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 | Lancashire Times Weekend Edition |
9:39 AM 23rd November 2023
arts
Vital Spark Commissioned Work To Showcase At Sydney Opera House
©Pamela Raith Photography.
Aakash Odedra’s Company’s Little Murmur, a dance theatre performance for schools, originally premiered at Belgrave Library in the artistic director’s hometown of Leicester as part of The Spark Festival. Choreographed by Aakash and Lewis Major, this production has toured both nationally across the UK and internationally, in Italy and Ireland.
Aimed at children ages 7+ and based on the true story of his own struggle with letters and words after his diagnosis with dyslexia at a young age, Little Murmur explores the warped and exaggerated realities of living in a world you struggle to process, taking the audience on a heartfelt journey of overcoming the odds.
Little Murmur was commissioned by Vital Spark, an initiative set up by The Spark Arts for Children with the aim of making the Performance for Young Audiences (PYA) sector more relevant and inclusive. Launched in 2018, Vital Spark has engaged 60 under-represented artists, seed-funded 14 new ideas and delivered 7 new productions which have toured the UK and internationally.
Vital Spark creates world-class cultural opportunities for artists who are currently underrepresented in the sector. Vital Spark recognises that every artist is different, so each Vital Spark relationship is bespoke. The programme aims to help change the path of the PYA sector for future generations through development and commissioning opportunities, strategic partnerships and relationship building.
This year’s Vital Spark artists, in association with Baboró International Arts Festival for Children, Inspire: Culture, Learning, Libraries, Attenborough Arts Centre & Lincoln Arts Centre, have just completed a week-long workshop in Leicester with The Spark Arts for Children where they have been developing work to be showcased at next March’s Vital Spark Symposium, ahead of Spark Festival which will take place in Leicester in May.
The Vital Spark Symposium aims to be unapologetic about where the Performance for Young Audience sector is and how far it needs to move to reshape traditional approaches and become truly relevant and inclusive. Artists, directors, programmers, venues, practitioners and funders will be given the opportunity to get together and challenge each other to assess and develop the PYA sector to benefit everyone.
Christopher Gorry, Artistic Director of The Spark said:
“We are thrilled to see work developed as part of the Vital Spark will be performed as far afield as the iconic Sydney Opera House. It’s a clear sign of how important and relevant work produced here in Leicester is and, having spent a week working with this year’s diverse cohort of Vital Spark artists, we’re excited to see how their work develops for the Vital Spark Symposium and Spark Festival in the Spring.”
“This a clear sign of how much Vital Spark has succeeded and evolved. We’re thankful to Arts Council England and Arts Council Ireland for recognising this, supporting its growth and the new wave of artists who are at the forefront of it.”
“We are thrilled to see work developed as part of the Vital Spark will be performed as far afield as the iconic Sydney Opera House. It’s a clear sign of how important and relevant work produced here in Leicester is and, having spent a week working with this year’s diverse cohort of Vital Spark artists, we’re excited to see how their work develops for the Vital Spark Symposium and Spark Festival in the Spring.”
“This a clear sign of how much Vital Spark has succeeded and evolved. We’re thankful to Arts Council England and Arts Council Ireland for recognising this, supporting its growth and the new wave of artists who are at the forefront of it.”
The project is supported by Arts Council England and Arts Council Ireland.
To find out more about Vital Spark, The Vital Spark Symposium or The Spark Arts for Children click here oror follow them @thesparkarts