CIT and the Cosgrove Hall Films Archive present this annual conference for fans, students and practitioners of animation, puppetry and character design.

This year’s event features a series of masterclass talks from creative visionaries who are responsible for a new generation of animated works, helping to keep both stop-motion and hand-drawn animation alive and showing how practitioners can develop meaningful careers in animation.

10:30 - 16:30

Sat 02 Nov 2024

£20 full / £15 conc / £10 student

To book, click here or call 0161 912 5616.

Schedule

10:00 - registration

10:30 - welcome & introduction

10:45 - Ellie Land: Animation in Documentary Storytelling

11:45 - Georgia Madden

12:15 - lunch

13:00 - Laura Tofarides & Anastasia Papadopoulou in conversation

14:00 - break

14:15 - Handmade Fantasies: The Stop Motion Worlds of Joseph Wallace

15:15 - break

15:30 - One 6th Animation: Baz Sells & Ben Jackson in conversation

16:30 - Wrap

About The Speakers

Ellie Land

Ellie is an award-winning animator and filmmaker known for her innovative work in animated documentary, particularly on health-related topics.

In her presentation, she discusses her unique approach to combining animation with documentary storytelling, using it as a tool to explore complex, sensitive, and often personal health issues. She shares insights into her creative process, from research and collaboration with experts to the ethical considerations she navigates when portraying real-life experiences through animation.

Her short film, Plunge, was produced by Tyke Films and supported by the BFI. Plunge is an animated documentary about Katie who found empowerment, friendship and healing from plunging into the frigid waters of the North Sea.

Ellie Land website

Instagram

Georgia Madden

Georgia is a stop motion animator based in Liverpool. Her most recent short, Divination Dave was commissioned by BBC Arts as part of their New Creatives programme and has gone on to see festival success, winning ‘Best Animation’ at the BFI Future Film Awards 2022. Her next stop motion short Rubberleg  is a coming-of-age, cosmic adventure currently in development, and will follow a boy’s journey through past lives to grow back a missing limb.

Georgia Madden website

Instagram

One 6th - Baz Sells & Ben Jackson

One6th is an award winning, Stop-Motion animation studio, founded in 2018. ​

Born from a love of filmmaking at a scale of 1:6, One6th is an ever evolving stop-motion studio, with an appetite for keeping it fresh. They’re committed to creating captivating animation, gravitating towards bold ideas and exploring new perspectives. 

At their studio in central Manchester, the company creates everything from props, sets and puppets all the way through to animation and principle photography.

Baz Sells

Baz is the director and co-founder of Manchester based, One6th Animation Studio - he works alongside producer and One6th co-founder, Ben Jackson to create emotive, character driven stop-motion animation.

He began his career as a runner within London's advertising and film industries. Later as producer, his credits include stop-motion work for Disney Junior. As Director, his stop-motion films include the recently BFI backed, Two Black Boys in Paradise, which received additional support from actor, Ian McKellen, as well as other commercial and short films such as Squib, which won a Kinsale Shark Award 2022, was nominated for SHOTS Young Director of The Year, as well as a Wild Card nomination at The British Animation Awards.

In addition to directing projects at One6th, Baz frequently turns his hand to Cinematography, Editing and Set Construction.

Ben Jackson

Ben is a producer and co-founder of One6th Animation Studio. He has a passion for bringing emotive and socially conscious stories to life through imaginative and cinematic stop-motion animation.

Ben studied Film and TV production at the Northern Film School in Leeds (UK) and prior to One6th completed work placements at the BBC on various shows. He turned his attention to stop-motion in his final year of film school, producing an 8 minute short directed by One6th co-founder, Baz Sells.

In 2018, Ben and Baz set up One6th during which time Ben has produced several short films and commercials, which mainly consist of narrative driven, puppet-based stop-motion. Ben thrives on being a hands on producer, with a passion for contributing towards the creative process and is one of the credited writers alongside Baz and Dean Atta in their latest BFI-backed short 'Two Black Boys in Paradise'.

One 6th website

Instagram

Laura Tofarides

Laura is a stop-motion director, animator & puppet maker. She studied animation at UWE Bristol then completed the Certificate in Character Animation through NFTS and Aardman Academy.

She has been animating professionally since 2014 on features, shorts, commercials, TV specials & TV series with directors such as Nick Park and Wes Anderson. She also makes stop motion puppets, helps to organise and curate a number of animation festivals. Laura also gives talks & run animation workshops in-person & online.

Laura Tofarides website

Instagram

Anastasia Papadopoulou

Anastasia is a stop motion creator from Greece, living the last 2 years in the UK. Her first personal short film “Elevator Alone”, has received 33 awards and has been selected in 160 festivals such as Leeds young Film Fest, Bolton Film Festival, Fantoche Animation Film Festival, Manchester Animation festival, LIAF, Kaboom etc. It’s a graduation stop motion film which she wrote, directed, animated and constructed the sets and puppets. 

Her passion for model making led her working with stop motion studios on various projects such as adverts, short movies and music videos as a prop maker/set dresser and puppet maker. What she loves the most, is to find and add the small details in props that pop and bring sets to life.

Anastasia Papadopoulou website

Instagram

Joseph Wallace

Joseph is a BAFTA Cymru nominated director, writer and producer. His work has won awards, received Vimeo Staff Picks and screened at festivals around the world. His acclaimed music video for Sparks led Wallace to create sequences for Edgar Wright’s doc feature The Sparks Brothers which premiered at Sundance and Wallace’s segments were described as ‘dark wonders’ by Guardian’s Mark Kermode.

