Firebird Theatre are a company of sixteen disabled actors, ranging in age from 22 to 70. Their new show A Spark and a Beating Heart tells their stories, intertwined with the myth of the firebird.

Just after Christmas, we spent a day with Firebird and photographers Paul Blakemore and Jack Offord taking a series of portraits of this unique company. 

Immersive theatre, choreographed construction cranes, and streetlights that interact with passersby. A new kind of creative experience has emerged from Bristol's PMStudio fusing performance, sculpture and installation with technology. Innovative projects like these require a new kind of creative producer. Watershed and UWE have designed a new Creative Producing MA which is 50/50 practical and analytical. We've teamed up with producers across Bristol who will host MA students during the course. And we're a placement partner on it!

As part of our work on ACE's Agents for Change programme we're developing a 'mental health, wellbeing and flexible working in the arts' policy. To inform this, we're launching a survey with the hope that you'll let us know what works (and maybe what doesn't) so we can shape this policy around lived-experience. And make something that'll really work.                                   

We've been working with the ever-so-fabulous Alice Holland on ACE's Agents for Change programme. We're launching a survey to inform the making and shaping of our 'mental health, wellbeing and flexible working in the arts' policy and in this blog Alice gets real about navigating the freelancer-life, vulnerability and why we're doing this.

Here's a blog about Hannah Sullivan's participatory project Draw to Look. We're supporting Hannah's work through our growing programme of MAYK supported projects.

We've got an opportunity for Bristol-based artists to work with young people in the city and collaborate with artists in Kigali and Kampala. 

As we round off the year, here's a visual reminder of some of the best bits of our 2016. Merry Christmas!

MAYK has been awarded funding to deliver a new collaborative project between Bristol, Kampala and Kigali.