The Barbican has teamed up with innovative social enterprise The Trampery to open a space that will help kickstart the careers of a new generation of creative talent working in everything from physical performance to sculpture.
The East London venue, which as well as programming some of the capital’s most acclaimed and daring theatre also presents concerts, art exhibitions and more, has transformed a Victorian warehouse in Hackney Wick into Fish Island Labs, a home for upwards of 50 emerging practitioners who will have access to studios, mentoring and workshops covering all aspects of building success in the creative world today from crowdfunding to social media.
As well as providing these artists with the chance to create work that could later be seen at the Barbican, the labs will also aim to inspire young people looking to forge a career in the arts with regular Creative Learning workshops, seminars and projects planned for people aged 14 to 25-years-old.
Talking about the innovative centre, Sean Gregory, Director of Creative Learning at the Barbican, said: “Fish Island Labs continues the Barbican’s commitment to investing in the next generation of creative artists, as well as in our long history of programming work in our Centre’s neighbouring east London boroughs. Building on last year’s successful Hack the Barbican takeover these Labs explore the increasingly blurred lines between the arts and technology, highlighting how successful models from the tech world can be applied to developing skills, talent and new ideas in the arts.”
Those who are lucky enough to win a place as one of the Fish Island Labs resident artists will work over a period of 10 months to develop new cutting edge work in their chosen field, whether that is making theatre or film editing.
Applications are now open with £10,000 of bursaries available. Visit the Fish Island Labs’ website for more information.