The Alan James Creative Bursary and Residency Programme, now in its ninth year supports artists in exploring new creative ideas inspired by and sourced from traditional English folk music, without the pressure of a final product.
Alan James, a former Chair of the English Folk Dance and Song Society, died suddenly in April 2019. In the spirit of Alan’s eclectic musical tastes and his ability to foster exciting artistic collaborations, we have encouraged applications which explore English folk music in the context of cross-genre or cross-art form collaborations and explorations.
Six creative bursaries have been awarded, all of which are funded through the PRS for Music Foundation Talent Development Partner scheme. They come under the umbrella of EFDSS’ Artists’ Development Programme, which provides professional development support, both creative and business, to artists at all levels of their career.
Each bursary is worth up to £2,000, and supports artists’ creative research and development together with use of rehearsal space at Cecil Sharp House and access to the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library.
Bursaries for 2021 have been awarded to:
Angeline Morrison
Angeline Morrison is a folk singer, songwriter, arranger, multi-instrumentalist, soul singer and morris dancer. She is developing an album called The Sorrow Songs: Folk Songs of the Black British Experience. Angeline’s vision is of a UK folk scene that recognises the historic black presence in these islands, and that also fully acknowledges the intertwining of Black History with British History. This vision weaves itself subtly through all her work.
Photo credit: Nick Duffy
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You Are Wolf
Kerry Andrew also known as You Are Wolf is a composer, performer and author best known for experimental vocal, choral and music-theatre work, often based around themes of community, landscape and myth. Kerry will be arranging a new set of traditional songs and folklore-inspired originals, based on the theme of transformation.
Photo Credit: Ula Soltys
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Madame Ceski
Francesca Simmons also known as Madame Ceski is a Welsh composer & multi-disciplinary soloist and collaborator, based in Bristol. Her solo experimental work sits at the intersection of DIY chamber folk & visual music. Madame Ceski plans to research and gather tunes, songs, text and images to create a digital songbook, collage that sits between a music performance video & mini-film, celebrating seasonal customs of England.
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Sophie Crawford and George Sansome: Queer Folk
Folk musician and theatre maker Sophie Crawford from Hackney and vibrant Leeds based trad folk singer and guitarist, George Sansome, known for his work with BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award nominees Granny’s Attic, have joined forces to create Queer Folk. This project seeks to uncover and highlight queer narratives within traditional folk song, and amplify the voices of LGBTQ+ performers.
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Quentin Budworth
Multi-award-winning filmmaker, photographer, digital artist and Hurdy-gurdy player Quentin Budworth, plans to develop, research, interpret, record and reinvent music from the pan European and England's traditional music repertoires using contemporary approaches to create a show that has broad popular appeal. Presenting music that combines the intimacy of a folk concert with the ancient traditions of storytelling and textures of contemporary theatre in an immersive performance.
Photo credit: Quentin Budworth
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Lisa Heywood
Lisa Heywood is a choreographer and social folk dance caller with over 10 years of experience of teaching dances at events large and small. In 2015 she collaborated with Indian dancer and choreographer Priya Sundar, whose show “Morris-Natyam” brought together English Morris dancing and Indian Bharatanatyam dancing. Their collaboration now continues with a new project to bring together social dance styles from the UK and India. Priya and Lisa will be joined by musicians Mel Biggs (melodeon) and multi-instrumentalist Vijay Venkat (violin, viola, flute and vichitra veena) to explore the music and movements of UK and Indian social dancing side by side.
Photo credit: Lisa Heywood
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Katy Spicer, EFDSS Chief Executive and Artistic Director, said: ‘Our bursaries are designed to kick-start projects, giving artists time to bring their ideas to life. We are delighted to pay tribute to Alan James with these six exciting and eclectic projects and very grateful to the PRS Foundation for their continued support.’
For further media information please contact:
Harriet Simms (PR Consultant)
Peter Craik (Director of Marketing and Communications)
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. The English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS) is the national development agency for the folk arts. EFDSS aims to place the traditional arts of England at the heart of our cultural life - preserving, protecting, disseminating and promoting English traditional folk arts. EFDSS delivers a dynamic national and local education programme, enabling and increasing access to the folk arts alongside celebrating diversity and promoting equality. It runs the acclaimed National Youth Folk Ensemble. It supports folk artists through a flourishing artists development programme. It manages the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library – England’s national folk music library and archive – which contains a vast collection of books, manuscripts, films and audio-visual materials. The national custom-built headquarters of EFDSS is Cecil Sharp House, a busy arts centre situated just north of Regent’s Park in central London. efdss.org
2. PRS Foundation supports organisations from across the UK which have been selected as PRS Foundation Talent Development Partners. These organisations are working at the frontline of talent development in the UK, supporting a broad range of individual music creators across different music genres and UK regions. This reflects PRS Foundation’s commitment to supporting composers and songwriters of all backgrounds either through direct investment or by helping organisations which nurture music creators and promote their music to audiences at home and overseas. prsfoundation.com
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