Nancy Medina awarded the £25,000 Genesis Foundation Prize 2024

A photo of Nancy Medina stood inside the Bristol Old Vic foyer. She is leaning on a wooden rail, wearing a black long-sleeved dress and smiling at the camera.

(c) Barbara Evripidou

Nancy Medina, Artistic Director at Bristol Old Vic, has been awarded the 2024 Genesis Foundation Prize. The Genesis Foundation Prize recognises an outstanding mentor of artistic talent whose work has effected real change in the practice and careers of arts professionals or graduates. Now in its twelfth year, it is the only prize to acknowledge mentors in the arts and, through its £25,000 prize funding, to give winners the means to invest further in their work.

Nancy will be using her Genesis Foundation Prize money to launch her ambitious plans for the development of new British writing at Bristol Old Vic.  This includes BOV’s flagship The Five-Year Commitment, which supports writers at different stages of their careers: one legacy, one mid-career, and an early-career writer, and the return of a dedicated Literary Department which will focus on supporting writers, stories and script development.

Nancy said: “I hope this new approach to artist development makes clear our ambition to become a leading venue for new British writing and a home for writers in Bristol and the South West region. I’m incredibly honoured to receive the 2024 Genesis Foundation Prize which enables us to begin this work in earnest.”

Nancy has been a part of the Genesis community since she directed Dael Orlandersmith’s Yellowman at the Young Vic as the 2017 Genesis Future Directors Award winner, which nurtures and develops emerging directors as they create their first fully resourced production, without the scrutiny of the media.

John Studzinski, Founder & Chairman of the Genesis Foundation, said: “We are delighted to reward Nancy with the Genesis Foundation Prize 2024. We first recognised Nancy’s talent as a director in 2017 when she received the Young Vic’s Genesis Future Directors Award: this continued support shows our belief in Nancy’s work and in her value as a mentor to other artists. We were impressed with her ambitious plans for The Five Year Commitment at Bristol Old Vic and hope this programme will show how vital it is, perhaps now more than ever, for the creative industries to hold space for writers, to nurture them and invest in their long-term literary development.”

This shift marks an evolution of BOV’s artist support activity, moving away from the long-running Ferment programme into a new model that aims to make clear how artist development work is indivisible from any other aspect of BOV’s programme. This transformation marks the conclusion of Nancy Medina’s first full year as Artistic Director and sets the 258-year-old theatre’s creative agenda for the next five years.

The new Literary Department will focus its support on writers through a range of opportunities; from new commission strands and writers’ residencies to partnerships with other organisations that aim to deliver specific support within the wider creative ecology in Bristol, the Southwest and nationally.

Ben Atterbury, Literary Manager, said: “The South West and the rest of the UK continues to produce amazing writers whose work can be seen on stages and screens all over the country. However, there are challenges when it comes to consistent and long-term commitment in a landscape where often writers are working in the short-term; we want to give writers the opportunity to build their craft and their voice over time and within the holding of a singular place.”

Inspired by the long-term commitments made by residencies in theatres such as the Signature in New York, BOV’s The Five-Year Commitment will give three writers the time and space to build their craft by putting their work into a dialogue with audiences. In addition, the theatre will use its programme resources over those five years to support the space between those commissions, connecting them with each other and ensuring they feel embedded and at home at BOV. (Writers to be selected in Summer 2024, full details to be published soon). 

Find out more about the Genesis Foundation Prize

Genesis Almeida writer Ava Pickett wins Susan Smith Blackburn Prize

The finalists for the 2024 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize stood and sat in front of a colourful bookcase, smiling at the camera.

Credit: Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Instagram

Genesis Almeida writer Ava Pickett has won the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, a prestigious playwriting award for women+ playwrights.

Ava won with 1536, the play she wrote during the 2021/22 Genesis Almeida New Playwrights, Big Plays Programme. There were 10 plays shortlisted for the award, chosen from more than 200 submissions. The judges praised Ava for her characters who “speak across the centuries” in a play with “sparkling dialogue and thrilling, charismatic writing underpinned by great craft and restraint”. Ava’s win was announced yesterday at a ceremony held at the Royal Court Theatre.

