Rachael Savage, Vamos Theatre’s Artistic Director, has received funding from Arts Council England to take her ground-breaking mask theatre work to South Africa.
The award, made through the Artists’ International Development Fund (Grants for the Arts) enables Rachael to travel to Cape Town and Johannesburg in 2016, and undertake collaborative, skill sharing sessions in full mask theatre with professionals and young people. She will be working with four organisations: the Association for Theatre for Children and Young People SA, Hillbrow Theatre Project (for disadvantaged young people), Clowns Without Borders, and deaf/hearing young people company FTH:K.
The project is of particular importance to Rachael. With twenty-five years’ experience in theatre, nine as Artistic Director of Vamos, it gives her a unique opportunity to develop her theatre practice, skills set, knowledge and experience whilst having a positive influence internationally. She commented on the grant,
"This award is incredibly exciting personally: I’ll have the chance to experience an entirely different culture whilst sharing my knowledge of full mask that’s built up over my time as a performer and director. I’m very much looking forward to working with organisations that make such a difference to young people in South Africa. ”
It is, of course, also a very exciting development for Vamos, since the grant project aims to develop working practice and partnerships with the longer term aim of creating a collaborative project between young people in Worcester and South Africa.
We’d like to thank Arts Council England for their continuing support, and especially our Relationship Manager Nikki Ralston. Thanks also to Penny Mayes for her advice with the application and her unrivalled knowledge of the international theatre scene.