His last short Salvation Has No Name won the Grand Prix at Animage in Brazil and Animario in Spain, was long-listed for both BIFA and BAFTA and received the Jury Special Mention at the Unifrance Prix du Court Metrage at Cannes 2023.

Joseph Wallace website

Instagram

The day will also feature rarely seen video interviews with previous conference guests, including:

Phil Tippett

Legendary film director and visual effects supervisor and producer (Star Wars, Jurassic Park, RoboCop and many more).

Peter Firmin

Co-founder of Smallfilms, along with Oliver Postgate, and creator of many beloved animated shows, including Bagpuss, Ivor the Engine and Clangers.

Georgina Hayns

Ex-Cosgrove Hall Films and former Creative Puppet Fabrication Supervisor at Laika for over 10 years, supervising the puppet builds on the Oscar-nominated films Coraline, ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls, Kubo and the Two Strings, and The Missing Link.  

TICKETS

£20 FULL / £15 CONC / £10 STUDENT

Click here to book online or call the Waterside box office on 0161 912 5616.

ANIMATION STUDENT BOOKINGS 

Student tickets are available at £10 when booked as a student group. One free teacher ticket for every nine students booked.

Contact box office on 0161 912 5616 for more information or to make a booking.

More Animation at Waterside

24 Oct 2024: Hugh Cornwell - An Animated Discussion + Mighty Joe Young film screening

CIT presents this special event featuring Hugh Cornwell, one of the UK’s leading musicians, a Ray Harryhausen aficionado and a keen supporter of animation.

26 Oct 2024 - 04 Jan 2025: The Lost Worlds of Ray Harryhausen Exhibition

Ray Harryhausen is known as the mastermind behind some of Hollywood’s most iconic cinematic special effects, this exhibition explores the origins of his creative career, with a detailed look at Ray’s experimental phases and groundbreaking techniques.

As part of a season of events celebrating the Lost Worlds Of Ray Harryhausen exhibition at Waterside, CIT presents this special event featuring Hugh Cornwell, one of the UK’s leading musicians, a Ray Harryhausen aficionado and a keen supporter of animation.

Hugh Cornwell: An Animated Discussion

19:15 - 20:15

Thu 24 Oct 2024

£25 FULL / £23 CONC (price includes film screening)

To book, click here or call 0161 912 5616.

Join Hugh Cornwell - original lead singer, guitarist and songwriter with The Stranglers (Peaches, No More Heroes, Golden Brown and many other hits) and now an acclaimed solo artist - for this discussion with host Ric Michael which explores Ray Harryhausen’s cinematic legacy and Hugh’s own championing of animation in his music videos. At this event, Hugh will also share previously unseen animations developed during his music career.

Alongside a discography which features 21 top 40 hits during his time with The Stranglers, with millions of albums sold worldwide, Hugh is host of the Mr DeMille FM cinema podcast which devoted a full episode to Ray’s career, in conversation with Vanessa Harryhausen. Hugh is also an author, actor and music video director who has worked with renowned animators including Jan Švankmajer, Teru Noji and Jesse Bond. This event provides a unique insight into the impact of Ray’s work and the power of animation in the company of one of the country’s most celebrated musicians.

About The Artist

Hugh Cornwell was the main songwriter of all of The Stranglers’ most memorable songs across their ten stellar albums. His lyrics to Golden Brown (from 1981 album La Folie) and their multiple meanings acted as a masterclass in songwriting, with the song reaching Number 2 in the UK singles chart. After releasing his final album with the band, 10 in 1990, Hugh embarked on a solo career.

His latest studio album Moments Of Madness was released in 2022 to ecstatic reviews, and a live double album All The Fun Of The Fair will be released on October 4th, with a UK tour to follow in November 2024. For full tour dates, see Hugh’s website.

Celebrating Ray Harryhausen: Mighty Joe Young (1949)

20:35 - 22:05

Thu 24 Oct 2024

This film has become an animation classic with sequences regarded as being among the greatest stop-motion sequences in film history. This highly influential piece of cinema saw Ray Harryhausen collaborate with stop-motion legend, Wilis O’Brien (King Kong) with their work winning the Academy Award for Special Effects.

The film tells the story of a young woman, Jill Young, living on her father's ranch in Africa, who has raised the title character, a large gorilla, from infancy. Years later, she brings him to Hollywood, seeking her fortune in order to save the family homestead.

More Animation at Waterside

26 Oct 2024 - 04 Jan 2025: The Lost Worlds of Ray Harryhausen Exhibition

Ray Harryhausen is known as the mastermind behind some of Hollywood’s most iconic cinematic special effects, this exhibition explores the origins of his creative career, with a detailed look at Ray’s experimental phases and groundbreaking techniques.

02 Nov 2024: Puppet Masters Animation Conference

CIT and the Cosgrove Hall Films Archive present this annual conference for fans, students and practitioners of animation, puppetry and character design.

This event features a series of masterclass talks from creative visionaries who are responsible for a new generation of animated works, helping to keep both stop-motion and hand-drawn animation alive and showing how practitioners can develop meaningful careers in animation.

Unapologetically Other Workshops
Sat 05 October 2024; 13:00 - 16:00

Pay What You Can

As part of the exhibition at Waterside’s Gallery 74, Unapologetically Other, two members of the Mixed Rage Collective will run an afternoon of creativity, drawing inspiration from this mixed media exhibition.

