Press
Release
July 2019
2019 Rural
Touring Awards Winners Announced!
After a glitzy awards ceremony at the Hi-VIS: NRTF Conference 2019, held in Bangor, Wales 2 – 4 July 2019. National Rural Touring Forum is delighted to announce the winners
of Rural Touring Awards 2019. Hosting the awards was Kate Fox, stand up poet, who was joined by the nominees and the majority of the rural touring sector, including schemes, programmers, directors and performers to celebrate the talent and passion of this vibrant creative sector.
The Awards enable the NRTF to raise the profile of the professionalism prevalent
in rural touring. It is an opportunity to draw attention
to the quality of performance and performing companies as well as to
collaborations and the network of individuals who go above and beyond on behalf
of the health and cohesion of their local community. The awards reward not just
the winners but everyone who has performed, organised and taken part in rural arts & touring.
The awards were judged by three industry
professionals - Jude Henderson, Director - Federation of Scottish
Theatres, Ian McMillan - poet, journalist, playwright, and broadcaster and
Kate Green, Deputy Editor - Country Life Magazine.
Awards Categories
·
Breakthrough
Performance of the Year
·
Touring Scheme
Collaboration of the Year
·
Favourite
Performance of the Year – best show you saw
·
Voluntary Promoter
or Voluntary Promoting Group of the Year
·
Young Person of the
Year
·
The NRTF Special
Award
Full
information on Shortlist - https://ruraltouring.blogspot.com/2019/06/rural-touring-awards-nominees-announced.html
WINNERS
Young
Person of the Year
Nominees –
Jasmin Lowrie (20) & Sam Pullen (14)
WINNER - Jasmine Lowrie
I love music, both listening and playing and am also really interested
in sound engineering. I also enjoy photography and have recently started taking
photographs at Live events.
QUOTE FROM NOMINEE: “I’m surprised by the nomination but honoured
to have been nominated and glad to be making a positive impact on rural
touring”
JUDGES THOUGHTS: It feels to me that Jasmine has gone deeper into
the idea of what Rural Touring is, and she seems like a really bright prospect
for the future.
QUOTE FROM PUBLIC NOMINATION: "Since Joining Borders YoungCreative Jasmine has shown real commitment to the project" Anon.
QUOTE FROM PUBLIC NOMINATION: "Since Joining Borders YoungCreative Jasmine has shown real commitment to the project" Anon.
Break
Through Performance of the Year
Nominees –
Sophia Hatfield from Stute Theatre, Theatre company Dante or Die, Haunted Man
by Kindred Theatre
WINNER – Sophia Hatfield from Stute Theatre
BIO: 'Common Lore' is a
fast-paced, multi-skilled solo show by actor and theatre-maker Sophia Hatfield
(aka Stute Theatre), which retells Angela Carter's collection of Fairy Tales
for a modern, young rural audience. A fast-paced fusion of rap, spoken-word,
live electronic music, multi-rolling and physical theatre, this production
attempted to push the boundaries of solo storytelling through the creative use
of technology - with live projections and sound cues triggered entirely by
the performer on a mobile phone as part of the action. Inspired by interviews
with young people in libraries across the North West, this show took relevant,
inspiring theatre to libraries, youth theatres, schools and rural venues
engaging young people who do not traditionally access theatre.
QUOTE FROM NOMINEE: I am absolutely
delighted that the creativity, ambition, passion and hard work of the wonderful
team behind Common Lore has been recognised through this nomination. Whilst
incredibly rewarding, creating and touring theatre for young adults can be
challenging. From the very first commissioning meeting with Spot On, through
rehearsals and when touring the show, I was blown away by the enthusiasm,
dedication and hard work of the many rural touring organisations who made this
show happen. The rural touring community took a risk on a new piece, with the
hope of welcoming and inspiring the next generation of theatre audiences,
whilst supporting Stute Theatre as an emerging company and I'm incredibly
grateful. Thank you so much!
JUDGES THOUGHTS: This feels really
ground-breaking because of its brief to appeal to young people in Library
spaces. I like the idea of the show and the way it was written and performed.
QUOTE FROM PUBLIC NOMINATION: "Sophia uses these three stories to
reflect on what it is like to be an un-wealthy 18-year-old in the north, yet it
is done with wit, humour, and sophistication. Students, apprentices,
grandparents and anyone else who was ever 18 will love this piece" Anon
Special
Award
Nominees –
Karen Jeremiah, Theatr Bara Caws & Sian Kerry, Arts Alive
WINNER – Theatr
Bara Caws
BIO: Bara Caws was established over forty
years ago to fulfil the demand for professional theatre for the Welsh community in the Welsh community and we are by now the oldest
professional community theatre working through the medium of Welsh. We
continue to provide a unique service to our grassroots audiences at the
heart of our nation and are proud to be recognised as a mainstay of the
Welsh theatrical landscape.QUOTE FROM NOMINEE: We at Theatr Bara Caws are delighted to have been nominated and shortlisted for the National Rural Touring Awards 2019. It’s wonderful to know that our work continues to be appreciated throughout Wales, and we feel passionate that we must continue to strive with our mission of presenting a high quality diverse artistic programme at the very hearts of our communities. Recognition such as this nomination is greatly appreciated - thank you.
JUDGES THOUGHTS: I'm excited and moved by
the fact that they make shows in Welsh, creating new work in a so-called
minority language and challenging the rest of us about our ideas about what art
is and what it can be.
