden Connections | Bristol Old Vic

Sudden Connections is the latest project in the Bristol Old Vic’s talent development programme, Ferment, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. The project is a series of 5 original short films made by emerging South-West artists, using their talent to harness big, bold ideas within small and powerful digital experiences.

5 Oct – All The Threads You Left Behind by Anna Rathbone.

12 Oct – The Season of Burning Things by Gouled Ahmed and Asmaa Jama

19 Oct – Retail Therapy by Ash Kayser

26 Oct – Lessons Taught to Boys and Girls by Muneera Pilgrim

2 Nov – A Love Letter to Penelope Cruiser by Caroline Williams

Weekly releases of the original short films will begin on 5 October. Watch on YouTube or Instagram.

Theatre

Box of Tricks’ Associate Artists programme | Box of Tricks Theatre

Box of Tricks Theatre have announced its 2021/22 Associate Artists, as part of the theatre’s inaugural one-year paid programme for freelance creatives.

The Associate Artists are:

Lee Affen – Sound Designer

Lucy Carter – Lighting Designer

Jenni Jackson – Movement Director

Alice Longson – Production Manager

Katie Scott – Designer

Each Associate will be embedded within the company, supporting the company’s professional development programme and developing specific aspects of their own creative practice. They will also explore the needs of the wider creative community of offstage artists across the north of the UK.

Find out more about the Associate Artists

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Landing Bolts | Sita Thomas

Landing Bolts is a theatre-based project spotlighting welsh creatives, who tell stories of who they are, and the change they want to make in Cardiff today. The R&D took place over the summer, integrating skateboarding, choreography, music, spoken word, verbatim text, film, fashion and photography and culminated in an outdoor sharing at a skatepark in Cardiff. It also included workshops with young people.

Sita Thomas worked with a group of creative freelancers, including artist and choreographer Reuel Elijah, artist and writer Sadia Pineda Hameed, poet and writer Hanan Issa, fashion editor Nicole Ready, and film production company Redbrck, Marcus Georges and Nick Wotton.

Watch the behind-the-scenes film documentary

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Best Seat in Your House | Young Vic                     

The Young Vic’s production of Hamlet will be the second show to be streamed via the theatre’s new home-viewing platform Best Seat in Your House.

Cush Jumbo (The Good Wife, The Good Fight) makes her YV debut as a new kind of Hamlet. Jumbo reunites with her long-time collaborator, director  Greg  Hersov, to bring us this tale of power, politics and desire. 

The show will be streamed live for four performances, beginning on 28 October. Book tickets

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Protest | Creative Juices

Creative Juices is an organisation that nurtures, develops and facilitates the creation of new music theatre and opera work. Its Genesis Kickstart Fund project, Protest, is a collaborative project with composition students and performers from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.

Over the summer, Creative Juices has been working with RNCM composers Cally Stathan, Kevin Dorvil and Henry Page, and freelance librettist Gareth Mattey on three short 10 minute acapella operas on the theme of Protest. A live presentation of the works will take place in October.

Look out for more information on Creative Juices website

Photography

Photographic Garden | Sustainable Darkroom

Sustainable Darkroom have launched the UK’s first photographic Garden initiative in the Northern Sustainable Darkroom facility in Leeds, to discover, support, and facilitate the research and development of sustainable alternatives to photographic processes.

The non-profit organisation created a 1-year Darkroom Garden Residency for a small group of creatives to work with them in the photographic garden, with the support of relevant scientists, horticulturists and artists to advise on aspects of the research.

Find out more about the photographic garden

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View the full list of Genesis Kickstart Fund recipients

Phase 1 GKF recipients

Phase 2 GKF recipients

Images: Tangram, Acme Artist Studios cr. Michelle Ussher, The Gesualdo Six cr. Patrick Allen, James Cousins Company

19 projects announced in the second phase of funding, following first round in May

Projects span multiple genres and reach all the nations of the UK

The Genesis Foundation has announced 19 new recipients of Genesis Kickstart Fund grants for arts projects run by creative freelancers throughout the UK. The grants have been allocated from the £1m Genesis Kickstart Fund, rolled out on the Foundation’s 20^th anniversary with the aim of enabling outstanding freelance talent to produce future-facing arts projects.

