A group of ten local people (aged 16 to 27 years) are working together with a invited local and national creatives as part of The Creative Village Skills Exchange Programme – sharing insights and learning new skills.
They will work together from September 2024 to June 2025 to develop hands-on skills related to the creative industries. In real world situations they will explore live performance, visual art and digital practice and explore business, marketing, access, environmental sustainability and fundraising skills.
The Skills Exchange Programme is part of The Creative Village – a brand new skills exchange, showcasing and cultural development programme for and with creative professionals in Crawley, West Sussex and Surrey.
It’s managed by Creative Crawley in partnership with Theatre Centre and AudioActive. It’s funded by Arts Council England and supported by Crawley Borough Council’s Shared Prosperity Fund and Gatwick Airport Ltd. Other partners include Crawley College and Crawley Library.
Access All Areas make award-winning, disruptive performance by learning disabled and autistic artists.
Their productions create intimate moments of interaction between performers and public, occupying unexpected spaces in venues, on the streets, online, and in public buildings.
As well as making shows, their company of Associate Artists works to make our culture more inclusive for learning disabled and autistic talent. They engage communities, train artists of the future, and work closely with TV, film, and theatre companies to make their work and workplaces more accessible.
They’ve developed a programme of work that challenges exclusion at every level of our culture. All their work, from productions, to consultancy, to creative workshops, is co-led by Access All Areas’ learning disabled and autistic artists, ensuring lived experience drives everything they do.
Dr Helen Anahita Wilson is an award-winning composer and sound artist who collaborates with plants, trees, people, and other living beings. She is currently composer-in-residence at the Chelsea Physic Garden in London where she creates music and sonic art works using medicinal plants. Helen also works on sound-based projects for museums and galleries, podcasts and radio shows, live installations and concerts. Her compositions are regularly broadcast on BBC radio and her research has been featured by New Scientist.
Image © James Joyce
I’ve seen myself having a very large imagination however I have never had the experience of facilities to turn my visions into something real. I hope that this skill exchange helps to give me the experience and skills I need to further my creation. Below I have attached an image of me and my friends on my birthday as I have always valued my friends over most things.
Hello! My name is Izzy, and I’m really looking forward to this skills exchange! I have a wide and ever-changing variety of interests, which include painting, sculpting, sewing, embroidery, photography, digital art, video editing and animation, 3D modelling and most recently, making my own temporary tattoos. (I created tattoo sleeve designs and then used a substance similar to henna called Jagua to stain my skin.) Some of my other hobbies include aerial silks, making cocktails and playing unhealthy amounts of Assassin’s Creed. One day I hope to work in the video games industry, whether that be 3D modelling, UX Design or concept art.
Hey, I’m James – an Audio Visual Technician with a knack for blending analog warmth with digital precision. I’ve honed my skills across DAWs like Pro Tools, Ableton Live, Logic Pro X, and audio programming with PureData. My journey includes production credits with BIMM Brighton, eRepublik Labs, and more. I’m deeply passionate about the science behind sound, from frequency analysis to psychoacoustics, focusing on acoustic drum tuning and human pitch perception—key elements of my BSc in Audio Production.
I love nature & draw most of my inspiration from it in many mediums like: baking (my day job), floristry (trained & freelance in), painting, drawing, crafts (sewing, macramé & crochet), music production, writing (novel, song, script & poetry), gardening (me & my mum have an allotment where we grow cut flowers, fruit & vegetables) and whatever else I stumble on and obsess about!
Skills I’m interested in learning are more music production, graphic design, background workings like any theatre processes from script writing to lighting & set design, to general running, producing & funding creative projects in communities, but I’m open to anything new!
Eleanor Field is a Scenographer and Artist who relishes the challenges of devised work and she is especially interested in design-led work and design as performance. Since graduating from RADA’s Postgraduate Theatre Design course in July 2011, Eleanor has worked on a variety of projects for theatre, opera, dance and festivals across the UK, including designing some windows for Selfridge’s, London, which really impressed her Grandma.
Eleanor is currently completing a part-time PhD exploring mess and scenographic processes at Northumbria University. Her practice-based research is currently investigating what a study of mess can offer as a challenge to current industry expectations of scenographic processes and possibilities.
