sustained theatre

We're really excited to announce that our new website: stunlive.com has launched! Check it out for all the latest jobs, opportunities, news and events. Some of our members have posted profiles of their work so do take a look. To join us go to: stunlive.com/members/join

I have got so much to tell you and so little time so I will be very brief.

November/ December
We met with ACE to discuss the Manchester leg of spaces project at Zion Arts. The photographs are on our STUN face book. In November we met with National Artists team to discuss the leadership, voted in a National Vice Chair Ekua Bayunu, Spaces project, IT report and evaluation and agreed to make a new more transparent decision making policy in the new year.
We started creating a new funding strategy.

January

Jonathon Man
We met with Jonathon Man who told us some very interesting inside information regarding gaining international work and taking shows to New York and China. He has made some invaluable contacts internationally and we hope to keep the conversation alive as he continues his journey in China. He will be back in the UK in May and we shall continue to making steps in creating opportunities for our members to start taking their work global.
 

International..
Speaking of international we have some great news following our reception at DECIBEL,  Chanje Kunda  gained a six month residency in Amsterdam after  a contact made with Sasha Dees one the Decibel International Delegates. She is updating us all with her journey via face book.
 

AGM
We had a very creative AGM where Darren Pritchard, Benji Reid, Tony Watt, Marcus Hercules, Buzrak Mubrak, Dora Da Cruz, Sarah Sayeed shared their ongoing successes, projects and encouraged us all by sharing their success secrets and new ways of working to sustain our practices. It was very exciting! We are currently editing a video to share with you. Miselo Kunda was voted Chair.
 

Producer Development
Met with ACE’s Leroy Philbrook regarding the Producer Development and were advised to make an application in April when the new funding streams come through.

February
Met with Julia Samuels from 20 stories high to discuss how to take forward the North Road show. She knows everybody! She also told us about the current climate regarding the black network in Liverpool which helped encourage us even more to take our road show to Liverpool.

March
Had a national meeting in Leeds where we discussed the Spaces project, each region shared their current Hub news and agreed to focus on one or two goals per year nationally. We also asked Isobel Hawson if she would share her experience with ST via video and proposed different ways of transfer of knowledge.

That is it for now...

We are rebranding STUN and as a member/subscriber we want to include you within this process. The questions we are asking on the survey are all on one page, and you will be rewarded with a mini STUN cocktail and cupcake day or evening for just a few minutes of your time. You are valuable, and your opinion is very much appreciated. Click the link below to go to the survey.

Thanks Missy

Northwest Artists feature in Decibel
Hello Hub

Wow the summer holidays went far too quickly. Decibel is just around the corner. I am delighted to now be able to formally announce that Sustained Theatre will be hosting and coordinating a few things at Decibel this Year. The NW hub will be hosting a reception on THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 15th and will start at 6.15pm for one hour. It will be held at the Zion Arts Centre and we will be catering for 300 people. If you are a member of our Hub and would like us include your activity in our presentation then please contact me directly by emailing chairnw@sustainedtheatre.org

Have a look at the sample of great local talent that will be appearing during the festival, in the images attached.

I am also very proud to announce that Misha Bryan our star performer at our last OPEN HUB has now made it to boot camp on the XFactor. We will be helping to promote her and get your votes in the not too distant future. You heard it here first!

Miselo Kunda
Chair
NW Hub Sustained Theatre

Hello every-one!

What a busy Autumn we've had here at Sustained Theatre in the Northwest. I would like to say a special welcome to all our new national and international members.

We officially moved into the Zion Arts Centre this September 2011. It’s so exciting that slowly but surely the hard work, that everyone involved with Sustained Theatre over the last 6-10 years, is now finally moving forward. Thank you for your continued support.

We are pleased to be leading in developing a "Space" for Artists. Ours is the first bid, out all the HUBS around the country, into the Arts Council and the Renew programme!

The bid went in early October and we welcomed Senior Arts Council Officer Ian Perry, and his collegues Mark Cummins and Leroy Philbrook to Zion on the 21st November to clarify the contents of the application and show them the space first hand. We will get an answer in February, so watch this space for news!

We'll keep you up-to-date with news from the other HUBS in the New Year of Spaces being developed on your behalf in Yorkshire, the West Midlands, the North East and London.

We hosted a reception for all the Decibel Performing Arts Showcase and International Delegates and received several comments thanking us for the best food and wine of the week. We also gained 50 new members that evening, thanks the hard work of our leadership team. Thank you.