The majority of the second batch of Kickstart recipients will receive £10,000, along with mentoring to support them as creative freelancers in an environment transformed by Covid-19. In total, the projects will involve over 190 freelance professionals, and 100% of the projects will target new audiences for their art form or genre.  The grant recipients include projects run by Genesis partners, The Sixteen and the Almeida (the Genesis Kickstart Fund has supported Josh Azouz on the development of  ‘Once Upon a Time in Nazi Occupied Tunisia’ which is on at the Almeida until 18 September).

Of the 19 projects:

• 58% of projects include theatre, spoken word or poetry and 21% of projects include digital arts (most of the projects span multiple arts forms).
• Over 50% of projects are available online.
• The projects cover England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Freelancers in the arts have suffered particularly during the Covid period. It is estimated that, pre-Covid, freelancers formed at least 50% of the UK’s theatre workforce.

Among the projects to be supported by the Genesis Kickstart Fund are:

• Acme Artist Studios Ltd. – A partnership between Acme and the Genesis Foundation to develop three new six-month, early-career awards for artists from underrepresented backgrounds, taking place in mid-late 2022 as part of Acme’s 50th anniversary celebration. This project has been created in response to the urgent need to address widening inequalities in the contemporary art field, ensuring future generations of artists benefit from a diversity of backgrounds, experiences, and voices.

• National Theatre Immersive Storytelling Studio – A large-scale art exhibition, combining installation, sculpture, and VR. INSIDE will allow Director Sacha Wares, designer Ultz and a number of professional and non-professional participants to test the boundaries of how virtual reality can be used to tell stories.

• Tangram – A concert experience that explores the richness of silence, by music collective Tangram, who comprise researchers, composers and performers of Chinese and western instruments. The heart of ‘Our Silences Are Your Silences’ will be the reimagination of John Cage’s seminal 4’33’’ on 22 August 2022, which is the piece’s 70^th anniversary. The reimagination by Reylon Yount will be staged for solo yangqin (Chinese hammered dulcimer) in counterpoint to the 1952 premiere’s solo piano.

• Tyne Coast Arts Collective – A new opera written for and by the community of North Shields, exploring what ‘home’ means through spoken word, song, dance and music. The project culminates with two performances of HOME in Parks Leisure Centre, North Shields in July 2022.

• Viviana Durante Company – A production inspired by dance innovator Isadora Duncan, her refusal of the conventions and gendered roles of ballet and insistence on a woman’s right to express herself physically on her own terms. ‘Isadora Now’ premiered at the Barbican Theatre in February 2020 to unanimous critical and audience success. The Genesis Kickstart funding will enable the Viviana Durante Company to tour the show to new audiences.

The £1m Genesis Kickstart Fund was announced last October by the Genesis Foundation, in advance of its 20th anniversary this year. The project has a prestigious Advisory Council of 30 leading figures from the arts, which includes Barbara Broccoli, Benedict Cumberbatch and Grayson Perry. Members of the Advisory Council were invited to nominate artists and organisations to apply, and subsequently reviewed grant applications in accordance with specific objectives and criteria.

John Studzinski CBE, Founder and Chairman of the Genesis Foundation, said:

“We are delighted to announce 19 new Genesis Kickstart projects, covering all arts forms and all four nations of the UK. On reading the proposals, we were inspired by the quality, creativity and scope of the projects. We now look forward to seeing what they can achieve. The onset of Covid-19 has been such a challenging time for arts freelancers but, at the same time, I think our projects are a sign of an upsurge of creative energy which is taking place in the UK. I am pleased that we are marking the 20th anniversary of our Foundation by playing a small role in catalysing this.”

Genesis Kickstart Fund Phase 2 Recipients

View the phase 1 Genesis Kickstart Fund recipients

The £1 million Genesis Kickstart Fund was launched to support freelancers in the creative sector and specifically to help them survive and thrive in an environment transformed by Covid-19. 41 grants of mostly £10,000 have been allocated to creative freelancers throughout the UK, to produce future-facing arts projects.

Following on from our announcement of the first phase of Genesis Kickstart Fund projects, here is an update on the projects that have upcoming activity between now and September. 

Visual Art

Nocturnal Creatures | Whitechapel Gallery

On Saturday 17 July, Whitechapel Gallery hosted its annual late-night festival across East London, Nocturnal Creatures. The festival presented cutting edge contemporary art for free, giving visitors access to new commissions that delight and surprise in unexpected spaces.

