Sugar Selected to be Part of UK Creativity Showcase

Sugar Creative combine forces with NTW to create a groundbreaking project as part of FestivalUK*2022

Sugar Creative are extremely pleased to announce that, as part of the “Collective Cymru led by NTW” team we have been selected as one of the 10 creative teams to take our ground-breaking project into full production for next year’s Festival UK* 2022. This incredible team will be representing the amazing Welsh based STEAM based creative innovation to the UK and the world.

OFFICIAL COLLECTIVE STATEMENT/PRESS RELEASE

What should a festival of creativity look like? 30 teams, bringing together scientists, technologists, engineers, artists and mathematicians from across the UK working in new creative partnerships, were invited to come up with ideas for large-scale public engagement projects. Following a three-month R&D programme and a rigorous assessment process, 10 Creative Teams are now being commissioned to take their ground-breaking projects into full production for next year’s Festival UK* 2022.

“FestivalUK*2022 is one of the most inspiring and forward looking creative endeavours we have seen, an embodiment of the potential for the entire of the STEAM sector to drive creative innovation and deliver forward looking cultural experiences. We are excited to have been asked to build on our groundbreaking work in the immersive space to create the next generation of experiences and to demonstrate the creative potential of Wales and the UK.”
‍Will Humphrey, Sugar Creative

Intended to bring people together and showcase creativity, the 10 projects will include events, public engagement activities, participation opportunities and learning programmes reaching millions of children and young people, demonstrating the importance of creativity in people’s lives and our collective futures.

Collective Cymru, led by National Theatre Wales, are delighted to have been selected to deliver one of the ten projects. From the outset, we set about rewiring how a project of this scale could be conceived, produced and shared. Our project is collaborative, inclusive, fundamentally Welsh at heart and global in its vision.

Our collaboration began by gathering people from across Wales, across disciplines and with a broad range of life experiences to form our Creative Team: from the Centre for Alternative Technology in Machynlleth and Jukebox Collective based in Cardiff to Frân Wen in Gwynedd, creative technologists and innovators from Sugar Creative and Clwstwr, a journalist and community organiser, a writer, theatre-makers and artists to representatives from national companies: Disability Arts Cymru, National Theatre Wales and Ffilm Cymru.  

Each member unlocked new perspectives, challenging preconceptions of how a creative project might be designed. Together we found a common purpose - a commitment to radical inclusion.

Our team included the following: Sugar Creative, National Theatre Wales, Centre for Alternative Technology, Clwstwr, Disability Arts Cymru, Ffilm Cymru Wales, Swansea University, Youth Arts Network Cymru, Jukebox Collective, Frân Wen.

Full details of the festival commissions are being kept under wraps to allow the Creative Teams to turn their ideas into reality, but projects will take us from the land, to the sea, to the air and even outer space, using pioneering technology and the power of the imagination. The festival programme will be announced, along with a new name, later this year.

Inspired by the radical inclusion of this act, we drew on our team’s networks to listen to perspectives that are so often excluded or overlooked. Our project concept has been shaped by the dynamism of those radical voices of contemporary Wales.

We committed ourselves to designing a project which will provide much needed rocket fuel to creative freelancers, the wider creative sector and to specific locations in Wales that have been hit hard by the pandemic. To do so, we have already begun to develop new kinds of partnerships within communities across Wales and with international media and research partners.

Our project will showcase Wales’ strengths to the world - our vibrant, resilient communities, exceptional film and TV creative and production talent, spellbinding dramatic landscapes and vibrant towns and cities, creative experimentation in immersive technology and globally respected site-specific performance.

Full details of all festival commissions are being kept under wraps to allow the Creative Teams to turn their ideas into reality, but projects will take us from the land, to the sea, to the air and even outer space, using pioneering technology and the power of the imagination. The festival programme will be announced, along with a new name, later this year.

For more information and press contacts

Sugar Creative: https://www.sugarcs.com / press@sugarcs.com

National theatre wales: https://www.nationaltheatrewales.org / press@nationaltheatrewales.org

Festival22: https://www.festival2022.uk / media@Festival2022.uk

Collective Cymru led by NTW team members

National Theatre Wales: Claire Doherty, Lorne Campbell, Marc Rees; Centre for Alternative Technology: Rebecca Upton; Clwstwr: Shirish Kulkarni, Robin Moore; Disability Arts Cymru: Kaite O’Reilly; Ffilm Cymru Wales: Pauline Burt; Sugar Creative: Will Humphrey; Writer and Professor in Creativity, Swansea University: Owen Sheers; Youth Arts Network Cymru: Liara Barussi (Jukebox Collective), Gethin Evans (Frân Wen).

Festival UK* 2022 further information
Festival UK* 2022, a major UK-wide festival of creativity and innovation, is commissioning 10 major public engagement projects designed to reach millions, bring people together and showcase the UK’s creativity globally. The festival will take place in 2022 and each project will bring new opportunities for creative people in sectors that have been significantly impacted by COVID-19. www.festival2022.uk