Ava said: “[The Genesis Almeida New Playwrights, Big Plays programme] has been fantastic, and quite vital to me. They’ve been so supportive. The thing that’s so brilliant about that particular programme is they do commission you; they pay you to write a play. That means that you’re able to dedicate time to it. They read every draft and they’re able to give you a reading of it.”

The Genesis Almeida New Playwrights, Big Plays programme is an an initiative that supports emerging and mid-career writers to develop new plays for larger stages. The aim of the programme is to provide a springboard for writers to expand the scale, scope and ambition of their work and to create plays of wide cultural resonance.

Read more about Ava’s win in The Stage and The Guardian.

Find out more about the Genesis Almeida programme. 

Cast announced for The Earthworks directed by Genesis Future Director Award recipient Andrea Ling

3 headshots of actors Natalie Dew, Mark Edel-Hunt and Anemone Rasmussen side by side.

(c) Daniel Sutka, Ruth Crafer, YellowBaby

The Young Vic Theatre has announced its casting for The Earthworks directed by Andrea Ling, the 2023 Genesis Future Directors Award recipient. Written by Olivier Award winner Tom Morton-Smith (My Neighbour Totoro, Oppenheimer at the RSC), it will be in the Young Vic’s Clare Theatre from 26 March to 6 April.

Olivier Award nominated actress Natalie Dew (Mates in Chelsea, Bend It Like Beckham: The Musical) will play Clare, Mark Edel-Hunt (Leopoldstadt, Sister Boniface Mysteries) will play Fritjof and Anemone Rasmussen makes her professional theatre debut as Herta.

The Earthworks is a moving and humorous exploration into carrying the weight of grief and knowing when it’s time to let go.

The creative team is completed by Designer Emma Bailey, Lighting Designer Bethany Gupwell, Sound Designer XANA, Movement Director Chi-San Howard and Casting Director Polly Jerold.

The Genesis Future Directors Award provides early-career directors with the opportunity to explore and develop their craft by creating their first fully resourced production at the Young Vic, with mentoring and support from the theatre’s core artistic team including Artistic Director Kwame Kwei-Armah and the current Genesis Fellow Taio Lawson.

Since its inception in 2012, the Genesis Future Directors Award has supported 16 emerging directors and theatre-makers. Among them are Diyan Zora, who directed Mom, How Did You Meet The Beatles? at Chichester Festival in 2023; Debbie Hannan, Associate Director at the National Theatre of Scotland; Nancy Medina, Artistic Director of the Bristol Old Vic; Matthew Xia, Artistic Director and joint CEO of Actors Touring Company; Lekan Lawal, Artistic Director of Eclipse Theatre and Tinuke Craig, who directed August Wilson’s Jitney in 2022 at Leeds Playhouse and the Old Vic.

Natalie Dew (Clare) has appeared across stage, television and film. Her recent credits include Mates in Chelsea at the Royal Court, The Capture (BBC), and Sandylands (Gold). Natalie received an Olivier nomination for portraying Jess Bhamra in Bend It Like Beckham: The Musical (West End) and returns to the Young Vic where she previously played Olivia in Twelfth Night.  

Mark Edel-Hunt (Fritjof) has appeared across stage and screen. He most recently appeared in Leopoldstadt (West End) with recent television credits including All The Light We Cannot See (Netflix), Sister Boniface Mysteries (BBC), The Royal Mob (Sky) and The White Princess (Starz).

Anemone Rasmussen (Herta) is a recent East 15 Acting School graduate. The Earthworks will be her professional debut. 

BSL Performance: Thu 4 April 2024, 7.45pm
Captioned Performance: Fri 5 April 2024, 7.45pm
Audio Described Performance: Sat 6 April 2024, 7.45pm

Book tickets for The Earthworks

Genesis Almeida Playwright Kendall Feaver’s play announced in Almeida Theatre’s 2024 season 

Genesis Almeida Playwright Kendall Feaver’s Alma Mater has been announced as part of the Almeida Theatre’s 2024 season.

This new play directed by Polly Findlay (Assassins, Chichester Festival theatre; Beginning, National Theatre) and starring Phoebe Campbell (House of the Dragon), Liam Lau-Fernandez (Argylle) and Lia Williams (The Crown, His Dark Materials) explores the ever-growing generational divide between activists.