Unapologetically Other tells of collective members Sherrie Edgar, Sevonah Golabi, Sina Leasuasu, Niall Singh and Jane Thakoordin's lived experiences of being mixed heritage. The artworks on display act as both a celebration of mixed cultures, whilst also prompting visitors to consider the effects of 'othering', lack of representation, daily micro-aggressions and displacement of mixed heritage people.

Two sessions will be available between 1pm and 4pm by collage artist Niall Singh and textile artist Jane Thakoordin, join one or both. The workshops will be run on a pay what you can basis. 

"Say It Loud, Say It Clear!" with Jane Thakoordin
Mini banner making for the people! Come and express yourself through fabric, making a mini banner that tells the world what matters to you

Make a miniature collage with Niall Singh
Using photomontage/collage create an artwork using old encyclopedias and national geographic magazines to play with scale and found image 

For more information and to book a place, contact Michelle Keeling on michelle@watersidearts.org

Our colleagues at Build a Business present this free event for artists and creatives.

Make sure your artwork, service, website, and brand are protected from would-be copycats or do not infringe others’ rights.

At this workshop, you will learn:

• How to understand the three types of Intellectual Property (IP) & how they relate to artists and the art world.​

• Get a clearer idea of what IP you own​ and how to protect it

• Understand how to trade online safely and common issues and risks

• Where to go to for further help and advice

Plus meet the Build A Business team and book in for individual support and advice.

To book, visit this link.

For more information about the project go to www.buildabusinessgm.org

Please note: this event takes place at Altrincham Library, 2 Potts St, Altrincham. WA14 1AH.

Build a Business in GM Libraries is part-funded by the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, administered by Greater Manchester Combined Authority. The project will run until March 2025.

CIT presents its acclaimed Northern Lights Writers’ Conference - a full day on the craft and business of writing, helping writers to develop their storytelling in new ways and through new platforms.

Our 2024 event features sessions with screenwriter Lisa Holdsworth, poet Oliver Sykes, literary agent Monica MacSwan, award-winning writer & creator Emma Nuttall and publisher Kevin Duffy (Bluemoose Books), plus many others.

Tickets £35 / £25. To book, call 0161 912 5616 or book online here.

Now in its ninth year, the Northern Lights Writers’ Conference at Waterside is a significant event in the region for established and emerging writers, screenwriters, poets and authors.  Hosted by Ric Michael, the full-day event features a mix of inspiring talks from leading writers and authors, experienced publishers and literary agents along with creative workshops on writing development and one-to-one advice sessions for writers of all kinds.

The panel talks will take place in the theatre.  In The State of The Art writers Lisa Holdsworth (TV writer & former Chair of the Writers’ Guild) explores the landscape for writers in 2024, alongside author and screenwriter Danielle Jawando and poet and children’s author Oliver Sykes.

Following this session, independent bookseller Ayesha Ansari (Mirror Me Write) will be discussing the importance of representation in literature in Diversity in Literature.

Other panel talks include Monica MacSwan (Aitken Alexander Agency) and Kevin Duffy (Bluemoose Books) giving practical and up to date guidance for writers on how the representation and publication process works plus a talk on routes into the publishing industry with Imogen Davies and Caitíe Woolridge from the Society of Young Publishers (North) who’ll discuss the SYP mentorship scheme, explaining different aspects of the publishing industry and provide insights/resources for job seekers.

A series of creative talks will take place concurrently in the Chambers space.  The first -  How to Develop Your Writing Voice – is with award-winning author Oliver Sykes and is an in-depth look at finding and maintaining your voice as a writer.  Eleanor Pilcher – author and fiction marketer – leads a session on Marketing & Social Media for Writers - a guide to marketing and developing social media content for writers, and business consultant Phil Birchenall delivers a practical session on AI for Writers, looking at how writers can use AI tools to help develop new projects.

Drop In Advice Sessions

Running throughout the afternoon in Waterside’s ‘Sup Bar and Coffee House will be a series of 15-minute drop-in advice sessions, ideal to writers with next steps in both creativity, signposting and career advice. Advisers for these sessions are writer and editor Adam Farrer, children’s author, book editor Dr Liz Flanagan, poet & writer Jazmine Linklater, writer & performer Fat Roland and literary agent, Monica MacSwan.

Schedule

The conference takes place in multiple spaces throughout the day. Following lunch, you can choose from a range of options about which sessions to attend.

Panel Talks (Robert Bolt Theatre)

09:30 - arrival and registration

10:30 - introductions

10:45 - Panel 1: The State of the Art

11:45 - Diversity in Literature

12:30 - lunch

13:15 - Panel 2: The Dos & Don’t of Approaching Agents & Publishers

14:15 - break

14:30 - Panel 3: Routes into Publishing with Society of Young Publishers

15:30: Creating Branched Narratives - Emma Nuttall In Conversation

Creative Talks (Chambers)

13:15 - How To Develop Your Writing Voice with Oliver Sykes

In this workshop session you will explore the craft of creative writing by focussing on your voice.

You will have fun, build confidence, explore your imagination and creativity, learn why having a unique writing voice is such an asset, and discover how to find and develop your voice as a writer.

14:30 - Marketing & Social Media for Writers with Eleanor Pilcher

A guide to marketing and developing social media content for writers, including a look at the BookTok phenomenon, to help writers build their profiles across the different platforms.

15:30 - AI for Writers with Phil Birchenall

A practical session looking at how writers can use AI tools to help develop new projects.

As creatives, we're programmed to be wary of AI tools: they could take our jobs, couldn't they?

But in reality, originating material using AI is out of the window: you'll know why if you've ever asked Bard or ChatGPT to draft a script or tell an original joke. The smarter money is on how we apply our creative chops to these tools to pilot and build entirely new experiences.

