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

Organisation/Lead Artist	Main Art Form	Regions
Akram Khan Company (AKC)	Dance	England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, London, Touring
Dickson Mbi Company	Dance	Online, England, London, Touring
English National Ballet	Dance	Online, London
Sandrine Monin	Dance	Online, England, London, Regionally: Leeds
Jess and Morgs	Digital Art	Online, England, London, Regionally: Ipswich.
Blueprint Theatre and Film Company	Film/TV	Online, England, London
Alisdair Kitchen	Music & Opera	Online
Burum	Music & Opera	Wales
Creative Juices CIC	Music & Opera	Online, England, Regionally: Manchester
DEBUT	Music & Opera	Online, England, London
Echo Vocal Ensemble	Music & Opera	England, London, Touring: Winchester, Manchester, Birmingham
Fieri Consort	Music & Opera	Online, England, London, Touring
JAM – John Armitage Memorial Trust	Music & Opera	Online, Regionally: Kent
John Pfumojena	Music & Opera	Online, England
Oliver Zeffman	Music & Opera	Online
Robert Green	Music & Opera	England
SANSARA	Music & Opera	Online,
Sophie Winter	Music & Opera	UK
Stef O’Driscoll	Music & Opera	Online, England, Regionally: Manchester
The Cumnock Tryst	Music & Opera	Scotland
The Multi-Story Orchestra	Music & Opera	England, London, Regionally: Gloucester
Seen Fifteen	Photography	Online, England, Northern Ireland, London, Touring
August 012 Limited	Theatre/Spoken Word	Online, Wales
Birds of Paradise Theatre Company	Theatre/Spoken Word	Scotland
Box of Tricks Theatre Company	Theatre/Spoken Word	England, Regionally: Northern England
Bristol Old Vic	Theatre/Spoken Word	Online, England, Regionally: Bristol and the South West
Caitriona Shoobridge	Theatre/Spoken Word	Online, England, London
Good Chance	Theatre/Spoken Word	Online, England, London, Regionally, Touring: Internationally: Turkey, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, France, Germany, Belgium, United Kingdom In the UK: Folkestone, Dover, Canterbury, Lewisham, Central London, Oxford, Coventry, Sheffield, Birmingham, Manchester
Lewis Doherty	Theatre/Spoken Word	Online, Regionally: The Midlands & Oxford
London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art	Theatre/Spoken Word	England, London
Sacha Wares	Theatre/Spoken Word	England, London, Touring
Sita Thomas	Theatre/Spoken Word	Online, Wales
Sunita Hinduja	Theatre/Spoken Word	Online, Scotland, London, Touring
Tangle	Theatre/Spoken Word	Online, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, London, Touring
Tara Arts	Theatre/Spoken Word	England, Wales, London, Regionally: Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff
Young Vic Theatre	Theatre/Spoken Word	Online, England, London
Young Identity (Wordsmith Awards)	Theatre/Spoken Word	Online, Manchester
_inventory platform	Visual Arts	Online
Valleys Kids	Visual Arts	Online, Wales
Whitechapel Gallery	Visual Arts	Online, England, London

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

The Genesis Foundation and Jewish Book Week (JBW) announce a new programme to champion and support emerging writers in the UK, which is open to applications with immediate effect.

The Genesis Jewish Book Week Emerging Writers’ Programme will offer bursaries and mentorship to ten emerging writers over 18 years of age, of any background, writing fiction, non-fiction and poetry.

The ten selected writers will be offered mentoring from a group of established writers, who have participated in the JBW Programme previously, including Tracy Chevalier, Sam Leith and George Szirtes.

The ten writers will also be offered peer support sessions, opportunities to speak at future JBW events and bursaries of up to £1,500 to complete research and writing. Applications are now open and for the inaugural year writers will be asked to work on projects with the theme of “Beginnings.” The bursaries will be distributed from July and an event will be held at JBW’s 70^th anniversary festival in March 2022.

