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MarketPlace Freelance Producer

Contract: Freelance, fixed term.

Timescale: May to September 2021

Project fee: £5,400 (equivalent of £180 per day for 30 days)

Location: We envisage a combination of remote online working and, government restrictions-permitting, delivery in locations in Fenland and the Forest Heath area of West Suffolk.

Deadline: Please apply by 10am, Friday 9 April 2021.

The Project

We have commissioned Dance Theatre Company Casson & Friends for a community engagement and audience development project as part of our programme for 2021.

Originally scheduled for 2020, this project was postponed due to Covid-19. As a result, we have an opportunity to learn from the ways Casson & Friends have developed their work in response to the pandemic, and produce a participatory choreography and dance project with local communities in Fenland and the Forest Heath area of West Suffolk.

The Producer will work with the MarketPlace team and Casson & Friends to manage the following planning and delivery schedule phases:

1) Planning – logistics, creative planning, engaging community members and artists

2) Creation – the activity itself, practical engagement with the community, live performance and filming

3) Post-Production – premiere and promotion of any filmed elements, follow up activity, signposting and evaluation

Interested? To find out more download the full brief here.

Part of our Creative Conversations in Isolation programme.

Artist Genevieve Rudd approached MarketPlace with the idea of a workshop that would connect people, using creative activities to explore their surroundings outside.

The Walk’n’Craft Group, based in Mildenhall, and the Can’t Sing Choir, based in March, were keen to get involved. Everyone loved the idea of getting together in a way that was socially distanced (in line with the government restrictions at the time), but still enabled them to meet and socialise.

On Friday 30th October 2020, Genevieve sent prompts via WhatsApp to both groups throughout their walks. She set creative activities which encouraged everyone to take time to look more closely, listen to and feel their surroundings and think about the landscape they were in. After a well deserved break, everyone came together to meet via Zoom. Genevieve shared the photos, videos and creations made during their walks in a Powerpoint presentation.

Download the PDF version of the activity sheet here.

When asked if the groups enjoyed the session, they were all positive about the experience. They were particularly pleased to try something different.

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“Doing something different and way out of my comfort zone. Words are my comfort and drawing was really my discomfort but I enjoyed it. [I will be] taking away the idea that I have grandchildren in different countries, and we could all do them [the activities] together, so that was grand.”

The workshop was an interesting experiment for Genevieve and the MarketPlace team. Using a platform like WhatsApp to bring different groups together at the same time was new for us, and came from a need to find alternative ways to connect during the pandemic.

You can read about Genevieve’s experience and what she learned from the project in her new blog post here.