Whitechapel Gallery used its Genesis Kickstart Fund grant towards six emerging London-based artists’ commissions – Candida Powell-Williams, Nicole Bachmann, Julianknxx, Paula Morison, Inês Neto dos Santos and Abbas Zahedi. 

These six artists’ commissions also form part of The London Open 2022, a triennial, open submission exhibition scheduled for summer 2022. View footage of Nocturnal Creatures.

Music

Already Gone Tour | Echo Vocal Ensemble

Acclaimed vocal ensemble Echo launches its ‘Already Gone’ Tour, a programme of new and old choral music in an innovative hybrid model blending in-person performance with a digital ‘behind the scenes’ video ticket.

Echo’s inaugural Composition Competition invited composers to respond to text from a poem by Alice Oswald, and was guest judged by Judith Weir and Robert Hollingworth. The ‘Already Gone’ Tour will feature the world premieres of the winning pieces, alongside a programme centred around nature and the climate emergency, including works by Hildegard of Bingen, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Benjamin Britten and ANOHNI.

Performances

Wednesday 21 July, 7.30pm | Kings Place, London  – Book Tickets

Saturday 31 July, 7.30pm | Stoller Hall, Manchester – Book Tickets

Friday 6 August, 7.30 pm | MAC, Birmingham – Book Tickets

Our Future In Your Hands | The Multi-Story Orchestra

Performing in car parks around the UK, The Multi-Story Orchestra has been celebrated as one of the most exciting young orchestras to emerge in recent years.

Our Future In Your Hands is a brand-new choral and orchestral commission about the global youth protest against climate change, by composer Kate Whitley and writer Laura Attridge. It imagines the earth recovering from the negative effects of climate change and gives voice to the hopes and fears of the young people who will one day inherit our world.

Performances will take place on 14 – 15 September, 7-8pm at Bold Tendencies. Book Tickets.

Theatre

Best Seat in Your House | Young Vic

Best Seat in Your House is the Young Vic’s immersive, multi-camera broadcast designed to give audiences optimal choice as they watch a theatre production live from home. Audiences will be given two streaming options, Director’s Chair or Director’s Cut, and they will be able to switch between views to control their experience.

The new platform will launch with Changing Destiny, the theatre’s first major production of 2021 directed by Artistic Director Kwame Kwei-Armah, which opens for previews on Saturday 24 July. Find out more.

Once Upon a Time in Nazi Occupied Tunisia | Almeida Theatre

Eleanor Rhode directs Adrian Edmondson, Laura Hanna, Ethan Kai, Pierro Niel-Mee, Yasmin Paige and Daniel Rainford in the world premiere of Once Upon a Time in Nazi Occupied Tunisia, a brutally comic new play by Josh Azouz about home and identity, marriage and survival, blood and feathers.

The Almeida Theatre used its Genesis Kickstart Fund to support Josh Azouz on the development of Once Upon A Time in Nazi Occupied Tunisia.

The show runs from Saturday 21 August – Saturday 18 September. Book tickets.

The Orisha Musical | Rob Green, Christella Litras & Leah Chillery

Musician, songwriter and developing composer Rob Green is working alongside Musical Theatre composer, MD and vocal arranger Christella Litras and award-winning scriptwriter Leah Chillery to develop The Orisha Musical, a new piece of musical theatre that will be exploring African/Caribbean music and identity through comedy, adventure and multi-genre musical numbers.

A three-week R&D and two-day music recording session is taking place over the summer of 2021.

Follow the project’s development

Dance

Emerging Dancer | English National Ballet

The English National Ballet’s Emerging Dancer competition shines a spotlight on new choreographic and dancing talent, introducing our worldwide audience to the next generation of stars and investing in talent retention and diversification.

Emerging Dancer commissions freelance choreographers to create contemporary pieces that are performed on the main stage by ballet’s rising stars. Six finalists, selected by their peers, receive tailored training sessions and private rehearsal time with industry mentors, giving them the opportunity to tackle new work that has been created especially for the project by the most exciting new choreographic talent.

This year, Emerging Dancer will take place in September, in London and will take the form of a Celebration Event, showcasing past winners, demonstrating the talent of young members of the Company and displaying innovative, new choreography. The event will also be live-streamed.

