Dear CurvingRoad Friends,

First of all, a belated but heartfelt Happy New Year. What a year we had!!!

Sh*t-M*x did very well and we were delighted if exhausted by it all. And now we are gearing up to do more. No one can be unaware of the problems everyone is having in this dreadful economy and we are no exception. So we have begun to regroup and organize ourselves so that we can still continue to develop and give our artists their professional debuts while at the same time not go into economic free fall. To that end, we are developing our Board of Directors so that we can be stronger not only in fundraising but also in our various areas of interest. The more well informed and up to the moment we are, the better we can do what we do. So we are talking to people who we hope would like to join us. If you have an interest or have ideas of someone who might find our unique view of things interesting do let us know.
We are also about to send out a call for plays from playwrights who are over 40 and who have not yet had their professional debut. We are giving ourselves a year or so to develop a work and to produce it which should (we hope) allow us to find the funds to produce it successfully. Again, if you have people you know whose work you think is of interest let them know where we are. Our criteria are simple. Our artists are those who have not necessarily taken the straight path in their chosen field and have not yet had their first professional break.
At the same time we are also planning to mount a visual arts exhibition in the fall and have some artists in the wings, however if you have any likely candidates who fit our criteria please let us know.
We are also developing our emergency fund which will be monies put aside to provide a struggling artist with that small amount that could help them make that leap into their chosen field. Our first recipient of this was a young man who had been given his first acting job at the Edinburgh Fringe but didn’t have the money to get up there and find accommodation. CurvingRoad gave him what was needed and so started a career.  We want to make sure that we can continue to do this and are developing guidelines for this purpose.


Updates:

We thought you might like to know (especially those of you who saw the play) what our CurvingRoad artists are up to now.

Leo Richardson,
our esteemed playwright and actor is now working on developing a play with high school students and has been busy workshopping his new play ‘Pale Skin’ at the National Studios with our terrific director, Sam Potter. Straight after Sh*t-M*x, his play 'What Cheryl Did Next' was produced at Theatre 503 which received a 5 star review.

Sam Potter,
our director, went on to direct a revival of 'Cosi Fan Tutte' for Las Palmas Opera House and Budapest Palace of Arts and is now just about to direct 'The Art of Success' by Nick Dear at LAMDA. On top of all this she is moving house out into the country which will give her lovely son more room to grow.
Lou Cable,
our amazing stage manager, has gone on to become the resident stage manager at the Bush Theatre, which we are delighted about. Lou was essential to the success of our play and we know she is and will continue to be an invaluable asset to the Bush.

Cassie Atkinson
Straight after her debut in Sh*t-M*x Cassie went on to the National where she can be seen in ‘Mrs. Affleck’. We are delighted that she is doing so well and wish her every success in the future.

Prav Menon-Johansson,
our associate producer on Sh*t-M*x, was the designer for ‘American Briefs’ at Above the Stag Theatre in October 2008 - the inaugural show of a new Fringe Venue and then directed ‘The Choir’ at Above the Stag Theatre in January 09.

And we have heard from Luke Thompson who was the first recipient of CR’s emergency funds who is now developing his career in Bristol and could be heard in voice-over in the BBC 1 production ‘Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life’. Luke is auditioning and working hard and we wish him lots of luck.
 
On the visual arts front we have heard from Darren Rowley, who we exhibited last year.  He is continuing with wildlife and travel photography, having just returned from whale watching in Baja California/Mexico, but is now putting together a portfolio of model photographs, ranging from the classic B&W nude art to more modern takes on fashion/glamour photography. He has also been developing the nature photography and has stopped doing zoo animal portraits and is concentrating on two extremes 1) wild animals in their environment as well as 2) abstract 'close-ups' of plants, animals and insects etc. He is also working on this theme within his model photography so that each image could be seen as either, human, animal or plant-life - independent of its original source. This is the long term project.

For those of you who are interested in all things Fringe, do check out the Fringe Report website www.fringereport.com which give some very interesting reviews of fringe work that is not always reviewed in the mainstream press. There are a lot of online websites and blogs that are of interest and we will be mentioning them on our website so do check in with us when you have time. www.curvingroad.com.
As always if you have ideas or thoughts you would like to share with us please do email sonja@curvingroad.com. We are always interested in what you have to say and what you think we should be working on.



 (PS: please pass this newsletter on to anyone you think may be interested or send us their email address and we would be delighted to do it. Alternatively, if you do not wish to receive this newsletter please let us know and we will take you off our mailing list.)

Best Wishes,

From all of us at CurvingRoad






 

Our Mission

CurvingRoad is an organization founded on behalf of the artist. Its mission is to find new artists within a variety of disciplines as they make their way along the curving roads of their own, individual artistic lives, nurture them, advise them, and then, when ready, launch them and their work into the public eye.

More here.