June 2020 Kabosh Newsletter

June 2020 Kabosh Newsletter

June 2020

We hope you and yours are keeping well during this difficult time.
We thought we would share some news from Kabosh to hopefully brighten your day

With investment from the Arts & Business NI creative seed fund we commissioned actor Gerard Jordan to create 3 video tutorials with his 10-year-old daughter Eve.  The Apptastic Tutorials offer you and your family an entertaining step-by-step guide to get the most out of 3 free creative apps: Snapseed (photo editor), Gacha Life (comic strip storyboard) and Funimate (dance video).   

The perfect way to keep you all creatively inspired and entertained in lock-down.  Get in touch if you’d like to purchase the tutorials or find out more information info@kabosh.net; Purchasing the app tutorials is one of the ways you can can help support local artists and Kabosh during this difficult period. 

Check us out on page 14 of the Arts & Business NI Remote Family Engagement Brochure alongside many other innovative projects: 

We have been developing our working partnership with OUTing the Past International Festival of LGBT+ History (OTP). 

The latest project is the creation of the audio component for the ‘Queering the North‘ touring exhibition: a joint project between Schools OUT(UK), OTP & The Museum of Free Derry. The audio scripts, drawn directly Cara-Friend archive (held at PRONI), provide a powerful testament and unique insights into ‘queer’ life in Northern Ireland during the 1970s and 80s.

Giving voice to these remarkable extracts from letters and phone-call notes are Paula Carson-Lewis, Christopher Grant, Brendan Quinn and Simon Sweeney (who performed in ‘A Queer Ceili at the Marty Forsythe‘) together with playwright Dominic Montague, as well as Colm Doran, Clare Hall, Neil Keery, Rhiann Jeffrey, Aine Maguire, Aodhfionn McCambridge, Calum McIlwee, Richard O’Leary, Patrick Scullion and  Amanda Verlaque under the direction of Fionnuala Kennedy, thanks to Community Relation Council funding.

Several tour dates have already been confirmed and the exhibition will visit these urban and rural venues as soon as the current health crisis has abated. Enquires to host this pioneering powerful and moving exhibition are still welcome, please contact Dr Jeff Evans (OTP Project Coordinator) jgm.evans@btinternet.com 
We are in the early stages of several long-term vital projects supported by Arts Council NI which we are very excited about: 

WOE: Walking on Eggshells by Liz Cullinane.  Liz was Kabosh Associate Artist 2019.20 and worked with us on many projects including Green & Blue, Belfast Bred and Inventors. This is a multi-artform installation looking at the stigma of familial abuse supported by Nexus NI.  Liz is currently collaborating with composers Sam Gibson and Claire Galway (director of Féile Women’s Singing Group) exploring design, song, composition and spoken word. Other artistic collaborators will be introduced as the project progresses.    

The Naked Truth by Nicky Harley.  A dark comedy centring around the themes of abandonment, emotional manipulation and self-discovery. Nicky previously worked with us as an actress in A Bellaghy Tale and the Arts Over Borders Festival

Reform and Resistance by Dominic Montague. This new play will be inspired by a series of interviews funded by CRC looking at unionist activism in the late 1970’s within the LGBTQ+ community. In addition to working as Project Facilitator with Kabosh for four years, Dominic scripted A Queer Ceili at the Marty Forsythe and Quartered

Rosemary Jenkinson is currently scripting a new play exploring human trafficing, her previous commissions with Kabosh include the powerful Lives in Translation, Be My Guest at Hillsborough Castle and Ghosts of Drumglass in Cranmore Park.   

Several Kabosh projects have been postponed indefinitely but we do have exciting plans afoot for Eastside Arts Festival in August and Belfast International Arts Festival 2020 so keep in touch!

Keep an eye out for our Kabosh audience survey and a chance to win a £50 voucher for Sawers. 

Additional Information:  

If you are an artist and on Facebook we would encourage you to join the Freelancers NI Surviving Corona it is filled with plenty of useful support information and register with artistsni.com to receive updates.  

If you are in a position to offer much-needed financial support to local practitioners  via the Bread And Butter Fund  please donate  

Theatre NI & Dance Resource Base have merged to form Theatre & Dance NI. Their new email address is projects@theatreanddanceni.org if you need to any advice get in touch.  

Our friends at Three’s Theatre Company have released audio tracks from their previous productions so  listen to some Theatre On Your Sofa
In the meantime, here is footage of the wonderful Victory Rollers performing for the residents of Sydenham Court Care home on VE Day