AI enthusiast and creative business strategist Phil Birchenall walks through a series of interactive experiences he's developed using ChatGPT-4, including an educational resource that immerses students in the role of Macbeth and a play-along version of - perhaps - the dullest daytime TV of them all, Homes Under The Hammer.

Drop In Advice Sessions (Sup Bar)

15 minute sessions with Adam Farrer, Liz Flanagan, Fat Roland and Monica MacSwan taking place from 13:15 - 16:15.

About The Speakers

Lisa Holdsworth

Lisa’s TV writing career started with a 50-minute stand-alone episode for Fat Friends. She was then part of the Emmerdale writing team for several years before going on to write numerous episodes of dramas including New Tricks, Robin Hood, Midsomer Murders and Waterloo Road, as well as radio and stage work. She won the Writer of the Year award in the RTS Yorkshire Awards 2011 for her 90-minute opener for Series 4 of Waterloo Road. More recently she’s written episodes of Call the Midwife, All Creatures Great and Small and A Discovery of Witches (on which she was co-showrunner on Series 3).  She created, executive produced, and wrote several episodes for Channel 4’s upcoming series, Dance School.

More info

Twitter: @WorksWithWords

Danielle Jawando

Danielle Jawando is an author and screenwriter. Her debut YA novel, And the Stars Were Burning Brightly, won best senior novel in the Great Reads Award, and was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, the YA Book Prize, the Jhalak Children’s & YA Prize, the Branford Boase Award and was long-listed for the CILIP Carnegie Medal. Her previous publications include the non-fiction children’s book Maya Angelou (Little Guides to Great Lives), as well as several short plays performed in Manchester and London. Danielle has also worked on Coronation Street as a storyline writer. Her second novel, When Our Worlds Collided, won the 2023 Jhalak Children’s and YA Prize, the YA Book Prize and the 2023 Diverse Book Awards. Her third YA novel, If My Words Had Wings, will be published in May this year.

More info

Instagram @danielle_jawando

Oliver Sykes

Oliver is an award-winning author, poet, writer/performer and producer. His debut children’s novella, Alfie’s First Fight, won Best Illustrated Young Reader at the 2023 Children’s Literature Festivals‘ Book Awards. When he isn’t writing, Oliver can usually be found performing his stories and poems at theatres, libraries and schools all across the world. He is also Lead Artist & Producer at Stories Of Care, an award-winning outreach and writing organisation based in Manchester.

More info

Instagram @Oli_Sykes89

Ayesha Ansari

Ayesha is a Teaching Assistant, mother of two and the founder of Mirror Me Write, a Manchester online indie bookshop, promoting inclusive books and authors from underrepresented backgrounds.

Mirror Me Write is community of individuals who all share common interest, to normalise representation in literature and it grew from Ayesha’s deep commitment to representation and desperately wanting to see more books with multiple narratives being promoted. Ayesha’s goal is to promote books that all children can see themselves in, whilst promoting tolerance, empathy and a better understanding of the world.

More info

Instagram @mirrormewrite

Kevin Duffy

Kevin Duffy has worked in publishing for over 35 years setting up his own publishing company in 2006 in Hebden Bridge with his wife, Hetha. The Guardian - 'Bluemoose Books is a small but mighty literary hit factory.'

Bluemoose’s authors include Benjamin Myers, Colette Snowden, Heidi James, Rónán Hession and Devika Ponnambalam whose novels have been short listed and won major literary prizes. The company’s books have been translated into 14 languages and feature both national and international bestsellers.

More info

Instagram @bluemoosebooksofficial

Monica MacSwan

Monica joined Aitken Alexander in 2018 and is now an Associate Agent. She started her career in publishing at Felicity Bryan Associates and Profile Books, and then went on to work in translation rights at United Agents and Aitken Alexander.  

She is actively building her own list of authors, which includes the poet Belinda Zhawi; CEO of the dating app Feeld, Ana Kirova; Novara Media journalist Moya Lothian-McLean; and Peter Apps, whose book Show Me The Bodies won the 2023 Orwell Prize for Political Writing. 

In fiction, she represents novelist Nicola Dinan, whose debut work Bellies (Doubleday) was longlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize and optioned by Element Pictures in a television deal after a major auction. She also works with poet, novelist and essayist Aea Varfis-van Warmelo; Divya Maniar; and Lorenzo Mandelli, who has been shortlisted for The White Review Short Story Prize and the Desperate Literature Prize.

More info

Twitter @MonicaMacSwan

Imogen Davies

Imogen (she/they) is a content marketer and copywriter working for a York-based digital marketing agency, and the Chair of the northern branch of The Society of Young Publishers. Driven by the need for northern representation within the creative sector, they hope to advocate for underrepresented groups within the publishing industry via SYP North’s work.

More info

Twitter @imhidinginabook

Caitíe Woolridge

Caitíe is an Events Officer for SYP North 2024 and currently works as a Project Support Assistant. She also volunteer for The Publishing Post and has recently graduated from the MA Publishing course at Northumbria University.

More info

Twitter @CaitieWoolridge

About The Advisers

Adam Farrer

Adam is a memoirist, the editor of the creative nonfiction journal The Real Story and the Writer in Residence for Peel Park, Salford. His first book, Cold Fish Soup, won the NorthBound Book Award and was published by Saraband in the UK and the US in 2022.  His writing has featured in The Guardian, Lunate, Hinterland, Test Signal (Dead Ink Books/Bloomsbury, 2021) and North Country (Saraband, 2022) and he has performed at a number of festivals, including the Manchester Literature Festival, Ilkley Literature Festival and the Edinburgh Book Festival. He has taught memoir writing at the University of Lancaster and The Garsdale Retreat.