QUOTE FROM PUBLIC NOMINATION: "Theatr Bara Caws is a community theatre company who present original, relevant work to the
widest possible cross-section of people, offering theatrical experiences of the
highest quality, bringing entertainment and excitement, ingenuity and relevance
to the hearts of communities in Wales" Anon
Favourite Performance of the Year
Nominees –
I Ain't Afraid of No Ghost - Little Earthquake, Excalibow by Bowjangles
& Brilliance by Farnham Maltings
WINNER – I Ain't Afraid of No Ghost - Little
Earthquake
BIO: Gareth Nicholls and
Philip Holyman, aka Walsall-based theatre company Little Earthquake, have been
together for 17 years, making work with each other for 14 years and have been
married for (almost) one year. Little Earthquake observes one commandment:
“Thou Shalt Not Bore” — and our next big not boring project is MoonFest,
a nine-day celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11
Moon landing which runs between 16th – 24th July
2019. (Our first wedding anniversary happens to coincide with the day on which
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to land on the surface of
the Moon.)
QUOTE FROM NOMINEE: “We are
very proud rural tourers — the network gives us a unique opportunity to connect
with, learn from and, most of all, entertain audiences who live outside the
catchment areas of major metropolitan arts venues, up and down the country.
It is thanks to the very
existence of the rural touring sector — and to the hard work of the thousands
of people who support it, both paid and unpaid — that artists like us get to
build these lasting relationships with audiences in the first place.
Our “Favourite Performance of
the Year” nomination has come directly from audience members who have
experienced and enjoyed our work — and being shortlisted for this award is a
massive validation of our most fundamental ambition for Little Earthquake: to
make audiences the most important ingredient in everything we do.”
JUDGES THOUGHTS: This show
had clearly really made the audience think about the issues, as well as
entertaining them.
QUOTE FROM PUBLIC NOMINATION: "I even shed a tear as there was a real element of truth to the story. I think out of all the shows I have seen this year it was the most emotionally impactful." Anon
QUOTE FROM PUBLIC NOMINATION: "I even shed a tear as there was a real element of truth to the story. I think out of all the shows I have seen this year it was the most emotionally impactful." Anon
Touring Scheme
Collaboration of the year
Nominees – The Northern Consortium, Carn to Cove and Villages in Action & The
Inn Crowd
WINNER – The Inn Crowd
BIO: InnCrowd is a partnership project from Applause Rural Touring, Creative Arts East
and the National Centre for Writing. The project supports rural pubs
throughout the South East and East of England to host exciting and inspiring
spoken word, poetry and storytelling performances in their pubs reaching and
engaging with non-traditional arts audiences. This collaborative project also
engages national Charity Pub is the Hub as an advisory partner supporting the
project with pub industry expertise and advice. A key aspect of the project is
the support Inn Crowd gives some of the UK’s best spoken word artists to
create, develop and tour their work to new areas. Started in 2016, the scope
and range of the project has increased year on year with overwhelming responses
from audiences and landlords alike w over 200 performances have taken place
primarily in the southeast and further afield in collaboration with rural
touring organisations nationally.
Voluntary Promoter or Voluntary Promoting
Group of the Year
Nominees – Gaynor Morgan Rees and Gwyneth Kensler, David Lane & Yvonne Brown
and the committee at The Dog Inn, Belthorn
BIO: Gwyneth Kensler
- Brought up in Holywell, I attended Bangor University in 1960. I married
my husband in 1965 and then spent time living and working abroad. We settled in
Denbigh in 1980.
After a career teaching French
and Spanish, I stood as a town and county councilor in 1995 and remain a county
councilor. I joined the Theatr Twm o’r Nant committee in 1983 and became a secretary in 1988. About 12 years ago I successfully applied for grants of
£.75m to make the theatre as DDA friendly as possible; our theatre is now
flourishing thanks to our dedicated team of volunteers.
Gaynor Morgan Rees - Born
and bred in AbercwmIboi, South Wales, I have been working as a professional
actress on stage, radio, and television for over half a century. I moved
to Denbigh in 1982; I have been a town councilor since 2004 and was mayor in
2012. I met Gwyneth in 1983 and we soon became involved with Theatr
Twm o’r Nant. Since the refurbishment of the theatre 10 years ago, I
have been the booking officer. The theatre has to be self-supporting since it
does not receive any subsidy; we are all volunteers and give up our time for
free.
QUOTE FROM
NOMINEEs: "We are delighted to have been nominated by Night Out Wales
with whom we have a close and happy relationship. Without the sponsorship of
the Night Out Scheme, we would not be able to hold professional performances at
Theatr Twm o’r Nant. We have a full, varied and exciting programme."
"What a surprise and also
an honour. With funding for the arts so greatly reduced, we are pleased to be
able to do what we can to help promote the arts in Wales."
JUDGES THOUGHTS: They have obviously done an amazing job over 20 years – people like this make the world go around
JUDGES THOUGHTS: They have obviously done an amazing job over 20 years – people like this make the world go around
QUOTE FROM PUBLIC
NOMINATION: "For over twenty years formidable double act Gaynor
Morgan Rees and Gwyneth Kensler from Theatr Twm o’r Nant in Denbigh have booked
performances through the Night Out scheme in both English and
Welsh. In the last four years, they have promoted 36 shows (so far)
and we anticipate many more to come."
More information on the awards and full
explanations can be found on the NRTF website –http://www.ruraltouring.org/work/national-rural-touring-awards-2019
To hear more about
rural touring please visit our website –
www.ruraltouring.org and watch
our film http://www.ruraltouring.org/work/rural-touring-advocacy-film
For more
information contact holly@nrtf.org.uk
Holly
Lombardo, Director, National Rural Touring Forum
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