Claudia Rubenstein, Director, Jewish Book Week, said:

“As Jewish Book Week enters its 70th year, we are delighted to be working with the Genesis Foundation in offering mentorship and support to emerging writers. Our annual festival celebrates the wealth and diversity of writing talent within the Jewish community, and this new programme seeks to draw on the expertise of our festival speakers to foster and develop the careers of new writers from all backgrounds. We are tremendously excited to discover the poets, authors and journalists who will form the Genesis Emerging Writers cohort of 2021.”

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

“We are thrilled to partner with Jewish Book Week on this special project in our 20th anniversary year. It goes to the heart of what we have been doing for two decades: supporting and nurturing creative and emerging talent. Jewish Book Week provides a powerful intellectual framework for the programme. As a devout Christian, I am delighted to be working within the parameters of the Abrahamic faiths to promote culture and creativity. It highlights one of the UK’s great strengths – literature and the spoken word – which we must keep encouraging and developing.”

Apply for the Genesis Jewish Book Week Emerging Writers’ Programme

The Cathedral Music Trust announces a new partnership with the Genesis Foundation to nurture the next generation of choral singers and composers.  The partnership will also ensure people from all backgrounds can have the opportunity to experience and benefit from access to world-class choral and organ music.

Through generous funding from the Genesis Foundation, the Cathedral Music Trust has created a new role of Communications and Marketing Officer within its Development Team, thereby extending its effectiveness and reach. In particular, this will enable the Trust to streamline its messaging across a broad range of platforms and media, while promoting its work to wider audiences and encouraging new supporters.

Sophie Carp has been appointed to this new position, joining the organisation from the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, where she was part of the development team that successfully raised £25 million towards the Museum’s endowment. She is passionate about the arts and music, and the role it can play in driving social change.

Sophie Carp, Communications and Marketing Officer at the Cathedral Music Trust, said:

“I am so grateful for the Genesis Foundation’s support of my role and of Cathedral Music Trust’s vision as a whole. I look forward to working closely with the Foundation and am very excited by the prospect of playing my part in making Cathedral music accessible to the widest and most diverse audiences possible.”

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

“In her new role at the Cathedral Music Trust Sophie will be sustaining and developing an important and valuable part of this country’s cultural heritage. She will also be furthering the Genesis Foundation’s mission of nurturing a diversity of creative and performing artists, always united by excellence. “Harry Christophers, now President of the Cathedral Music Trust, has been a trusted partner of the Genesis Foundation for 15 years. In the context of that relationship he and The Sixteen have brought more than 20 new Genesis choral commissions to life, and Harry has trained and mentored hundreds of young ensemble singers. The Foundation is delighted to support him and the entire Cathedral Music Trust as we all look forward to a great musical future.”

Find out more about Cathedral Music Trust

Barbara Broccoli and Grayson Perry announced as special advisers to initiative that includes over 30 leading figures from the arts 

£1 million Genesis Kickstart Fund will create future-facing projects for outstanding freelance talent  in the creative sector across the UK 

The Genesis Foundation today reveals the names of the 30 or so leading figures from the arts who are supporting its Kickstart Fund by becoming Advisory Council members.  

The £1mn Kickstart Fund, announced last month, has been launched by John Studzinski, Founder and Chairman of the Genesis Foundation, to support freelancers in the creative sector and specifically to help them survive and thrive in an environment transformed by Covid-19.    

The challenges posed by the pandemic have forced the cultural sector to explore new ways of working, for instance by exploiting technology to find new ways of engaging with audiences. 

The Fund will be rolled out in 2021, the year that marks the 20th anniversary of the Genesis Foundation. It will generate structured work opportunities for a diversity of freelance creative professionals, who, as they participate in future-facing projects, will earn an income and continue to build their careers and professional networks. The first projects are expected to go live mid-2021. Donations to the Genesis Kickstart Fund can be made here. 

The members of Advisory Council, chaired by John Studzinski, will contribute in a variety of ways. Some will scout high-quality, inclusive, and innovative artistic projects to involve freelance creative professionals across the UK, while others will select the most promising and relevant projects to receive grants of £10,000 and up. Certain members of the council will also mentor the freelance creatives who have received project grants.  