Kendall was one of the inaugural writers (2019/20) on the Genesis Almeida New Playwrights, Big Plays programme which is run in partnership between the Genesis Foundation and the Almeida.

The programme supports emerging and mid-career writers to develop new plays for larger stages. Each writer on the programme is identified by the Almeida and commissioned to develop a new play, with guidance and dramaturgical support from the Almeida’s Literary Manager and artistic team.

Almeida Artistic Director Rupert Goold said, “Having been part of our inaugural cohort […], it feels particularly special to be producing Kendall Feaver’s Alma Mater in Polly Findlay’s gripping production. Kendall’s virtuoso play explores the nuances and volcanoes of inter-generational feminism and will be one of the water-cooler events of London theatre in 2024.”

Alma Mater will run from 11 June to 20 July (previews 11 – 17 June).

Also announced in the upcoming season is Arnold Wesker’s Roots directed by 2021 Genesis Future Director Award Winner Diyan Zora.

The Genesis Future Director Award has run since 2012 in partnership with the Young Vic. Diyan’s recent directing credits include Mom, How Did You Meet the Beatles? (Chichester Festival theatre, 2023) and Tom Fool (Orange Tree Theatre, 2022). In May this year she will direct Sanaz Toossi’s English as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 2024/25 season.

Read more about Alma Mater

Read more about Roots 

Annie Kershaw wins the Young Vic’s 2024 Genesis Future Directors Award 

A headshot of Annie Kershaw.

(c) Giorgia Young

Annie Kershaw is the recipient of the 2024 Genesis Future Directors Award, a highly sought after professional training opportunity at the Young Vic that enables early-career artists to direct a production at the theatre. 

Annie is currently the Carne Deputy Director at Jermyn Street Theatre. She was Associate Director on Best of Enemies in the West End and previously the Jerwood Assistant Director at the Young Vic. Her other directing credits include Hedda Gabler, Safe (Reading Rep); Light (Five Shorts at the Young Vic); It’s A Flawed World After All (Flawstate); THIS IS NOT A PROTEST (Reading Thames Festival); Ulysses (Jermyn Street Theatre). Assistant director credits include Jekyll & Hyde, Dorian (Reading Rep); Henry II, Romeo and Juliet (Rabble Theatre). 

The Genesis Future Directors Award programme, run by the Young Vic in partnership with the Genesis Foundation, provides early-career directors with the opportunity to explore and develop their craft by creating their first fully resourced production at the Young Vic, with mentoring and support from the theatre’s core artistic team.  

Further details for Annie’s chosen play will be announced in due course. 

Read more about the Genesis Future Directors Award 

Find out more about our partnership with the Young Vic 

Genesis Foundation prize winner George Turvey commissions new short film by Josh Barrow 

A photo of John Studzinski and George Turvey. They are both dressed in smart attire, stood in a grand-looking room, and smiling at the camera.

George Turvey, Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Papatango Theatre Company and winner of the 2022 Genesis Foundation Prize, is using part of his Genesis prize money to commission a short film to celebrate 15 years of the Papatango New Writing Prize (the UK’s biggest playwriting award). 

Actor and writer Josh Barrow, whose script narrowly missed the New Writing Prize shortlist, has been awarded £2,500 by Papatango to create a 10-minute film in partnership with producer Phil Temple at Birdie Pictures, for release in 2024. 

The Genesis Foundation Prize, which recognises an outstanding mentor of young artistic talent, was awarded to George Turvey in 2022. George said: “[I’m] so delighted to be able to offer this extra opportunity this year […]. All made possible through the support of the wonderful Genesis Foundation Prize.” 

Described by the Evening Standard as a “remarkable unearther of new talent”, George, along with colleague Chris Foxon, established the Papatango New Writing Prize in 2009. Since then, it has provided a launchpad for an impressive roster of artists who would not otherwise have found a pathway into theatre, attracting more annual entries than any other playwriting award in the UK and discovering future winners of Oliviers, BAFTAs, Royal National Theatre Foundation, Critics’ Circle, Alfred Fagon and OffWestEnd awards. 