More info

Instagram @adamjfarrer

Dr Liz Flanagan

Dr Liz Flanagan is an award-winning children’s author. She teaches Creative Writing in many different settings including schools and universities, and she has previously worked as a book editor.

More info

Twitter @lizziebooks

Jazmine Linklater

Jazmine Linklater is a poet and writer based in Manchester where she works for Carcanet Press and edits the art journal Corridor8. Figure a Motion (Guillemot Press, 2020) is her most recent poetry publication.

More info

Instagram @jjhlinklater

Fat Roland

Fat Roland is a performer and writer based in Manchester. He's created three solo shows, the latest of which was alternative record shop comedy Seven Inch, which involved over 200 cartoon props and was commissioned by The Lowry Theatre as part of their Developed With artist programme.

He writes short stories and has produced two collections, long sold out. He has been commended in the Manchester Fiction Prize. 

More info 

Twitter @fatroland

About The Trainers

Oliver Sykes (see above)

Eleanor Pilcher

Eleanor is the Head of Fiction Marketing at Bonnier Books UK and a published author of commercial fiction, based in South London. She is also a freelance journalist, public speaker and founder of #MarketYourMarketing. You'll find her on TikTok @eleanorpilcher, or writing in a cafe.

More info

Instagram @ellesbellesnotebook

Phil Birchenall

Phil Birchenall is a business consultant who has worked hands-on with creative, media, and digital businesses for over two decades. He works with founders and company executives to understand what makes them tick, their ambitions, and the issues holding them back. Then, he works with them to build pragmatic solutions to help them grow. 

Phil’s been obsessed by technology’s impact on creative production and consumption for many years and uses this obsession to justify spending far too much of his time mucking around with AI. He is co-founder of Manchester’s AI Cafe and delivers talks and training about the practical uses of AI in business.

More info

Twitter @PhilBirchenall

Emma Nuttall

Emma Nuttall, hails from the North and writes stories across multiple platforms including games, extended reality (XR), theatre, and screen. Her collaborative projects include working with the BBC on an interactive story for "His Dark Materials," partnering with Megaverse to develop "Game Changers," an interactive live-streamed show, and creating "NEST" for LEEDS 2023 in collaboration with the National Youth Theatre. Recognized for her work, Emma has been selected for Screen Yorkshire's 'FLEX' programme, Box of Tricks Theatre's 'Accelerate', BAFTA Connect, and the Future of Film cohort.

More info

Instagram @emnuttballa

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Tickets £35 / £25. To book, call 0161 912 5616 or book online here.

If you have any questions about the event, please email us at cit@watersidearts.org

Dates: 15, 22 Marc 2024, 11am - 1pm

Free

This workshop series, led by Lebanese theatre-maker and arts facilitator Nour Sabouneh, will help people of all backgrounds and skill levels to use simple creative techniques to develop communication skills via friendly and fun shared group activities.

These accessible and supportive sessions will help participants learn new techniques that can benefit your ability to connect with others in personal and professional settings through verbal and non- verbal communication including body movement, speech and singing along with mixed creative skills including creative writing and sculpting.

Creativity has an impact on our everyday communication, and these workshops will help participants to collaborate, to share experiences, and to enhance communications skills to improve confidence in all settings.

Nour is fluent in English, Arabic and French and we welcome participants from all communities and of all skill levels to these sessions.

These sessions are free to attend, however registration is required. To book your place, please call 0161 912 5616 or book online here.

These are sessions for participants aged 18 and over.

Participants are welcome to join one or more sessions and all are invited to contribute to a body of work at the end of the four sessions which will be showcased on social media and within the Waterside venue itself. This element is entirely voluntary and is not a requirement of attendance.

For any enquires please email cit@watersidearts.org

SESSIONS

The workshops take place at Waterside Arts between 11:00 – 13:00 on the following dates:

Friday 22 March

These events are part of a mini-season of creative activities celebrating International Women’s Day.

About The Trainer

Nour Sabouneh is a Theatre Maker and graduate of the Lebanese University, graduating in dramatic and directing in 2011. She holds a Master’s degree in actor training and direction as well as Bachelor’s degree in oriental singing.

She led the theatre club at the Arab University of Beirut. She is a theatre writer, director and producer and has also performed in both theatre and short films. Her screen credits include 06 Tripoli, which was showcased at The Warehouse in Paris and Brussel Capital Film Festival, SWIFF Film Festival USA wining several international world film awards.

Nour has worked with participants of all age groups, primary, secondary and further education. She is currently preparing her PhD thesis devoted to theatre off stage and its role in social change.

Hosted by award-winning comedian and performer Amy Vreeke, this event showcases work in development from female and female-identifying theatre-makers who are recipients of seed commission funding from Waterside.

Come along to see and support inspiring and thought-provoking new work from some of the region’s most talented theatre-makers. Our featured artists include:

Amy Lever: Lost Girl

Birdy, twenty years old, aimless but determined to travel, digs through her estranged family’s Jewish heritage in the hope of obtaining an EU passport. What could possibly go wrong? But instead she unearths a family secret buried since Damascus 1901. Lost Girl is an exploration into Jewish-arab heritage, the expectations of womanhood and found family.

Cathy Sheil: Baby Brain

Matrescence is the transition into motherhood. Like adolescence, it can be a period of extreme physical, physiological and psychological change.  The piece explores common mothering ideologies and experiences like ‘baby brain’ and post natal depression through puppets and science.