Members, assigned to disciplinary sub-committees, are as follows:  

Music

Harry Christophers CBE – Founder and Conductor, The Sixteen

Polly Graham – Artistic Director, Longborough Festival Opera; Genesis Opera Director

Tanya Joseph – Board Member, London Philharmonic Orchestra

Sir James MacMillan CBE – Composer

Kathryn McDowell CBE – Managing Director, London Symphony Orchestra

Jamie Njoku-Goodwin – Chief Executive, UK Music

Marie-Sophie Willis – Chief Executive, The Sixteen

–

Theatre & Film

Samuel Barnett – Actor, Genesis LAMDA Scholar

Barbara Broccoli OBE – Producer, EON Productions – SPECIAL ADVISER

Benedict Cumberbatch CBE – Actor, LAMDA President

Rupert Goold CBE – Artistic Director, Almeida Theatre

Kwame Kwei-Armah OBE – Artistic Director, Young Vic Theatre

David Lan CBE – Writer, Theatre Producer

Rufus Norris – Artistic Director, National Theatre

Abubakar Salim – Actor, Genesis LAMDA Scholar

Abdul Shayek – Artistic Director and Joint CEO, Tara Arts

Dame Janet Suzman – Actor, LAMDA Vice-President

–

Dance

Farooq Chaudhry OBE – Co-Founder and Executive Producer, Akram Khan Company

Stina Quagebeur – Dancer and Choreographer, English National Ballet

–

Art/ Photography

Michael Armitage – Artist

Emma Bowkett – Director of Photography, FT Magazine

Chris Levine – Artist

Frances Morris – Director, Tate Modern

Renee Odjidja – Curator: Youth Programmes, Whitechapel Gallery

Grayson Perry CBE RA – Artist – SPECIAL ADVISER

Rebecca Salter PRA – President, Royal Academy of Arts

Yinka Shonibare CBE RA – Artist

–

Arts Leaders and Champions

Harriet Capaldi – Managing Director, Genesis Foundation

Jan Dalley – Arts Editor, Financial Times

Jemma Read – Head of Philanthropy, Bloomberg

John Studzinski CBE – Founder and Chairman, Genesis Foundation

Veronica Wadley, Baroness Fleet – Chair, Department for Education’s Expert Panel for the Model Music Curriculum

–

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

“Since its inception 20 years ago, the Genesis Foundation has grown to become a real network of networks. We put our trust in outstanding leaders to seek out exceptional talent, nurture them and amplify their voice. For Kickstart, we’ve reached out to our network and way beyond, and invited visionary artists and cultural leaders to join the Advisory Council. They will scout and guide the best freelance creative talent across the UK, and provide a boost to the sector at this challenging time.” 

Barbara Broccoli OBE, Producer, EON Productions and Special Adviser, Kickstart Fund, said: 

“The creative industries play a really important role within the UK economy and we must help the freelance talent within them whose careers have been greatly affected by the pandemic.  The Kickstart Fund is a great initiative to provide this support.” 

Grayson Perry CBE RA, Artist and Special Adviser, Kickstart Fund, said: 

“Carved into the beam in my studio is the motto ‘Creativity is Mistakes’. It is still true even in these shockingly difficult times. Artists need to experiment and get it wrong, there is no right way to make great art. But another important aspect of being creative is to feel relaxed and current circumstances prevent this.  Therefore I am very happy to be involved with the Genesis Kickstart fund. Artists, especially at the beginning of their careers, need support, and this fund will allow them to try new things, learn new skills and take risks even under the shadow of this crisis.” 

Benedict Cumberbatch CBE, President, LAMDA, said: 

“So much of the exciting work in the creative sector comes from young freelancers whose projects and income have been hit hard by the pandemic.  The Genesis Foundation’s Kickstart Fund is a brilliant initiative to help bring some of this work to life and support the young creatives to thrive. I am delighted to be representing LAMDA on the advisory council alongside some of the greats of the UK’s creative sector.”  

–

To support the Genesis Kickstart Fund please donate here.

Fund will be steered by a panel of distinguished cultural leaders. It will create future-facing projects for outstanding freelance talent in the creative sector around the UK 

The Genesis Foundation, chaired by John Studzinski, announces a new £1mn Kickstart Fund to support freelancers in the creative sector.