Read more about this year’s Papatango New Writing Prize 

Find out more about the Genesis Foundation Prize 

Royal Academy of Arts announces Genesis Future Curators 

Gabriel Jamroz and Natasha Fyffe stood in front of the Royal Academy building.

The Royal Academy of Arts has announced the first two curators joining the Genesis Future Curators Programme.

Chosen from over 450 applicants, Natasha Fyffe and Gabriel Jamroz will begin 2-year full-time paid positions at the RA this week, with Natasha working in the Exhibitions team and Gabriel in Collections.

After graduating from the University of Leeds with a 1st class honours degree in English and History of Art (BA), Natasha went on to complete an MA in Museum and Art Gallery Studies at the University of Manchester while working at Leeds Art Gallery and Quarry Bank Mill, Cheshire.

Gabriel studied Art History and Curating (BA) at Birkbeck, University of London before working in curation at the Charles Dickens Museum and the Museum of Brands.

John Studzinski, Founder and Chairman of the Genesis Foundation said: “What makes the Royal Academy so unique is its embedded, outstanding culture of mentoring. Rebecca Salter, PRA, a previous winner of the Genesis Foundation Prize, is a mentoring role model in this industry. As Genesis Future Curators, Natasha and Gabriel will benefit from her training and mentoring, working within a visionary organisation.”

Find out more about the Genesis Future Curators Programme

The new cohort of Genesis Almeida New Playwrights, Big Plays writers for 2023-2025

Black background with white repeated text saying ‘Genesis Almeida Writers’.

The Genesis Foundation and Almeida Theatre have announced the newest cohort of their Genesis Almeida New Playwrights, Big Plays Programme, a two-year programme that supports emerging and mid-career writers to develop new plays for larger stages.

The Genesis Almeida Writers for 2023-2025 are Georgia BruceShahid Iqbal Khan, Martha LoaderNikhil Parmar, Eoghan Quinn and Kirsty Rider.

The aim of the programme is to provide a springboard for writers to expand the scale, scope and ambition of their work and to create plays of wide cultural resonance.  

The newest cohort will be given the space and time to experiment with form and scale. Each writer on the programme is commissioned to develop one new play and will be given dramaturgical support from the Almeida’s Literary Manager and artistic team. The writers will also attend twelve masterclasses led by established British and international playwrights, directors, designers and other creatives, and be given a five-day R&D workshop to develop their commission.

Founder & Chairman of the Genesis Foundation John Studzinski CBE said, “The Genesis Foundation works with its partners to identify specific areas of artistic development that need support. On Rupert Goold’s recommendation, we saw the opportunity to fund a programme at the Almeida for writers who are at the stage in their careers when they are ready to tackle big, complex subjects for the main stage.  Rupert and his team provide commissions, and invaluable mentoring and networking support for writers on the Genesis Almeida New Playwrights, Big Plays Programme which is now in its third year.”

Find out more about the programme

Watch the programme video

Introducing the 2023-24 Genesis Emerging Writers at the Jewish Literary Foundation

EDIT: In January 2024, Jewish Book Week became the Jewish Literary Foundation with its annual Book Week still taking place in March.

A female-led retelling of Ivanhoe, poems on the queer Scottish experience and an investigation of Henry Kissinger’s wartime experiences are among the projects selected for the third annual Genesis Jewish Book Week Emerging Writers Programme.

Covering fiction, non-fiction and poetry, the 10 selected writers will receive bursaries, mentoring from established writers, seminars and peer support over the next 10 months, culminating in a special event at Kings Place, London, for Jewish Book Week 2024.

The emerging writers in the fiction category are: Bradford-based Mariyam Karolia with short stories and poems on childlessness; Susan Royston with The House in Mile End, a novel inspired by a box of 1920s love letters; Sean Gilbert with I’ll Be The Monster, a crime story that interrogates the reader’s attraction to that genre; and Harriet Matthews with Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe from the viewpoint of Rebecca, also serving as an examination of Anglo-Jewish history. Their mentors will be million-selling novelist Julie Cohen, Ondaatje Prize winner Ruth Gilligan, thriller writer Adam Lebor and Booker nominee Sophie Mackintosh.