Look out for more information coming soon on English National Ballet’s website

JUNGLE BOOK REIMAGINED | Akram Khan Company

The Akram Khan Company, which recently celebrated its 20th anniversary, is embarking on the next decade with a new production, JUNGLE BOOK REIMAGINED, conceived by artistic director and choreographer Akram Khan.

Khan’s exploration of this classic book will take the familiar tale and observe it through the lens of today’s audience. Utilizing animation and technology to advance the story, the hybrid production of virtual and physical worlds will test the boundaries of the dance art form.

The Akram Khan Company used its Genesis Kickstart Fund grant for the research and development of JUNGLE BOOK REIMAGINED. The production’s world premiere will take place at Curve Theatre, Leicester in April 2022, and will tour nationally and internationally starting spring 2022. Book tickets.

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More information on the Genesis Kickstart Fund

Ten emerging writers have been selected as the inaugural cohort on the Genesis Jewish Book Week Emerging Writers Programme. The writers have been paired with their established mentors.

The emerging writers chosen were:

1. Sara Doctors
2. Sophie Dumont
3. Madeleine Dunnigan
4. Linda Ford
5. Philip Glassborow
6. Fiona Monahan
7. Eleanor Myerson
8. Julie Noble
9. Karen Skinazi
10. Guy Stagg

The projects cover subjects including child development, foraging, mental health, refugees, Syriana and Wittgenstein, all linked to the designated theme of ‘Beginnings’.

The emerging writers will receive mentoring, peer support sessions and bursaries, as part of the programme. The programme will run over the coming months and an event will be held at JBW’s 70^th anniversary festival in March 2022.

Booker-nominated novelist AD Miller, one of the fiction mentors for this year’s programme, said:

“To judge by the verve and variety of their submissions, these emerging writers have already emerged.”

The Last Act of Love author Cathy Rentzenbrink said:

“Mentoring is such an enriching pleasure for me and the standard of applications I saw were so high that I would happily have worked with all the writers. I am excited to see how the programme will develop and looking forward to doing the work.”

Poet George Szirtes said:

“It was a marvellous shortlist comprising poems about Alzheimer’s, about a Jewish family in Belfast, about beginnings, about living through darkness, and about Piaget, all good, all promising even more. It was very difficult to judge by three poems in each case but, having chosen, I am delighted to be working with Sophie on her Piaget project.”

Sam Leith, Spectator literary editor and journalism mentor added: 

“I was very impressed and encouraged by the standard of the submissions I read, their ambition and the range of enthusiasms they showed. I’m hugely looking forward to working with these talented people.”

Others mentors for this year are Tracy Cheavlier, Sophie Herxheimer, Benjamin Markovits, Caroline Moorehead, George Prochnik, Kavita Puri and George Szirtes.

In addition to one-on-one mentoring the writers receive bursaries, group support sessions and guest seminars from Elif Shafak, Pushkin Press publisher Adam Freudenheim and agents from The Blair Partnership.

John Studzinski CBE, Founder and Chairman of the Genesis Foundation, said:

“Congratulations to our ten emerging writers selected. We are looking forward to creative sparks flying, as they team up with their mentors. We are delighted to be working with Jewish Book Week and in our twentieth year, continuing to fulfil our core mission: to support and nurture creative and emerging talent.”

At long last visitors to Durham Cathedral will be able to experience Chris Levine’s immersive art installation, LIGHT.  The eagerly anticipated switch on takes place Saturday 29th May, more than a year after it was installed in the Cathedral’s 12th century Galilee Chapel. The understandable delay was caused by the Covid pandemic and subsequent series of national lockdowns. This stunning artwork is expected to generate much interest and be a highlight of a visit to the cathedral this summer. Significantly, LIGHT marks the start of a new visual arts programme at Durham Cathedral, with more excitement to come. 

Durham Cathedral welcomes all as pilgrims. Visitors will experience LIGHT at the start of their visit, virtually bathing in light, symbolic of the medieval tradition of foot washing as pilgrims arrive at their destination. LIGHT was commissioned in 2010 by the Genesis Foundation for Holy Trinity Church, London with critical acclaim. It has been adapted especially for Durham Cathedral. 

LIGHT features a matrix of lasers directed through a crystal crucifix creating a wash of light. A blipvert appears in the peripheral vision of viewers revealing a flighting image of St Cuthbert’s Cross.  Cuthbert’s pectoral cross is considered one of the great treasures of its time and is on display in the cathedral’s museum which reopens in June.

