Diverse Actions awarded Arts Council England Ambition for Excellence grant

Diverse Actions is a Live Art UK initiative which champions culturally diverse (BME: Black and Minority Ethnic) ambition, excellence and talent in Live Art.  Diverse Actions builds on Live Art’s vital role as a practice of artistic innovation and a space to express complex ideas of cultural identity.

Diverse Actions has four strands of activity:

• Professional development: to attract, encourage and support a new generation of performance makers.

• New work – development, presentation and touring: to enhance and deepen existing development and presentation opportunities for performance makers.

• Leadership: to strengthen the national network for the development and presentation of Live Art and empower new leaders across the theatre sector.

• Legacy: to stimulate and disseminate discourse and dialogue about cultural diversity and performance.

Over three years, commencing in April 2017, LAUK member organisations will support 14 bursaries, 9 workshops, 15 residencies, 15 commissions, 3 international masterclasses, 15 tours, a publication and a symposium.

The legacy of Diverse Actions will be held by the practitioners who participate and benefit from the initiative – those new to Live Art and those who extend their practice.

Daniel Brine, Director of Cambridge Junction, said:

“I’m delighted Live Art UK has been awarded this significant grant for our project Diverse Actions. It is fantastic that Arts Council England has responded to the demand for an exciting and targeted programme of talent development, new work and leadership for artists from culturally diverse backgrounds working in Live Art. Over three years Diverse Actions will enable a step-change in Live Art in the UK. We expect to see active leaders working within our sector; fired-up Live Art practitioners, skilled-up for the challenges of the future; and more work by artists, distributed more widely. At Cambridge Junction we’re looking forward to leading this project and working with our partners from across the UK to make Diverse Actions a success.”

Lois Keidan, Co-Director of the Live Art Development Agency (coordinators of the Live Art UK network), said:

“Live Art is an exciting space for artists from culturally diverse backgrounds and has played a critical role in shaping the discourses of identity politics, and in breaking apart dominant narratives and traditions of representation. The Live Art UK network came into being in the 1990s to support marginalised artists and help create a culture that better reflected the diversity of the UK. Live Art UK is delighted that Diverse Actions will enable the network to substantially advance its work in these areas by collaborating with some of the most innovative artists, producers and thinkers in the UK on an ambitious programme of professional development, commissioning, leadership, and legacy projects.”

Diverse Actions is led by Cambridge Junction on behalf of LAUK, and supported by an Arts Council England Ambition for Excellence grant.