The fund will be rolled out in 2021, to mark the 20^th anniversary of the Foundation. It is designed to enable outstanding freelance artists to stay on their career paths and explore new possibilities in a world radically altered by Covid-19. The Genesis Kickstart Fund follows the Genesis Covid-19 Artists Fund, launched in July, to provide £100,000 of emergency funding to freelance artists associated with its programmes with the Almeida Theatre, National Theatre, Young Vic, LAMDA and The Sixteen.

The Genesis Kickstart Fund will generate structured, project-based work opportunities for a diversity of freelance creative professionals. They will earn an income as they participate in future-facing projects while continuing to build their careers and professional networks. The first projects are expected to go live in mid-2021.

A group of eminent cultural leaders will sit on a panel to commission the projects. This includes Rupert Goold (Artistic Director of the Almeida Theatre), Kwame Kwei-Armah, (Artistic Director of the Young Vic) and Marie-Sophie Willis (Chief Executive of The Sixteen). Other panellists will be confirmed in due course.

John Studzinski CBE, Founder and Chairman of the Genesis Foundation, said: “COVID-19 has changed the world for all of us. At this crucial juncture we cannot afford to risk losing a whole generation of outstanding creative talent through lack of opportunity. The pandemic has been especially challenging for freelancers in the arts and creative sector. The Genesis Foundation’s Kickstart Fund will bring vital new opportunities for creative professionals through exciting projects run in collaboration with respected arts organisations. As we approach our 20^th anniversary, we continue our long-term strategy of affirming human dignity through the arts, one person at a time.”

Rupert Goold, Artistic Director of the Almeida Theatre, said:
The new Kickstart Fund typifies a spirit of solidarity and community across the cultural sector, and offers another example of where the Genesis Foundation ​is leading the way. So many artists, at all levels, are experiencing a real crisis right now and are even giving genuine consideration to leaving the industry. This new fund will get financial support to those artists in need and I am honoured to be joining the commissioning panel.” ​

Marie-Sophie Willis, CEO of The Sixteen, said:

“This new fund will allow organisations to take that leap of faith and undertake new projects that may help set them on a path to financial security. It will also provide invaluable creative work opportunities for the freelance artists they work with, in what has become a barren and desolate landscape. We wholeheartedly applaud John Studzinski and the Genesis Foundation for this exceptional endeavour which will prove to be a lifeline for so many in the arts community. Once again John’s vision sets yet another gold standard.”

–

To support the Genesis Kickstart Fund please donate here.

Isidora Žebeljan has died at the age of only 54 and I wish that I did not have to believe it. The world has lost a truly original and important composer who wrote music with a very distinctive voice: her works were individual, strong, and emotionally appealing. We have also lost an important teacher with her passing. She was a professor of composition in Belgrade, influencing the next generation. A joyous and positive person, she has left many appealing compositions and also wrote music for films and the theatre. There is no question about her achievements. I knew her from the time she was first noticed by the Genesis Foundation and I was fortunate to attend several of her premieres, and not just the ones commissioned by Genesis that you can read about elsewhere on this site.

But above all I remember her as a warm, energetic and most loyal person; a loving wife to her husband, a fine and devoted mother. From the time I met her, I never had a birthday or Christmas without a card from her. She was one of those people who kept in touch, sometimes sporadically, but always reliably. And her humanity and warmth show in her compositions.

Isidora graduated from the Faculty of Musical Arts in Belgrade. She was subsequently engaged as a professor of composition at the same faculty from 2002. As opera intendant David Pountney, who presented an opera by her for the Bregenz Festival, has said, she had a totally original and extremely appealing voice as a composer. She was Serbian with a strong sense of her roots but she also spent a lot of time abroad and was really, like all artists, a citizen of the world. She represented, and portrayed in her work, all that is best and most exciting about our world, our humanity.  She had a successful career and a reasonable amount of recognition for her talent in her lifetime but she has left us far too soon after a long battle with illness. We are all poorer for losing the works that clearly would have come; and for losing such a splendid human being from this world.

