After a couple of ‘unsettled’ years, the 2022 Outdoor Arts season is getting underway, so OAUK is hosting a short series of Drop-In refresher sessions to help you get back on the road.
These are very light-touch events for you to have a quick refresh knowledge and a few nudges about how to make things work in some important areas. We’ll be asking the speakers to share their top ten tips to help get you through the summer.
Our second webinar, Making It Accessible, offers some simple measures and advice on making outdoor work accessible for both audiences and companies. It runs from 11-12 on 23 Jun, with 30 minutes for the speakers and 30 minutes for questions.
- Sho Shibata, Stopgap Dance | @Stopgapdance | @ATweetOfSho
Sho was actively involved in the performing arts in Japan as a child, performing in various children’s television and film productions as well as on stage with ‘Les Miserables’ directed by John Caird and ‘Waiting for Godot’ directed by the late Yukio Ninagawa.
He then moved to UK in 1995 and graduated from London School of Economics and Political Science in 2005 with a degree in Philosophy and Social Psychology. His studies gave him a theoretical understanding of how discrimination and segregation come about in social settings. After graduation, Sho worked at Arts Council England, South East and joined Stopgap Dance Company in 2008 to manage touring, outreach and dance development projects.
Sho began producing Stopgap’s outdoor productions in 2009 with ‘Tracking’ and built its profile in the outdoor arts sector. His endeavours culminated with a Cultural Olympiad tour of ‘SPUN Productions’ in 2012. After successfully completing ‘SPUN’, Sho joined the company’s senior management as the company’s full-time producer, then progressed to Executive Producer.
- Rachael Veazey, Deaf Explorer | @deafexplorer | @rchlvzy
Deaf explorer’s community development work always begins with Deaf artists, leading the way. We work in the art forms areas of Combined Arts, Visual Arts, Theatre & Dance. In 2020 widened our work with artists to include outdoor arts and augmented reality. Birmingham based we are creative producers and creative enablers, empowering Deaf artists to access arts opportunities, troubleshoot problems and mediate between the deaf and hearing. Our purpose is to support talented Deaf artists to achieve their ambitions in the arts; described by digital artist John Finn as his “Guardian Angels”. We are project managers and connect deaf artists to hearing professionals. There is national demand for our expertise & support established Deaf artists working in the performing arts to take on artistic leadership roles & emerging Deaf artists to develop their careers with DYCP grants. We are Access consultants for Coventry City of Culture, Critical Mass, Birmingham Hippodrome. During Lockdown we developed online audiences using our Facebook and YouTube channel. Artistic commissions screened on our Facebook can reach 3500 views & you tube 995 views. With artists, Billy Read & Ruth Montgomery we regularly reach young deaf people in schools.
- Martin Wilson, Tin Arts / IncludFest | @TINarts | @IncludFest | @MartinatTIN
Originally from Wales, Martin went to Liverpool University in 1991 to study to become a Physical Education teacher before discovering a passion for dance and changing course in 1993 to a Dance Degree.
Upon leaving Liverpool, Martin went on to study for two more years at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance where a sustained injury forced Martin to leave dance for a short while and move to Brighton to work in a foreign language school.
Martin, along with Tess Chaytor, the Artistic Director at TIN Arts, moved to the North East in 1998 and co-founded TIN Arts in 1999. Martin oversees all strategic development at TIN Arts. He was made an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday honours in 2022.
- Angus MacKechnie, OutdoorArtsUK | @OutdoorArtsUK | @OutdoorArtsPRO | @AngusMackers
Angus is the Director of OutdoorArtsUK. Previously he worked at the National Theatre, where he was Producer of the Watch This Space Festival and the Platforms programme and was given the Rayne Award for his services to the company.
He worked as director on two pieces with the circus/dance company Joli Vyann and served on the boards of Mimbre and Upswing. He was a Fellow on the 2014/5 Clore Cultural Leadership Programme.
Previously, he ran a small-scale touring theatre company and worked as an actor, director and writer, after training at Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
