Each year, award-winning touring company New Perspectives support a group of early career artists from the East Midlands through a year-long development programme from their Nottingham base.
In 2022, New Perspectives will welcome Imogen Beech, Amy Crighton, Kate Spencer, Jack Burrows, Abigail Pidgeon, Lisa February, Dan Scott, John Booker, Joe Strickland, Emma-Louise Howell, Laurie Owen, Stacey Moon-Tracy, Tionee Joseph and Bridie Squires as their New Associates following open applications.
This year’s cohort are drawn from across the East Midlands’ region from Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, NE Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire. The New Associates include Kate Spencer who has appeared for two years as Coronation Street regular Grace Vickers, and Bush Theatre’s Literary Assistant Amy Crighton, demonstrating the breadth of creative skills from artists to workshop leaders, dramaturgy to digital artist, spoken word artist to teacher.
This opportunity is open to all artists and practitioners working in theatre and live performance, based or working in the East Midlands region. Previous New Associates have included playwright Naomi Obeng, shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Playwriting and currently part of ETT Playwriting programme Nationwide Voices; Actor Anna-Kate Golding who has recently wrapped on the feature film The Colour Room opposite David Morrisey with recent stage credits including Extra Time at Derby Theatre. Director Callum Berridge who co-assisted Rob Hastie & Anthony Lau on the Crucible’s 2021 production of Chris Bush’s The Band Plays On; Ravelle-Sadé Fairman Nottingham based Performance poet who has gone on to join the company longer term with her appointment to New Perspectives Board of Trustees.
Over the course the programme, associates will work closely with the New Perspectives team to develop their work, learn from New Perspectives’ expertise and gain valuable insights into their leadership and governance. The shape of the programme will vary depending on the requirement of each artist. The company’s aim, through a blend of in person and online sessions, is to offer the specific support early career artists need to take a crucial next step.
Angharad Jones, Artistic Director and CEO, said, “The New Associates programme provides bespoke practical training and knowledge exchange as well as fostering a collective peer network that nurtures longer term collaborations, networks and partnerships. Our 2022-23 cohort is brimming with talent and represents an exciting mix of artists across a range of disciplines. It’s clear from the unprecedented volume of brilliant applications we received that the future of talent in the region is bright; it is up to organisations with the resources and skills to ensure everyone has the opportunity to reach their maximum potential”