Chris Levine, creator of LIGHT says, “LIGHT draws the viewer into the present moment, the now. It is meditative art to engage and heighten the senses, unashamedly contemporary, yet confidently at home in the historic Galilee Chapel of Durham Cathedral. It gently bathes visitors in light, creating a welcoming space, so that pilgrims who have journeyed can relax and decompress. LIGHT is designed to induce a meditative state, an expansive realm between thought and experience where we can recalibrate, harmonise our senses and discover who we really are. I am not religious but am deeply spiritual. I am humbled to have my work in Durham Cathedral.”

LIGHT is accompanied by a soundtrack of sacred choral music in recordings by The Sixteen, conducted by the ensemble’s founder Harry Christophers. It includes Among Angels by Durham-born composer Will Todd and other distinguished contemporary composers. Listen to the soundtrack.

The Very Reverend Andrew Tremlett, Dean of Durham, says, “I am heartened that after such a difficult year, filled with loss and isolation, we are finally able to share this immersive and deeply powerful installation. It provides an opportunity for renewal as we in the North East of England come to terms with what we have been through. As we reflect and then celebrate our resilience, LIGHT offers hope.”

LIGHT has been made possible through the generous support of the Friends of Durham Cathedral and the Genesis Foundation.  

John Studzinski, founder and chairman of the Genesis Foundation, says, “The Foundation is delighted and honoured to bring Chris Levine’s LIGHT to the spectacular and apt setting of Durham Cathedral. We are equally delighted that LIGHT’s impact will be heightened by music that was also originally commissioned by the Foundation. ‘Art and faith’ is a recurring theme as we nurture the work of a diversity of artists across different genres. In our 20^th anniversary year, it is satisfying to know that, particularly in partnership with Harry Christophers and The Sixteen and composers such as Will Todd, the Genesis Foundation has established itself as the UK’s foremost commissioner of sacred music.”

Michael Galloway, Chairman of the Friends of Durham Cathedral says, “We are delighted to sponsor such a stimulating artwork. We hope that visitors to the cathedral during this time arrive as pilgrims and leave as Friends.”

LIGHT is the beginning of a new visual arts programme at Durham Cathedral created with support from Arts and Heritage. It is also part of a major programme of activity across all cathedrals brought together by the Association of English Cathedrals as ‘Discover Pilgrimage, Discover Cathedrals’. 

Durham Cathedral reopened to visitors on Monday 17th May. For information about opening hours and everything needed to plan a visit, see www.durhamcathedral.co.uk  Information about pilgrimage routes that centre on Durham Cathedral can be found at www.northernsaints.com 

Images: Burum, Lewis Doherty c. Pamela Raith Photography, ENB (Ivana Bueno performing Talisman) c. Laurent Liotardo, Good Chance Theatre (The Walk – Little Amal) c. Nick Wall

41 projects announced in the first phase of funding

Projects span multiple genres and reach all the nations of the UK

The Genesis Foundation has announced 41 grants for arts projects run by creative freelancers throughout the UK. The grants have been allocated from the £1m Genesis Kickstart Fund, rolled out on the Foundation’s 20^th anniversary with the aim of enabling outstanding freelance talent to produce future-facing arts projects.

The majority of the first batch of Kickstart recipients will receive £10,000, along with mentoring to support them as creative freelancers in an environment transformed by Covid-19. In total, the projects will involve 500 freelance professionals, and 90% of the projects will target new audiences for the art form or genre.

• Of the 41 projects:
• 15 projects are in theatre and the spoken word.
• 15 projects are in music and opera.
• 11 projects cover dance, digital arts, film and TV, visual arts, gaming and photography.
• 68% of the projects have an online component (28 projects).
• The projects cover England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Freelancers in the arts have suffered particularly during the Covid period. It is estimated that, pre-Covid, freelancers formed 50% of the UK’s theatre workforce.

Among the projects to be supported by the Genesis Kickstart Fund are:

Theatre & Spoken word

Pathway for Puppeteers | Good Chance Theatre: professional development project which supports three UK freelance puppeteers to take part in WALK, an outdoor theatre piece in support of refugees. At its heart is Little Amal, a 3.5m high 9-year-old refugee girl, which will travel 8,000km from Gaziantep to Manchester with an urgent message: “Don’t forget about us.”