Jenny Gaskell: The Sustainable Travel Agency

The Sustainable Travel Agency is a new interactive performance/audio project in development. It’s a pop up travel shop, created from recycled or recyclable materials. Audiences enter the shop front, have a short consultation and are booked onto 11 minute audio holidays right on the shop floor.

Brown Kuri Productions: To Be Seen

Two different but also similar perspectives of a Pakistani woman in her late 20s and a Punjabi woman in her early 40s. Navigating growth, life pressures and healing ancestral patterns.

This event is part of a mini-season of creative activities celebrating International Women’s Day.

If you have any questions about the event, please email us at cit@watersidearts.org

Tickets: £6 / £3. To book, call 0161 912 5616 or book online here.

Frontiers: Where Science Meets Art

Our regular network event for artists, researchers, educators and scientists working in the fields of art, science and wellbeing.

Frontiers is about innovation and discovery in approaches for those working at the intersection of creativity and science. This is an informal space to meet other practitioners, to share your project, news and learning on how to move your practice or project forward.

This session will feature a discussion on using art for good science communication and the panel will share their own projects and research together with examples of best practice in sci-art collaborations. Our guests include:

• Ella Wild, Head of Festivals & Events at the Science & Industry Museum, which produces Manchester Science Festival.

• Anthony Pickering, a freelance illustrator whose projects include the Carbon City Zero game and the graphic novel, Diabetes: Year One http://www.pick-art.co.uk/

• Dr Dave Gerrard, lecturer in evolutionary genomics from the University of Manchester’s Division of Evolution, Infection & Genomics.

If you have any questions about the event, please email us at cit@watersidearts.org

To book your free place, follow this link.

About the Speakers

Ella Wild

Ella is Head of Festivals and Events at the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester, she oversees the Manchester Science Festival and the year-round evening events public programme at the museum. Ella was previously a freelance producer for over 10 years, working on a range of projects with artists and organisations across the UK, from Manchester International Festival to Imperial War Museum.

Anthony Pickering

Anthony is a freelance illustrator based in Bolton. His practice covers portraiture, mapping, cartooning, comics, 2D frame animation, strong graphic lines and colours, and characterful pencil drawings. Working digitally and in traditional media, his projects feature medical communication, urban visualisation, poetic imagining, scribing for conferences, and infographic representation.

Dave Gerrard Ph.D

Dave is a Lecturer in Evolutionary Genomics at the University of Manchester. He is programme director for the MSc in Genomic Medicine and examinations officer for Genetics and Molecular Biology. His areas of expertise include bioinformatics, evolutionary biology and embryology.

Go deeper into the animated worlds featured in the Scene On Screen exhibition from the Cosgrove Hall Films Archive with a panel discussion featuring celebrated alumni Bridget Appleby and Barbara Biddulph (production design and art direction), alongside Joe Dembinski (animation and director of photography). This highly experienced panel, together with host Ric Michael, will explore how set design, props and lighting work together to bring animated worlds to life. The discussion will be followed by a Q&A session.

Tickets: £8 FULL / £5 CONC

To book, call 0161 912 5616 or book here.

About The Speakers

Bridget Appleby

Bridget worked for Cosgrove Hall Films for over 30 years as a designer and Art Director, earning a BAFTA for directing and art directing a stop motion adaption of The Reluctant Dragon. As Art Director, she was responsible for bringing together the characters, concept and worlds for stop motion animations such as Oakie Doke and Brambly Hedge.

Her style can be seen across Cosgrove Hall productions such as Andy Pandy, Bill and Ben the Flowerpot Men for the BBC, Engie Benjy and Fifi and the Flowertots. She continues to work in the industry today.

Barbara Biddulph

Barbara began her career in animation by painting 'Danger Mouse' characters onto cels for Cosgrove Hall Films. She then led on designing and art directing on many shows including 'Bob the Builder' and 'The Clangers'.

She was concept designer and art director at Factory Create on 'Scream Street' and 'Strange Hill High’ and she’s worked with Mackinnon and Saunders on puppets, furring up characters for 'Fantastic Mr. Fox'. Most recently she has created adverts for 'Red Tractor' and NUMAN acting as designer and Art Director for the entire production process.

Joe Dembinski

Joe first worked as a paint and trace artist at Stop Frame Films and later as an animator on Noddy. He joined Cosgrove Hall at their new studios in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, working on Chorlton and the Wheelies and on Jamie and the Magic Torch.

His credits include The Pied Piper of Hamelin, Noddy, Cockleshell Bay and Kenny Everett’s Captain Kreman, The Wind in the Willows and The Reluctant Dragon. He moved to Hot Animation as a director and director of photography, working on Brambly Hedge, Bob the Builder, Rubberdubbers, Pingu and Thomas the Tank Engine from 35mm to a digital format.

Ideal for makers, artists and anyone looking to understand the basics of photographic lighting to create higher quality images of their work (or even of themselves).

This session is designed to help those on a tight budget use household lighting or natural daylight to produce better quality images for product shots, portfolios, video presentations and web content. Camera knowledge is useful but not essential for this event, the guidance will help even if you’re using a smartphone camera.

Professional photographer and videographer Jason Lock leads this session providing tips and tricks to help you create high quality product shots at low or no cost for your website, gallery application or social media channel.

If you have any questions about the event, please email us at cit@watersidearts.org

Tickets: £15 / £10 (plus £1 booking fee), call 0161 912 5616 or book online here.