She is also an associate lecturer on the Design for Performance BA at Nottingham Trent University
Recent projects include Talking About The Fire by Chris Thorpe at The Royal Court and A Family Business, also by Thorpe, at Staatstheater Mainz, Germany and the UK Tour.
I am a creative, ambitious, and focused individual who is looking for new opportunities to grow and showcase my skills in creative and graphic design. I am inspired to expand my knowledge in this area of work to progress in the industry and open new doors for myself.
Hi my name is Grace and I’m 19. I mainly have experience in theatre but have explored some other creative outlets like textiles and film. I would quite like to be a director of some sort as a career so am looking forward to learning skills that will help me be well rounded in my position in the future. I’m ready to explore all elements of my creativity.
I have completed Year 11 and plan to attend Plumpton College to do Jewellery Making. My creative pursuits follow various fields, including fashion design, art, interior & exterior design, product design. I’ve also tried film-making (producing, filming, and script-writing) and magazine-making in school. Music is another passion of mine for I play the piano. My hobbies include both digital and traditional drawing, sewing, and reading. Designing and creating is the basis of my interests, be it in engineering, fashion, or metalworking, and I take interest in the business aspects too.
Sarah Maple is an award winning multidisciplinary artist known for bold artworks that challenge notions of identity. Her work spans a variety of media such as performance, painting, installation, collage and photography. Much of Maple’s inspiration originates from her mixed religious and cultural upbringing.
She graduated with a BA in Fine Art from Kingston University and has exhibited her work internationally at galleries and institutions including Tate Britain, Golden Thread Gallery and York Art Gallery. In 2019, she was selected for Syllabus V, an independent learning programme run by Wysing Arts Centre. In 2020, she created a semi-autobiographical video work in the style of a sitcom which debuted on Sky Arts. For her most recent commission from the Decolonising Arts Institute at UAL, she will be artist in residence at Bradford Museum and Art Gallery and a newly commissioned work will be acquired by 20 UK art institutions. Her work is also in collections such as Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Soho House and The Hyman Collection. In 2023, Sarah released a brand new book ‘Labour of Love’ with KochxBos publishing. Sarah lives and works in Sussex.
Meg Mosley is an award winning artist best known for her work investigating how belonging and identity production have adapted to the universal and cultural dominance of social media and the internet. She works across art forms including video, performance and photography. Meg’s fascinated by the seductive power of popular culture and communicates this in the meticulous production of her art. meg’s artistic direction can be found in every detail of her work from set design and location scouting, right down to the styling of every single look and costume herself. it’s in these details meg loves to tell her stories of mainstream desires, social norms and how marketing, mass media and the brand of ‘self’ now intermingle in our identities both online and offline.
I’m Barney and I’m a musician, filmmaker, screenwriter and actor. I love all different forms of art, especially when combined in unique, unexpected ways to make a more memorable final product. I started out making YouTube videos on an ipad when I was about ten. When I was growing up, I was always experimenting with art such as collage, stop motion animation and photography. My main inspirations for writing, cinematography and music are Better Call Saul, Utopia (2013), Twin Peaks, Chris Morris, Massive Attack and Kentucky Route Zero.
I am very passionate about creativity, using my imagination, being inspired and inspiring others if possible in the process. Arts and crafts play a role in controlling stress and enhancing relaxation. They also enable us to handle our emotions. I really enjoy using my sewing machine to sew and I like trying new things even if it may not work out. I find sewing very relaxing and fun to do i also have a passion for hand card making I love using my had to create meaningful things and sell some of them. I also enjoy abit of hair styling and doing new hair styles on people and styling it in a way it will suit them.
I am 16 and passionate about creativity and continuously seek opportunities to grow my artistic skills. Choreographing dances has allowed me to transform ideas into dynamics and expressive movements. Producing a song expanded my creative reach, blending melodies and rhythms into a cohesive piece of art. Through video editing, I discovered the power of visual storytelling, refining my ability to convey emotions and advertise products. These experiences highlight my dedication to creativity and my eagerness to learn and master new artistic endeavours.
REQUARDT&ROSENBERG was established to create dance performance away from the auditorium and studio either in outdoor locations or within temporary structures. Their desire is to make performances that are highly visible, unique events in order to engage a wide audience in a distinctive format.
REQUARDT&ROSENBERG combine both the spectacle of large scale dance performances and the delicate integrity and intimacy of the audience experience through binaural sound.
Frauke Requardt is a German-born, London-based choreographer. Her choreographic work is characterised by physically challenging choreography, a strong theatricality, dark humour and an overall sense of surrealism. She uses text and live music and a mixture of abstract and emotionally based movement to deliver highly engaging work. Frauke trained in Germany, New York and London. Although her main pursuit is choreography, she has also performed in Lea Anderson’s work as a Cholmondeley for several years. Frauke is a Work Place Artist at The Place and is also an associate artist at Greenwich Dance.
David Rosenberg has been making live performance since 1995. He is a co-founder of the artists’ collective shunt and has directed all the company shows including: The Ballad of Bobby Francois, Tennis Show, Dance Bear Dance, Tropicana, Amato Saltone, Money, The Architects and The Boy Who Climbed Out of His Face.
Working with Frauke Requardt he conceived and co-directed three outdoor contemporary dance performances in temporary structures: The Roof, Electric Hotel and Motor Show, for which he used binaural sound recordings to allow the audience intimate access to distant spaces. Working with the writer Glen Neath he has made three shows: Ring, Fiction and Séance, which are all in complete darkness and create imaginary environments with audio. Most recently he worked on Wiretapper, a performance hidden in public spaces using a phone app to deliver the sound to the audience.
In all his shows, audience members find themselves referred to increasingly more, until they become the subjects of the piece.
Maggie Slabon is a visual artist specialising in projection and interactive media. She worked as a production manager at Shoreditch Town Hall, where she led a series of projection mapping workshops for local students, helping them explore the creative potential of digital art on a larger scale. These workshops culminated in a two-day exhibition, which featured outdoor projections on Shoreditch Church. Currently, she is based at the Gulbenkian Arts Centre at the University of Kent and also serves as a visiting lecturer in Lighting and Projection at Middlesex University’s Performing Arts department. Maggie enjoys designing interactive, mixed-reality environments that encourage creative engagement from the audience.
Chris is a writer and performer from Manchester. He collaborates a lot with other artists and organisations. His work tours in the UK and is produced worldwide. UK theatres he has written for include the Royal Court (Victory Condition/The Milk of Human Kindness), the Royal Exchange (The Mysteries/There Has Possibly Been An Incident) and the Unicorn (Hannah/Beowulf). Recent collaborators include Javaad Alipoor, BAC, HOME and Sydney Festival (co-writer and dramaturg – Things Hidden Since The Foundation Of The World) Rachel Chavkin, Claire O’Reilly China Plate and Staatstheater Mainz (writer and performer – A Family Business), mala voadora (writer and performer Your Best Guess), Rachel Bagshaw (writer – The Shape of the Pain) Yusra Warsama, Hannah Jane Walker and Third Angel.
Upcoming work includes Always Maybe The Last Time for the Royal Court, The Soprano Always Dies for Portuguese National Opera and mala voadora and an adaptation of his play Manchester for the BBC.
Creative Pod is a marketing agency whose story starts with humble beginnings when CEO Matt Turner set up Creative Pod in his bedroom. Fast forward over 18 years and they operate from the heart of Gatwick and have a growing team of over 20 people who have been working hard to become their client’s fully outsourced marketing team for a wide range of sectors. Now an award-winning Google Partner and Drum Recommended Agency, they specialise in everything from websites and branding to digital marketing and social media to PR and email marketing.
Rob is a critically acclaimed director, dramaturg and facilitator. He collaborates with young people. writers, communities, poets, artists and designers to make sense of the fractured world we live in.
He regularly teaches at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and works with the Institute of the Arts Barcelona. He is also chair of Savvy Theatre’s board and governor of Addy and Stanhope Secondary School in Lewisham.
He previously headed up the young people’s team at the National Theatre, was an Associate for Headlong Theatre, was a Lead Artist at Lyric Hammersmith, an Artist Mentor at the Barbican and was Associate Director at Immediate Theatre.
Image © SuziCorker
Award winning Flo Poet, 3x TEDx Speaker and winner of UK Unsigned 2019. As seen on BAFTA winning TV show Life And Rhymes also on Sky Sports Fight Night Live at Wembley Arena.
Woodzy was always destined to become a Poet, being born on World Poetry Day. From studying at the Brit School, to opening for the likes of Stormzy and being on BBC1Xtra & BBC Radio London. Having a poem on the tour of the Tower of London, to reaching over 1 million views on his poem 90s baby.
Woodzy captivates his audience with witty wordplay, incredible use of language and relatable topics.
His latest project Peace Out, Peace In was released on March 13th 2023.
His debut poetry collection Peace. Full. Thirty was published on March 21st 2024. This book celebrates Woodzy’s 30th birthday having 30 of his poems able to be experienced in a new way.
Aside from performing, Woodzy facilitates a variety of workshops in schools, colleges & workplaces. Looking to change people’s perspective on poetry.
Woodzy continues to work on upcoming projects as one of the Flo Poets and as a Cultural Leader at Poetic Unity. He is the Founder of Poetry & Music experience Writer’s Block. Constantly looking to help grow the Worldwide poetry community and change the world one poem at a time.
Peace Out, Peace In.
Image: Woodzy performs at Around the Lake Festival © www.iangreenland.uk
Malawian-born musician and storyteller Marco Woolf’s work has been described as light, complex, rich and immediate, swarming with micro-details that multiply with each new listen. He creates layered music with a deepened sense of narrative through improvisation and stories.
“Being raised on folk tales shared by my elders, storytelling is deeply embedded in who I am on a personal level and in my identity as an artist and I’m always looking to expand my skills as a storytelling musician.”
He has released 2 EPs, most recently, Francine, a collection of songs about the social and emotional impact of an African woman’s decision to migrate west with her children. It was critically praised earning support on platforms such as BBC 6 Music, Jazz FM, and other international stations. He has performed extensively including a headline tour, and festivals such as We Out Here, MIF, and So What’s Next?, an international showcase of the most exciting new jazz artists.
Marco also has over 6 years’ experience working as facilitator and coordinator in community art projects. He has delivered work as a creative facilitator with organisations such as The National Theatre, The Lowry, Z-arts and Band On The Wall. He is passionate about offering platforms that enable people to discover or explore their distinct creative voice.
Jamie is a curator with more than 18 years’ experience of working in the arts. Together with moving image artist Ben Rivers, and artist and curator Laura Mousavi, Jamie established videoclub in 2005 in response to the lack of artists’ film platforms and support for emerging practitioners.
Jamie has held numerous roles in the arts and culture sector, including Programme Curator and Interim CEO at digital culture agency Lighthouse in Brighton; Digital Arts Programmer at Showroom Cinema & Workstation Gallery in Sheffield, and Visual Arts Officer at Arts Council England.
In addition to his role at videoclub, Jamie is Director and co-founder of creative collective The Nimbus Group, which creates experiences using digital media, working with clients such as the NHS and Brighton Festival. He is also Director of This is Wyld, a creative agency working with the arts and culture sector to provide curatorial and advisory support for projects, fundraising and business development.
Image © Roberta Mataityte
BRiGHTBLACK create immersive playable culture.
Their work has featured at Tate Modern and toured to 36 nations in the past 15 years.
Their research and expertise centres around the use of immersive technologies, real time engines, artificial intelligence, electronic music, digital video and software development for story making, live performance and interactive artworks.
“Art to question the world, be seen, heard, felt, smelt and acted upon” THREE WEEKS *****
BRiGHTBLACK are creators of Immersive StoryLab, an educational course, design tool & consultation package which has been deployed through 47 editions around the world with clients including Sydney Opera House, Royal Shakespeare Company, National Gallery, British Council, NIDA, SOAS & a broad range of cultural & educational institutions around the globe.
Image © BRiGHTBLACK
