Winners of the Rural
Touring Awards Announced
The winners of the second annual Rural Touring
Awards have been announced at the National Rural Touring Forum (NRTF) New
Directions conference in Worcester. Nominated by over 350 individuals, and with
winners selected by an industry panel, the awards recognize the valuable work
of productions, venues, promoters, schemes, and staff (find the full list of
winners below).
The independent judging panel comprising
Deborah Clarke (Action with Communities in Rural England ACRE), playwright
Sayan Kent, Reviews Editor and Joint Chief Critic for The Stage, Natasha
Tripney and rural touring promoter Des George, winner of last year’s Best
Promoter award selected the winners from a shortlist announced earlier this
month.
Music performance of the year was won by
Apphia Campbell for her touring show Black is the Colour of my Voice, which in
addition to rural touring, was a sell out show at the Edinburgh Festival
Fringe. Stage performance of the year was won by theatre company Ragged Edge
for their debut production The Chef Show. Written by playwright and broadcaster
Nick Ahad, The Chef Show is part comedy play, part cooking demonstration and
reflects on the villages and market towns where there are ‘Indian’ restaurants
with staff that rarely have any contact with their community apart from serving
them food.
The award for Touring Scheme Collaboration of
the Year was won by Highlights rural touring scheme and November Club for
creating Beyond the End of the Road, a new site-specific musical presented at
eight Northumberland village halls and at Hexham Cattle Mart.
Voluntary promoter of the year was awarded to
Mike Greener from Spittal, Berwick-Upon-Tweed and a Young Person of the Year
was won by a group of young people aged 12-18, the Forest Young Promoters who
each year programme up to three shows for rural touring in Gloucestershire.
The NRTF Special Award was open to all
nominations and seeks to recognise an individual or a group who has made an
outstanding contribution to the world of rural touring. This year’s winner was
Barbara Slack from Highlights Rural Touring Scheme.
One of her nominees said “It's not so much
what Barbara has done in the last 12 months; it's more what she has done in the
past 21 years. Barbara was the first director of Highlights when it began in 1997.
She has grown the organisation from working with a handful of village venues in
four districts of the North Pennines to programming in the region of 160
performances per year in around 65 village and community venues across Cumbria,
County Durham and Northumberland. She has been not only a dedicated and devoted
manager and leader for Highlights, but also an advocate for rural touring
across the UK.”
National Rural Touring Forum is a member-led
organisation that works strategically with partners to develop work and deliver
high quality art experiences that strengthen rural and other communities. It
provides the rural touring network with training, information and networking
services and enable international partnerships and commissions. The organisation
aims to promote better understanding of the value of rural and community
touring through research and advocacy.
The presentation of awards took place at 9pm
on 27th June at Worcester University at the NRTF New Directions conference
SHORTLIST AND AWARDS IN FULL
Music Performance of the Year
WINNER Apphia Campbell - Black Is The Color of
My Voice
Clive Carroll – A Thousand Years of Music
Whalebone – UK Tour
Stage Performance of the Year
Forget Me Not - The Alzheimer's Whodunnit -
Rob Gee
WINNER The Chef Show – Ragged Edge
The Deep - 10ft Tall Theatre
Touring Scheme Collaboration of the Year
WINNER Beyond the End of the Road – Highlights
rural touring scheme (Northumberland, Cumbria and County Durham) and November
Club working together to create and tour a site-specific musical
Common Lore – Solo storytelling show created
via a collaboration between Spot On Lancashire, Cheshire Rural Touring,
Lancashire Libraries and Sophia Hatfield.
Inn Crowd – An initiative enabling rural pubs
to host spoken word-inspired live performance led by touring schemes Applause
Rural Touring and Creative Arts East in partnership with Writers’ Centre
Norwich and Pub Is The Hub.
Voluntary Promoter of the Year
Christine Reilly – Creative Arts East
(Norfolk, Suffolk and the East)
Janet Wood – Highlights (Northumberland,
Cumbria and County Durham)
WINNER Mike Greener - Highlights
(Northumberland, Cumbria and County Durham)
Young Person of The Year
Crystal Zillwood (Dance Artist - Devon)
WINNER Forest Young Promoters - Arts in Rural
Gloucestershire
Hannah Wood (Technical Stage Manager,
Hampshire, Surrey and Wiltshire)
Speaking about the awards, NRTF Director Holly
Lombardo said “It has been a privilege to be a part of this year’s awards for
the first time. Hearing people talk about why they value the productions and
people in Rural Touring Network and why they have made a difference to lives
and their area has been heartwarming and inspiring.
Ian McMillan said “'I'm proud to be part of
these awards that celebrate the makers of the dynamic arts renaissance that's
sweeping the country, realigning our idea of what true centres of excellence
can be and can become. All hail the village hall! All hail rural touring!'
Rural touring is a growing sector of the UK’s
arts industry with NRTF figures indicating that audience numbers attending
shows in village halls and at outdoor rural events have increased 26% since
2006/7.
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