Frontiers: Where Science Meets Art

The launch of our new network for artists, researchers, educators and scientists working in the fields of art, science and wellbeing. Featuring guests Ellie Rose (theatre maker), Jacqui Wood (director, ARC Stockport) and BAFTA-winning writer Debbie Oates in a SciArt Crossovers panel discussion that explores the links between art and science: 

• how and why science inspires creativity

• what is the impact of creative engagement in arts and health settings?

• what are the similarities between artists and scientists - exploring unknown subjects and with a shared need to communicate with the public

This inaugural event is a space to meet other practitioners, to share your project and learn how to move your practice or project forward. If you have any questions about the event, please email cit@watersidearts.org

To book your free place, follow this link.

About The Speakers

Debbie Oates

Debbie has written over 20 produced theatre plays, along with plays for Radio 4 and for broadcast television including Coronation Street, Cold Feet, Medici, The Mill, Primeval, Robin Hood, Crusoe, Drop Dead Gorgeous and Fat Friends.

Awards have included a BAFTA and Best Single Episode (Coronation Street) and a Prix Europa and Sony nomination for the radio play ‘Pongo, Sadfish, Blackie & Sid’. In addition she mentors emerging writers including for DANC (Disability Artists Network Community).

She is writing a new theatre production exploring the cutting edge science of cryonics.

Ellie Rose

Ellie is a theatre director, actor and maker based in Manchester, working across theatre for 15 years. She gained an MA at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

The main focus of her creative work is to champion complex, renegade, unseen female narratives and characters, alongside female-led teams. Putting them front row and centre. She is drawn to expanding traditional, naturalistic forms of theatre for example utilising technology, videography and movement. She is drawn to work that crosses science, humanity and the vastness of human experience.

Ellie’s directorial credits include; Meet Me At Dawn (Hope Mill) I Am Not A Robot (Oldham Coliseum), The Looks Department (53Two), Squirrels (Portsmouth Guildhall), Tangled & Wildfires (Hope Mill Theatre), The Well (Waterside Arts).

Ellie Rose website.

Jacqui Wood

Jacqui is director of Arc, one of the UK’s leading arts and mental health charities, based in the Hat Works building in Stockport. Arc provides opportunities for people to celebrate their creativity, connect with each other and learn new skills.

Arc has more than 25 years’ experience of producing transformational arts projects which engage and include marginalised groups, promote wellbeing and recovery from mental ill-health, and reach thousands of people across the North West and beyond.

Arc website.

This event is part of the Visioning A Creative Business Workshop series, delivered in partnership with Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair. For full introductory details see here, and to access the pre-training questionnaire, please see this link.

Creative Business Workshop Reflection Session

Tickets: £5 - book here or call 0161 912 5616.

You can also pay for this and the July 18 sessions with our Creative Visioning Bundle option.

This session is an online discussion with Caroline Jackman that looks at the outcomes of the actions developed from participation in either of the first two sessions.
We will together discuss challenges and barriers, and together, we will help you create a new set of actions to build your business plan.
A Zoom link for the session will be sent at least 24 hours ahead of the event.

About the Trainer
As a business consultant, coach and trainer for the creative industries, Caroline has over 20 years’ working with national charities, government agencies, academic institutions, galleries and practitioners.
Caroline has led UK and international projects.

As Head of Craft Business Skills for Crafts Council for seven years, Caroline led business training programmes for craft businesses, championing the growth of the market for craft on the Creative Industries Trade and Investment Board.

Caroline is a specialist in art, craft & design exporting. Building on her strong relationship with Department for Business and Trade, Caroline produced a UK International Export Toolkit and Temporary Export Guide for the Crafts Council; led trade missions to Paris and Creative Europe funded projects including Crafting Europe trade schemes and business training programmes. Caroline is a Trustee for New Ashgate Gallery, Mentor for Arts Emergency and an Advisor for Radcliffe Trust.

Theatre maker, writer and facilitator Amy Vreeke leads this creative writing workshop looking at how to use personal experience as a platform for new writing. The session is open to all, regardless of writing experience, and includes activities, writing prompts and tips to help develop your creative writing skills.

Using Amy’s comedy theatre show Glowing as a foundation, the workshop explores how the process of turning a life experience into a piece of new writing, along with the role of creativity in supporting health and wellbeing. Amy shares her writing advice from creating the show and reveals her own creative techniques for how to turn your experiences into new writing.

All are welcome to this session, just bring your preferred writing tool - pen and paper, tablet or computer.

About the Speaker

Amy is the creator of Glowing, an acclaimed comedy theatre show in which she shares her very personal and unfiltered views on the realities of pregnancy and motherhood. She is a comedian, actor, theatre maker, writer and women’s health advocate based in Greater Manchester. Her “slick delivery” (North Westend) took her to several prestigious stand-up competition finals including The Leicester Square Theatre Comedy Awards and The Funny Women Awards.

Her show ‘The Year My Vagina Tried to Kill Me’, about her experience of the chronic disease endometriosis, had a sell-out run at Manchester’s SICK! Festival and a successful northern tour. The production gained wide media attention after Amy created a short video for the BBC that reached over 100K viewers.

For more information about Amy - visit her website.

Tickets £8 / £6 - book here.

Come and discuss your creative project with us.

 If you’re looking for advice with how to move your project forward, whether that’s with fundraising, developing partnerships or information about working with Waterside, then this free session is a space for a brew and a creative chat.

Please complete the form below to provide some information about your work, the areas you’d like advice with, together with any relevant web links abut your work.

 CIT supports a range of artists including writers, animators, theatre-makers, designer-makers, photography, visuals arts, and those working in arts & health and sci-art fields.