Next up, working closely within a new collaboration with the Manchester Mela, Kino Film, Zion Arts and Contact, we submitted an application to Creative England to run a BAME Family Film Programme in the summer 2012. If successful, we will be recruiting Artists to work with families to develop interactive creative workshops with children from 0 - 13yrs,

The wonderful Jonathan Man hot from the Beijing International Fringe Festival and New York is coming up to share his experiences with you all and to discuss our next steps internationally on the 11th January, see the article in the northwest events.

An important date for your diary. Thursday 26th January will be our AGM,

and finally, we hope you all have some fun time, some rest, and some inspiring times over the holiday period.

All the best from the STUN Leadership Team!

Great news, we have finally got the green light from the Arts Council for the Sustained Theatre Spaces projects to go ahead with applications for capital funding in advance of any new capital programme being formally launched.

STNW are now writing a joint business plan with Zion Arts to develop a brand new space for making new work and we are  putting our application in soon.

Hulme Music Festival
Big congratulations to Zion Arts and friends in making the Hulme Music Festival happen. The headline news in the MEN was that the festival had been axed but the people spoke and made it happen. We are somehow sustaining what we believe in. Keeping the arts alive. Funding cuts won’t stop us.

Miselo Kunda
Chair
NW Hub Sustained Theatre

We respect your privacy and will not share your contact details with third party organisations.

• Free tickets to selected performance events
• Discounts from leading venues in the region for rehearsal/performance space
• Discounts from creative practitioners/service providers e.g. photography
• Opportunities to travel around the country to engage with other regional Hubs
• Opportunities to represent the Hub at national and international events
• Free e-marketing via the Sustained Theatre website
• Free bi-monthly e-newsletter to market your performances / events
• Information about regional, national and international opportunities
• Professional training and development opportunities
• Access to mentoring from key individuals in the Black and Asian Theatre Sector
• Opportunity to contribute your ideas to the future infrastructure of the Black & Asian Theatre Sector
• Access to critical debate regional events series
• Access to national debate via online forums

It's free to join Sustained Theatre - North West Hub so fill in the online subscriber form above.

For more information about these benefits, contact the Hub administrator Maya Chowdhry 

The North West region of England ’s creative sector is a vibrant ecology of differing Sector artists, organisation's and  venues that contribute to the performing arts sector.

Sustained Theatre Hub North Westand the Performing Arts Network & Development Agency (PANDA) have started a process of partnership build that assists Black Asian and Minority Ethnic Sector artists to benefit from industry experiences of the performing arts sector.

Over the next year, key discussions will be take place that identifyopportunities that  allow Sector artists growth. PANDA and North West Hub will be encouraging new build of cross linked projects that focus upon the ‘cultivation’ of regional talent. This includes; membership growth for both networks, new mentoring opportunities with the industry, professional development of skills that feature opportunities for artists to secure bookings and  touring opportunities.

South Africa Grahamstown Festival

As part of the new emerging partnership with PANDA, Leadership Team North West will be promoting the PANDA publication ‘Northern Exposures’at South Africa’s Grahamstown Festival (www.nafest.co.za), a key international festival for makers of theatre and performance.

‘Northern Exposures’ provides quality information on a selection of North West Sector artists who work in theperforming arts sector of dance, music, theatre, live art and spoken word.  

‘Northern Exposures’ Online Access

Artists  can learn more on the role and work of PANDA and Sustained Theatre at following websites that also have a  free PDF download of the ‘Northern Exposures’ publication at;

www.panda.org.uk

www.sustainedtheatre.org.uk/nwhub

Contacts:

Sector artists interested in finding out more about the role and work of Leadership Team North West, Sustained Theatre Hub & PANDA please contact:

Anwen Lewis, Administrator, North West Hub: anwen@liveamp.org.uk

Anne - Marie Crowther: Director, PANDA  anne-marie@panda-arts.org.uk

Partner Details:

PANDA: Performing Arts & Network Development Agency

Supports and nurtures members working or wishing to work within the performing arts sector,  creating an environment for business development and growth. PANDA is for anyone interested in theatre, dance, street theatre, music theatre, live art, multi-disciplinary arts or writing for performancein the North West.

Sustained Theatre North West Hub

Represents award winning artists and companies, innovators and visionaries driven by a passion to bring new life into the performing arts. Supported by Arts Council England, Sustained Theatre is a national initiative led by Sector artists that has nine regional hubs that are operational in the nine English regions.

Leadership Team North West is a grouping of Sector artists who facilitate all delivery within the region for all Sustained Theatre Hub priorities. The North West hubs vision statement for Sustained Theatre on a regional level features;

• Act as a network linking Black Asian Minority Ethnic theatre practitioners across the North West
• Lobby for positive change at a regional and national level 
• Create opportunities for Black Asian Minority Ethnic theatre practitioners to present their work at a regional, national and international level