AMPLIFY | Tangle: an innovative training scheme run by Tangle Theatre Company for African and Caribbean technicians, sound/lighting designers, stage managers and technical producers. Participants will be supported to develop their skills in incremental steps, supported by expert mentors.

Amma | Tara Arts: Meaning ‘Mum’ in Bengali, Amma will commemorate the forthcoming 50^th anniversary of the Bangladeshi War of Independence of 1971. The project involves collecting and archiving the untold stories and experiences of women in Manchester, Cardiff and Birmingham who lived through the war, before developing and presenting a VR exhibition inspired by these women.

LAMDA MishMash Festival | LAMDA: In partnership with Emily Carewe, this festival is a 3-day celebration of self-created work which platforms newly commissioned pieces from a diverse range of artists at every level.

Best Seat in Your House | Young Vic: an immersive, multi-camera broadcast, designed to revolutionise the ‘at home’ viewing experience. With the support of freelancers, Best Seat in Your House will be piloting in July. Audiences will be given two streaming options, Director’s Chair or Director’s Cut, and they will be able to switch between views to control their experience.

(Both LAMDA and the Young Vic are existing programme partners of the Genesis Foundation.)

Music & Opera

Burum R & D Welsh jazz/folk | Burum: collaborative composing project by Welsh jazz-folk sextet Burum. The group will create new music that celebrates the artistic contribution of 20^th Century immigrants into Wales, in particular the arrival of Jewish families to South Wales during the Second World War.

Resistance | SANSARA: multi-faceted choral music recording project, based on the story of the White Rose circle: five students and a professor who confronted Nazism and paid with their lives. Resistance is a collaboration between the award-winning vocal collective SANSARA and the University of Oxford’s White Rose Project, bringing their timely and inspiring story to English-speaking audiences around the world.

Our Future In Your Hands | The Multi-Story Orchestra: brand-new choral and orchestral commission about the global youth protest against climate change by composer Kate Whitley and writer Laura Attridge. The project brings together 38 freelance musicians who make up its orchestra, 3 world-renowned opera soloists and over 100 singers.

Dance

JUNGLE BOOK REIMAGINED | Akram Khan Company: research and development for new production, JUNGLE BOOK REIMAGINED, conceived by artistic director and choreographer Akram Khan. Utilizing animation and technology, this will be a hybrid production of the digital and physical worlds, touring nationally and internationally from spring 2022.

Photography

Troubles Generation | Seen Fifteen: a photography exhibition at Seen Fifteen, examining the legacy of The Troubles in Northern Ireland. The Troubles Generation will present new perspectives on the legacy of The Troubles from photographic artists who grew up during the conflict.

The £1m Genesis Kickstart Fund was announced last October by the Genesis Foundation, in advance of its 20th anniversary this year. The project has a prestigious Advisory Council of 30 leading figures from the arts, which includes Barbara Broccoli, Benedict Cumberbatch and Grayson Perry. Members of the Advisory Council were invited to nominate artists and organisations to apply, and subsequently reviewed grant applications in accordance with specific objectives and criteria.

John Studzinski CBE, Founder and Chairman of the Genesis Foundation, said:

“I am overwhelmed but not surprised by the ambition, creative spark and energy of the Genesis Kickstart fund proposals and projects. The original logic of Kickstart in ensuring freelancers remain engaged and active is very visible in these important, wide-ranging and innovative initiatives. We want to help freelancers get back on their feet, and we are delighted that the projects are so diverse in art form, region and ethnicity.  After 20 years of the Genesis Foundation, our original nurturing and mentoring framework is now more relevant than ever before.”

Actor Samuel Barnett, Genesis Kickstart Fund Advisory Council Member and 2001 Genesis LAMDA Scholar, said:

“I was fortunate several years ago, that as a young actor, my career was kick-started by the Genesis Foundation. I know that they have helped thousands of others over 20 years. This Kickstart Fund will support and encourage freelancers, who have had such a difficult time during the pandemic. It was a real privilege and a pleasure to be on the Advisory Council for this.  What a brilliant and deserving list of recipients. Such an exciting mix.”