Mel Cooper

Former Deputy Director, Genesis Foundation

This summer, the Genesis Foundation announced the Genesis Covid-19 Artists Fund, a £100,000 rescue fund for freelancers participating in the training programmes run in the foundation’s name by its partner organisations: the Young Vic, The Sixteen, the National Theatre, the Almeida Theatre and LAMDA. This emergency fund will go some way to ensuring the survival of the many freelancers involved in these vital schemes. Later in the year, a major new Genesis Fund, tailored to support individual artists facing unprecedented hardship, will be announced.

In view of the devastating impact of Covid-19, the Board of the Genesis Foundation, which has been nurturing emerging artists for the past 20 years, is prioritising funding for its established partners and for freelance artists whose livelihoods and careers have been jeopardised by the pandemic. As a consequence of this response to an unprecedented crisis, the Foundation has been obliged to reconsider its potential commitment to several forthcoming projects.

Among these is Hackney Council’s project honouring the Windrush Generation, and specifically two artworks, by artists Thomas J Price and Veronica Ryan, set to be unveiled in 2021. John Studzinski,  Founder and Chairman of the Genesis Foundation, has championed this important project from the outset. The Foundation was hoping to contribute funding towards its realisation, but after careful consideration, and with regret, has decided to withdraw from further participation in the planning for the two artworks.

In addition to his commitment to emerging artists, John Studzinski has a long history of supporting human rights causes. Until June 2020 he was a non-executive Director at the Home Office, providing external advice from the private sector and focusing on abolishing modern slavery through disrupting its proliferation via British corporate supply chains. He is also a co-founder of the Arise Foundation, which combats slavery and human trafficking.

Unfortunately, inaccurate critical references have recently been made on social media to the Foundation’s potential involvement in Hackney Council’s Windrush project. These have distracted attention from the admirable ideals and artistic values that have driven the entire project, and which will no doubt continue to define it as it reaches fruition in 2021. The Windrush sculptures need to be made, and the Genesis Foundation feels sure that Hackney Council will find the support it needs to realise them and pay due tribute to the Windrush Generation. The Genesis Foundation looks forward to seeing this project develop and wishes it every success. In the meantime, and as the pandemic crisis continues, the Foundation will prepare to announce details before the end of 2020 of its further support for freelance artists in the UK.

Students gather in the RA Schools Library. Photo by Cat Garcia.

The Genesis Foundation and the Royal Academy of Arts are delighted to announce an exciting new tool, designed exclusively for graduates of the RA Schools. The Genesis Graduates Network is a new online resource which brings together case studies, recorded programme content, a graduates events calendar, external content and a new forum where graduates can exchange ideas, thus providing graduates of the RA Schools with access to relevant resources and new ways to connect with each other.

The idea for a Genesis Network came from Rebecca Salter, President of the Royal Academy (then Keeper of the Royal Academy), recipient of the 2020 Genesis Prize for her work guiding the RA Schools. Reflecting the crucial role of mentoring in the development of new artistic talent, which is at the core of the Genesis Foundation’s ethos, she has used the prize money to develop a new programme that will provide graduates of the RA Schools with the professional skills and resilience training needed to survive as practising artists in the commercial world. In addition to this work, Rebecca has been keen to create a place where graduates can share their experience and knowledge with each other, and communicate whenever they need to.

As well as providing a way for RA Schools graduates to be in touch with each other in a much more immediate way, the Royal Academy will use the Genesis Network to communicate with the graduates on what they’re working on, such as relevant opportunities, or new shows and events at the RA.

Rebecca Salter, President of the Royal Academy, said:

“I am honoured to have been awarded the Genesis Prize 2020, which has enabled us to provide extended support for Royal Academy Schools students and graduates. The generous backing of the Genesis Foundation has made it possible for us to offer a series of resilience training sessions, teaching techniques to help overcome stress and adversity – a vital skill in these difficult times.
We have also built a new online platform hosting a variety of resources to boost professional practice and host a forum for graduates. This allows them to connect with the RA Schools community in a variety of ways, from exchanging advice to sharing opportunities. I know this exchange of experience and knowledge will have a lasting benefit for both graduates and current students and the legacy of the Genesis Prize 2020 will live on in this innovative initiative.”

Below are some of the features of the Genesis Graduates Network: