Wiltshire Creative Announces The Winner Of The Shift Development Fund

Wiltshire Creative announce today the winners of the SHIFT development fund, Mich Sanderson and Ryan Wilce. The SHIFT Development Fund was set up to offer an emerging youth theatre company or artist £5000 to develop a new piece of work aimed at young people and centred around the issues they face. The South-West duo Sanderson and Wilce will be creating a project drawing on experiences of the region's queer youth and rich heritage of folk music to create a new canon of songs and ultimately a musical relevant to the narratives of young people today.

Mich Sanderson and Ryan Wilce said today, "It means everything to us to have received the SHIFT fund! As early career artists, to be offered this support and have such an amazing organisation behind us is unreal. We will make the most of this learning opportunity and be enriched by the process - the skills we hone over the next year, and connections we make, will enhance our practice immeasurably."

Dave Orme, Wiltshire Creative Associate Director, said today, "We're very excited to be working with such talented emerging artists who are embarking on such a profound and meaningful journey towards creating what is sure to be an amazing piece of work. Wiltshire Creative and the wider South-West artistic sector is enriched by these new and exciting voices"

The SHIFT Development Fund comes as part of the wider SHIFT initiative, an ambitious cross organisation project by Wiltshire Creative which has paved the way in young arts engagement in the South-West, implementing strategies and structures which have, and will continue to, enable thousands of young people to engage with arts and culture.

Created and led by SHIFT Associate Artists Harrison Brodie and Kate Potter and supported by Wiltshire Creative's Young Ambassadors, SHIFT has programmed pan-arts events, participated in strategic planning about the future of Wiltshire Creative culminating in a Youth Manifesto, and showcased youth arts. SHIFT has given young people a platform to inspire change at a time when they have been hugely impacted by the pandemic, and this model of working will lead the way for new innovative ways of engaging young creatives.

Harrison and Kate said today, "We are incredibly grateful to be working on this exciting project which is amplifying young voices through the arts. We have been overwhelmed by the response about the project and amazed by the incredible thoughts of younger community members in the region. Our conversations with the hundreds of young people we have met has been so honest and genuine, we feel there is a certain amount of responsibility there to capture that and give it the best platform we can. If there is one thing we have all learnt from this project, it is that, every young person has a voice, and we all should listen."

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