Creative/Producer Lab

Oct/Nov 2023

 
 

The ‘Creative/Producer Lab’ was established to offer Global Majority and underrepresented creatives in Wales time, space and money to develop an idea. 

Creatives will have the opportunity to:

  • Practise their artistic skills

  • Collaborate with other people

  • Produce material that can be shared digitally

The material and ideas they generate could lead to future work, pitches and commissions, with each participant being mentored by Fio’s Artistic Director, Dr. Sita Thomas. The programme also encourages participants to develop their producing skills, with the ambition that they will grow the confidence to generate and self-produce this work themselves in the future.

Meet the class of 2023

Elicia Axon

Following her time on Fio’s ‘Arise - Wales Creatives’ programme, Elicia will work in a studio to create a multimedia immersive experience centring a bathtub, incorporating digital projection, movement and sound, all exploring themes of self-worth and resilience.

Tony Cordoba

Tony was a writer and performer in The Shoemaker, Fio’s partnership with Welsh National Opera and Oasis Cardiff last year, directed by Sita. Tony will create and produce a new piece of Latin-American music (on guitar and percussion). The piece will explore love, resilience, resistance and loss. We will film a music video featuring bachata dance.

Tijesunimi Olakojo

Teejay, who was a member of Fio’s ‘Arise - Wales Creatives’, will write and perform a monologue exploring the ‘gaps in-between’ when black actors go from the highs of being in work to the lows of what happens next. “Who are you when no one is watching?”

Carmen Almeida

Carmen Almeida, a member of the first directors cohort of 'Arise - Wales Creatives' will film a new lip sync video as her drag alter ego 'DeeDe Vine'. This fabulous Spanish character will be landing in Cardiff Bay, exploring the area in all its glory, and tackling her impending loneliness through creativity and performance. 

Mehdi Razi

Mehdi was a member of the ‘Arise - Wales Creatives’ director cohort. Mehdi will spend a week in the rehearsal room practising his directing skills. He will work with the Persian novel, The Blind Owl, as stimuli, along with a choreographer and dancers to explore how he would approach staging the text.

Tia Camilleri &

Tumi Williams

Along with Co-Creator Sita, this group will continue to develop their collaborative working relationships from ‘The Jollof House Party Opera’ that Sita and Tumi co-created, and Tia assistant directed. The team will come up with the concept for a new hip-hop musical exploring themes of fatherhood, dual-heritage identity, and what we pass down of our cultural heritage to our children.

 

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