Genesis Kickstart Fund Recipients

Harry Christophers CBE and The Sixteen in Concert

Sir James MacMillan and Will Todd World Premieres

Readings from Classic FM’s Alexander Armstrong

Farm Street Church, London

10 June 2021 at 7 pm

(11 am PT / 2 pm ET)

Watch the concert on demand

The Genesis Foundation announces a special concert inspired by the life and writings of Cardinal Newman, who was canonised as Saint John Henry Newman in 2019. Newman: Meditation & Prayer will take place at 19:00 on Thursday 10 June at Farm Street Church in London’s Mayfair (The Jesuit Church of the Immaculate Conception).

The concert will be live streamed on Classic FM’s Facebook page and available on demand for a month afterwards; it will feature the world premieres of two new Genesis Foundation choral music commissions by Sir James MacMillan and Will Todd, for Harry Christophers CBE and The Sixteen. Joining them will be Classic FM’s flagship morning show presenter Alexander Armstrong, reading the words of Cardinal Newman and the poet and churchman John Donne.

The new commissions draw on the words of a meditation that Newman wrote in the late 1840s and which begins “God has created me to do Him some definite service.” MacMillan and Todd have already composed a number of works for the Genesis Foundation which, over its 20-year history, has commissioned more than 25 pieces of sacred choral music. In April 2018, in a world first, Classic FM, the UK’s most popular classical music station, live streamed MacMillan’s 50-minute Stabat mater – a Genesis Foundation commission performed by The Sixteen and Harry Christophers – from the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.

Sir James MacMillan CBE said:

“I have been intrigued by Newman’s poetry since I heard Elgar’s setting of his Dream of Gerontius when I was young. This Meditation, in a wonderfully flowing and singable adaptation by Robert Willis, tackles existential issues with a challenging suggestion that God has created us all to do some individual service. And that even at times of great distress and alienation we are valued by Him and capable of doing good, as nothing conceived by God is done in vain. I have set this short extract for double choir in a motet which lasts about ten minutes. Pre-baroque contrapuntal models give the music its shape and design, even although there are passing moments of deliberately ‘smudgy’ polytonality, pitting adjacent chords up against each other. Nothing in vain is dedicated to John Studzinski on his 65th birthday.”

Newman: Meditation & Prayer will also include sacred music by composers active in the 16^th Century, the period of the English Reformation (Robert Parsons, Christopher Tye), and in the 20^th Century (William Harris, an Anglican musician, and Fernand Laloux, who was organist at Farm Street Church). Armstrong will read Newman’s original Meditation and an extract from John Donne’s ‘A Sermon preached at White-hall 29 February 1627’.

The socially distanced performance will take place in front of a small, invited audience in the beautiful Gothic Revival surroundings of Farm Street Church, thanks to Fr Dominic Robinson, parish priest of the Jesuit Church of the Immaculate Conception. Farm Street is known as a community which actively advocates social justice and nurtures music and art.

John Studzinski KSG, CBE, Founder and Chairman of the Genesis Foundation, said:

“The timeless and moving words of Cardinal Newman’s Meditation deserve to reach a wide audience. These new musical settings will provide the ideal medium for its message over the coming months and years. Expressing a strong sense of the community of mankind as it reflects on our specific role in life, the Meditation is as relevant to people of faith as to people who profess to no belief at all.  

The Genesis Foundation, in partnership with The Sixteen and Harry Christophers, is committed to expanding the repertoire of modern sacred music and bringing it to wider audiences.. Newman’s Meditation reminds us that each moment of our life matters, and these new musical works will provide a powerful and resonant experience for one and all.”

Harry Christophers CBE, Founder and Conductor of The Sixteen, said:

“Whilst our programme Newman: Meditation & Prayer brings you the expectant thrill of two premieres, I have surrounded them by works spanning four centuries. Robert Parsons and Christopher Tye survived the Reformation and the turbulent years of King Edward VI and Queen Mary, living on to enjoy the relative security of a more established church under Queen Elizabeth I. That being said, their music is undoubtedly Catholic at heart. The soaring phrases of Parsons’ Ave Maria, his devotion on the name of Jesus, O bone Jesu, and Tye’s sublime Agnus Dei were written to make holy places come alive even more than usual. They remind us of the fullness of our British heritage, now made even richer by two brilliant new works based on Cardinal Newman’s A Meditation on Trust in God by Sir James MacMillan and Will Todd.” 

Promo Film

Watch bonus films from the composers, conductor and more!

Watch the concert on demand