We hope you are well and had a lovely bank holiday weekend!

If you haven’t already, please take a moment to read, share and sign our OPEN LETTER to Focus Features in regards to their release of the film "Profile". We have been overwhelmed with the response and have already had over 170 signatures, and hope you can join us in taking a stand and advocating for greater change within our industry!

Sharing Conversations and opportunities

• Catch our very own Philip Arditti and Laura Hanna in the Royal Court’s Edition 5 of Living Newspaper, launching today at 5:30pm. Over five days, new filmed content will be shared daily including performances from local and global perspectives, longer form pieces, a dating column, a cartoon of the week, a weather room, an agony aunt, horoscopes, and more. Edition 5 sets out to dismantle histories – be that personal or political.

To book and for more info: https://royalcourttheatre.com/whats-on/living-newspaper-edition-5/

• Theatro Technis is looking for a General Theatre Manager to oversee all aspects of work within their vibrant venue. The 120-seat fringe theatre has three sides with a mix of rooms and office space for hire based in Camden North London. Paid part-time post, for at least 1 year period:

https://theatrotechnis.com/production/theatro-technis-applications-for-a-general-theatre-manager/

• A callout for artists from Company Three:

“Company Three exists to make space for teenagers to tell their own stories and make their own change. We think young people do this best when they’re working with artists who share their backgrounds, cultures and experiences. That is why we’ve launched #MeetC3 - a series of call-outs to help us meet artists who share the same backgrounds as our members.

Our first #MeetC3 is for those who work with sound. This includes composers, musicians, music technicians, sound designers and anyone else who thinks their skills are relevant to this area. We are interested in connecting with people at all stages of their career.
 

At the moment the members of Company Three self-define as:
Algerian, Black Arab, North African, Mixed Race, Palestinian, Sudanese, Turkish.
We would like to connect with sound artists who share the backgrounds mentioned above.

The deadline for applications in Monday 19 April, and you can find more information on our website: https://www.companythree.co.uk/meet-c3”

• Publisher Saqi Books are on the hunt for a Designer to create a book trailer for one of their upcoming titles. If this sounds like something that you'd love to do, drop your details to Cara@saqibooks.com for more info.

• A Casting call from Timothy Thomas:

“I have written an original musical entitled "TROLLS OnLINE!" It is a large-scale show and I am working with an established team of talented individuals. The young female lead character is au asylum-seeker who has been through hell before ending up in the UK. Looking for an actress who is from an Iraqi, Afghan or Syrian background. It is a great part, requiring a wide emotional range with excellent singing and acting talent. Her playing age should be up to twenty-five years. The script is in third draft and all the songs are written and recorded in demo. The Cockpit Theatre is keen to be our venue.

Here is a link to a previous show of mine - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up2hOnp9oMo

Interested actresses should email me directly:

Timothy Thomas (timothy.thomas2@btopenworld.com)’

• The Women's Prize for Playwriting is now open for submissions. First prize £12000. Deadline: 12 July. More: https://womensprizeforplaywriting.co.uk

• -Regent's Park Open Air Theatre are looking for Creative Team Associates in the areas of Lighting, Sound, Movement and Voice. Deadline: 20 April. More: https://openairtheatre.com/career/creative-team-associates

• Half Moon Theatre has a call-out for 17 artists including: designers, composers/sound designers, writers, spoken word poets/poets, assistant directors, specialist performers/artists, and a trainee dramaturg. Deadline: 19 April. More: https://www.halfmoon.org.uk/about-us/jobs/

• The Secret Story Draw are launching an initiative to find new and audacious talent within the animation industry. The scheme is dedicated to placing illustrators and animators of colour into some of the best animation studios. For more info and to apply: https://www.screenskills.com/bookings/the-secret-story-draw/

• BBC have just launched loads of paid apprenticeships and trainee schemes in journalism, production, design and engineering, business, finance, HR, marketing, data analytics and legal. For more info: https://www.bbc.co.uk/careers/trainee-schemes-and-apprenticeships

•  Sky Arts and the Royal Society of Literature have opened applications for a new set of Awards to celebrate and nurture British writers of colour at the beginnings of their careers. Five Awards are available, providing each winner with ten free mentoring sessions over the course of 12 months with an RSL Fellow writing in their form, as well as two sessions with Awards Ambassador Bernardine Evaristo. Deadline 30th April. To apply: https://rsliterature.org/award/sky-arts-rsl-writers-awards/

• Clore Leadership have launched a 6 month, disabled-led, fully funded programme for Cultural Leaders wanting to challenge themselves to do better around inclusion and access within their organisations/ practices. Deadline 14th May. More info: https://www.cloreleadership.org/news-events/events/inclusive-cultures

• Collective Encounters are looking for two artists to lead a new project for young adults aged 18-30 with experience of migration.  The successful applicants should have a good experience of community/participatory theatre and a working knowledge of theatre for social change. They will have an excellent understanding some of the issues facing the migrant community in the UK and ideally have experience of working with people whose first language isn’t English. Deadline 26th April. Details:  https://collective-encounters.org.uk/get-involved/recruitment/

And that’s everything! For the new members, mailout is sent on a fortnightly basis. Please keep sharing and sending me any of your wonderful work or opportunities you want included in the next mailout to this email. Now more than ever lets keep circulating our brilliant stories; whether its past work, articles, videos, or something you think the membership may find interesting, please do drop me an email! Please continue to sign up to our directory, and share our community with your friends in the industry!

Have a great week,

Jessie x

MENA ARTS UK 

Our position on endorsement.

Our main areas of work is to help connect the creative industries with UK MENA+ talent, so we will always share castings, job opportunities, or marketing information. We will track these projects in the hope that they are a great example of how MENA+ talent is used. But by sharing this information, it should not be seen as an endorsement of the project.

We will call out work that is appropriating a MENA+ narrative and does not have MENA+ talent at the heart of the creative process; and we will always champion, front and centre, work that is made for and by MENA+ talent.

MENA ARTS UK