Find out which artists and producers have been awarded bursaries to attend IETM, a major performing arts networking event in Europe
Cheryl Martin, one of the bursary winners. Photograph: fotocad
We have awarded 14 bursaries to BAME (black, Asian or minority ethnic) artists and producers to attend IETM Bucharest, an important international performing arts networking event. This is the third time the British Council has helped BAME practitioners from the UK to attend IETM, as part of our mission to represent Britain in all its diversity.
IETM (Informal European Theatre Meeting) is a network of over five hundred performing arts organisations and individuals working in contemporary performance in Europe and all over the world. It commissions publications and research projects, and advocates for the value of performing arts. Its events are a great opportunity to meet international colleagues and to broaden your understanding of the global opportunities and challenges for performing arts in the 21st century.
"An incredible network of artists that is completely new to me"
“It is an incredible network of artists that is completely new to me! Members included festivals, companies, producers, theatres, research and resource centres, universities and institutional bodies,” says Keith Saha, previous bursary winner and Co-Artistic Director of 20 Stories High.
We had originally planned to award six bursaries but we received so many outstanding applications that we more than doubled the number of awards. The winners are:
Aisha Zia, writer and producer
Melanie Abrahams, spoken word producer
Ria Hartley, interdisciplinary artist
Nadia Iftkhar, dance artist
Debo Adebayo, Producer (Tamasha)
Natasha Bucknor, Executive Director (Talawa Theatre Company)
Karena Johnson, director and producer
Rachael Young, performance artist
Tobi Kyeremateng, theatre and poetry producer
Tarik Elmaoutawakil, Creative Producer (Marlborough Theatre)
Chanje Kunda poet, playwright and performance artist
Cheryl Martin writer, performer and director
Yolanda Mercy actor and playwright
Harpreet Kaur consultant, arts manager and creative practitioner
“We are delighted that such a dynamic group of artists and producers will be joining us in Bucharest for the next IETM meeting in order to foster new European connections,” says Nadine Patel, our Theatre and Dance Programme Manager who works with EU Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa. “The focus of this meeting is to explore the challenges of making a living as an artist, and our bursary winners will have lots to contribute to this discussion.”
The British Council is an associate member of IETM and members of our Theatre and Dance team will be on hand to support the participants.
Previous winners are:
IETM Valencia, November 2016 – bursaries from the British Council, Arts Council England and Unlimited: Sonali Bhattacharyya, Tarik Elmoutawakil, Suriya Roberts-Grey, Zinzi Minott, Myah Jeffers, Valerie Synmoie, Bobbie Tiwana, Selina Thompson, Yolanda Mercy, Laura Dajao, Amit Sharma (Graeae), Alice Holland and Mark Smith.
IETM Amsterdam, April 2016 – bursaries from the British Council: Afshan D’souza-Lodhi, Deborah Badoo, JiaXuan Hon, Valerie Synmoie, Oluwatoyin Odunsi and Keith Saha.
We will announce new bursaries in autumn 2017 to attend the next big IETM meeting. Check back on this website, subscribe to our newsletter, or follow us @UKTheatreDance on Twitter for future announcements.
Find out more:
> Read Keith Saha's blog about IETM Amsterdam in April 2016
> See Afshan D'souza-Lodhi's blog about IETM Amsterdam
> View IETM’s report on how we can preserve the diversity of the arts
> Find out more about IETM Bucharest