The surgeries are 45 minutes long. Sessions can be in-person at Waterside or over Zoom depending on preference.

If you have any questions about the event, please email us at cit@watersidearts.org

This event is part of the Visioning A Creative Business Workshop series, delivered in partnership with Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair.

Visioning: A Creative Network Day

Tickets £15 / £10 - book here or call 0161 912 5616.

You can also choose to pay for this and the final Zoom (Sep 15) sessions with our Creative Visioning Bundle option.

This event is an all day, in-person event from trainer Caroline Jackman to build your connections and support network that will help make your creative business a reality.

Schedule

Morning

Featuring presentations and a Q&A with local creatives Bukky Baldwin (fashion & textiles) and Fiona Bailey (photography), drawing on their own experience of developing a creative business to help you build knowledge and connections.

https://www.bukkybaldwin.com/

https://fionabaileyphotography.com/

Afternoon

An action learning session with Caroline Jackman

This facilitated session will help the group work together on sharing any challenges and barriers following the Visualising session. The session outline will be steered by the group and a new set of actions will be created by each participant, depending on their needs.

Each participant will have a new set of resources to support them deliver their actions before the next session in September. Participants will be encouraged to start to populate their business plan template.

About the Trainer

As a business consultant, coach and trainer for the creative industries, Caroline has over 20 years’ working with national charities, government agencies, academic institutions, galleries and practitioners.
Caroline has led UK and international projects.

As Head of Craft Business Skills for Crafts Council for seven years, Caroline led business training programmes for craft businesses, championing the growth of the market for craft on the Creative Industries Trade and Investment Board.

Caroline is a specialist in art, craft & design exporting. Building on her strong relationship with Department for Business and Trade, Caroline produced a UK International Export Toolkit and Temporary Export Guide for the Crafts Council; led trade missions to Paris and Creative Europe funded projects including Crafting Europe trade schemes and business training programmes.

Caroline is a Trustee for New Ashgate Gallery, Mentor for Arts Emergency and an Advisor for Radcliffe Trust.

Creative Industries Trafford and Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair are delighted to present a series of creative business development events with experienced business trainer and coach Caroline Jackman for a programme of events to kick start your creative practice.

These sessions are for anyone, including recent graduates, who is interested in setting up a new creative business or establishing a career in the arts.

The training is a mix of resources, questions, workshops online and in person networking. We expect participants to use their own dedicated learning time outside of the two workshops and creative network day to build their knowledge and implement a plan for their creative business.

We recommend setting aside on average three hours per week to your learning. You will be provided with a programme outline to guide you.

1. Case studies provided by pre-recorded interviews*
2. Workshop (online) ‘Visioning a creative business’ on 27th June 10am – 12.30pm
3. Creative Network day (in person) 18th July, Manchester
4. A step by step written programme that will include:
    a. Top tips on marketing
    b. Top tips on pricing products
    c. Top tips on selling
    d. Top tips on building a business plan
    e. Top tips on funding and financial advice
5. Workshop (online) on 15th September 10 – 12.30pm - Reflections & Creative Planning

*Please note, many of the resources come from the craft sector, though advice is transferable to all creative industry sectors.

Once signed up, you will be issued a programme pack that will detail links and resources and a pretraining questionnaire.

We invite all of those who sign up to complete this questionnaire to help the trainer Caroline Jackman make the training as bespoke as possible guided by your answers.

Visioning: A Creative Business Workshop

Tickets: £5 Book here or call 0161 912 5616.

You can also choose to pay for all three sessions with our Creative Visioning Bundle option.

A practical workshop to help you visualise your creative business. This 2 & ½ hour workshop will be conducted online via Zoom. We ask participants to bring pen & paper or whatever you use to create notes.

This practical workshop will take you through the steps on:

1. How to set up a business
2. How to visualise your brand values
3. How to market your brand
4. How to price your products
5. How to plan and set achievable goals.

You will take away a set of actions that will be discussed at the Creative Network day on 18 July.

A Zoom link for the session will be sent at least 24 hours ahead of the event.

About the Trainer

As a business consultant, coach and trainer for the creative industries, Caroline has over 20 years’ working with national charities, government agencies, academic institutions, galleries and practitioners.
Caroline has led UK and international projects.

As Head of Craft Business Skills for Crafts Council for seven years, Caroline led business training programmes for craft businesses, championing the growth of the market for craft on the Creative Industries Trade and Investment Board.

Caroline is a specialist in art, craft & design exporting. Building on her strong relationship with Department for Business and Trade, Caroline produced a UK International Export Toolkit and Temporary Export Guide for the Crafts Council; led trade missions to Paris and Creative Europe funded projects including Crafting Europe trade schemes and business training programmes.

Caroline is a Trustee for New Ashgate Gallery, Mentor for Arts Emergency and an Advisor for Radcliffe Trust.

RUNNING TIMES

150 minutes, via ZOOM

This event is now fully booked. Please check availability at the next session on July 19th.

Come and discuss your creative project with us.

 If you’re looking for advice with how to move your project forward, whether that’s with fundraising, developing partnerships or information about working with Waterside, then this free session is a space for a brew and a creative chat.

Please complete the form below to provide some information about your work, the areas you’d like advice with, together with any relevant web links abut your work.

 CIT supports a range of artists including writers, animators, theatre-makers, designer-makers, photography, visuals arts, and those working in arts & health and sci-art fields.

The surgeries are 45 minutes long and this month, will take place over Zoom. A link will be sent to you once your place is confirmed.

If you have any questions about the event, please email us at cit@watersidearts.org