The non-fiction mentees are: Eleanor Thom, who will reflect on the concept of interdependence from her point of view as a mother and carer; Angus Reilly on Kissinger as a refugee, soldier, concentration camp liberator and intelligence officer in the Second World War; and Sharon Kanolik on multicultural identities and growing up Jewish in rural Dorset. Their mentors will be comedian and bestseller Viv Groskop, biographer and journalist Keiron Pim and historian Helen Fry.

In the poetry strand the selected writers are: Glasgow-based Beth Frieden, who writes in English and Gaelic; Evie Ward with a work of poetry and auto-fiction about what it means to write now; and Michael Mullen, delving into his experience of growing up queer, working class and Scottish. Their mentors will be writer and International Booker-shortlisted translator Jen Calleja, Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship winner Michael Pedersen and novelist and poet Sarah Blake.

Cohen, author of Bad Men and Spirited, said: “At a time when funding and support for the arts is shrinking, programmes like this are even more valuable to help the next generation of writers. I love helping new writers and I always feel that I learn a lot myself.”

Fellow mentor Blake, whose poetry and novels include In Springtime and Naamah, added: “Since I read Evie Ward’s work, I haven’t been able to get one of her lines out of my head: ‘I sat with the mould over my head, it was mine. I inherited it.’ I’m so excited to hear what her goals are and help her to reach them in any way I can.”

John Studzinski, Founder and Chairman of the Genesis Foundation, said: “We are delighted to be supporting Jewish Book Week’s Emerging Writers Programme. Now in its third year, this Genesis programme is going from strength to strength. The quality and diversity of writers and mentors, of themes tackled and genres explored is impressive and many talented writers have already come through the programme. It also thrives on developing strong mentor-mentee relationships, which is at the centre of the Genesis Foundation’s work. We look forward to seeing this new cohort develop, with the support and commitment of their superb mentors and the excellent team at Jewish Book Week.”

Emerging writers from the two previous years of the programme have recently achieved a range of milestones. Linda Ford‘s debut collection Lucent was published in the autumn and Arts Council England (ACE) is funding research and development for a new poetry sequence. Philip Glassborow’s musical One Kid, Two Farthings, based on Wolf Mankowitz’s A Kid For Two Farthings, is to be performed in conjunction with the Museum of London’s next major exhibition Fashion City. Helen Bain was shortlisted for the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize 2023. Fiona Monahan has completed her book, including a foreword by her mentor, biographer Caroline Moorehead. Madeleine Dunnigan is now represented by Emma Paterson at Aitken Alexander and a draft of her book was a finalist for the Mslexia First Novel Award 2023. Oakley Flanagan’s G&T was published by Out-Spoken Press this summer. Aaaron Taylor won a 2023 Churchill Fellowship for his research and is now represented by Natasha Fairweather at RCW. And Cambridge University Press is publishing E.K. Myerson’s The Desire for “Syria” in Medieval England.

Find out more about the programme

Charlie Perry announced as 2023/24 Genesis Sixteen Conducting Scholar

A black and white headshot of Charlie Perry, wearing a checkered shirt, smiling off camera.

The Genesis Foundation and The Sixteen are pleased to announce Charlie Perry as their 2023/24 Genesis Sixteen Conducting Scholar.

Charlie is a conductor and singer from London. Since graduating from the University of Manchester with First Class honours, he has been working in the Northwest across a wide variety of musical projects, most notably as Director of Music at the Manchester Oratory, Musical Director of Stafford Choral Society and Assistant Conductor of Stockport Youth Orchestra. He also frequently delivers workshops for adults and children on behalf of groups including The Hallé and Manchester Collective, most recently preparing the children’s chorus for the latter’s production of Noah’s Flood at the Manchester International Festival.

The conducting scholarship offers young conductors the opportunity to be mentored by The Sixteen’s conductor Harry Christophers and associate conductor Eamonn Dougan, as well as the chance to work with some of the best young ensemble singers in the country.

Charlie will lead rehearsals with this year’s Genesis Sixteen cohort, which was announced last month, as well as singing with the choir, and conducting several pieces in performances throughout the year. This includes Choral Evensong on 13 July at St Alban-the-Martyr Church in Holborn, London, which will be recorded for BBC Radio 3 Broadcast.

Find out more about the scholarship.

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