Alongside the official Welsh showcase taking place at Edinburgh Fringe between 22-26 August, a cohort of emerging and established performing artists and companies will join team Wales to experience one of the world's biggest international theatre and performance festivals this year, supported by the Seeding for the Future Programme. You can find out more about the cohort below.

The programme supports artists and producers who have yet to take work to the Fringe to realise their future showcasing potential and is administered by Wales Arts International / Arts Council of Wales. The cohort were selected by a panel of leading industry experts including  Dawn Walton, Jafar Iqbal, Fadhili Maghiya, Elen Roberts, Elin Roberts, Jenny Stoves and chaired by Maggie Dunning. 

 

Seeding for the Future Cohort 2022

Callum Lloyd

Callum Lloyd
Callum Lloyd is an actor and writer from Cardiff. He has worked with companies including Sherman Theatre, National Theatre Wales, Dirty Protest, Bristol Old Vic, and RCT Theatres. He is currently on the Sounding Board for Common Wealth and hopes to bring a show to Edinburgh in the near future.

Charlotte Lewis

Charlotte Lewis
Charlotte Lewis is an international director working via theatre & audio. Her work takes moments from the everyday, celebrating them within extraordinary worlds. She has collaborated with artists like Justin Teddy Cliffe & Dean Yhnell, and with companies such as National Theatre Wales, National Dance Company Wales, Meta Arts India and The Artichoke Trust. Charlotte's work is also influenced by her skills as a Yoga & Breathwork Teacher, exploring optimistic themes and ideas, and putting wellbeing at their centre. 

 

Gareth Chambers

Gareth Chambers
Gareth Chambers aka POPPERFACE transgresses traditional choreographic making methodologies to create performances based heavily in working class masculinity, esotericism and libertarianism. As the last Jerwood associate director for Welsh National Opera he made his film directorial debut with The Mystery of Evil an opera horror film featuring the score of Richard Strauss’ Salome. The first instalment of the POPPERFACE dance series begins in September at Chapter Arts, Cardiff featuring a sound bath by CATHEDRAL HYGIENE. 

Isaac George

Jukebox Collective

Jukebox Collective are a community-rooted, youth-led collective nurturing tomorrow’s creative voices. They do this through multidisciplinary classes, academy and creative agency where they specialise in artist management, casting, curation & consultancy. Their mission is to celebrate the beauty of diversity and create a space where their community can express their passions and achieve success. They're invested in enabling social mobility and providing transformative experiences for individuals and communities and are determined to ensure the next generation of artistic leaders reflect modern contemporary Wales


Kai Hawkins - Music Artist and Producer

Kai Hawkins

 

Loren Henry - Artistic Director of Urban Circle and G-expressions 

Loren Henry

 

Patrik Gabco - Dancer

Patrik Gabco

 

Sharifa Butterfly - Dancer and Writer

Sharifa Butterfly

 

Youness El Mouaffaq - B-boy

Youness El Mouaffaq

Krystal Lowe

Krystal Lowe
Krystal S.Lowe is a Bermuda-born, Wales-based dancer, choreographer, writer, and director performing and creating dance theatre works for stage, public space, and film that explore themes of intersectional identity, mental health and wellbeing, and empowerment to challenge herself and audiences toward introspection and social change. Currently, Krystal is touring her multilingual (Welsh, British Sign Language, English) work Whimsy to Grange Pavilion, the National Eisteddfod, Chapter Arts, Riverfront Theatre, and Green Man Festival; as well as shooting her short film SEVEN, for which she's writer/director, supported by Ffilm Cymru, BBC Cymru, and BFI Network. 

LOYALTY

LOYALTY is a Wales based collective of creatives of colour who throughout the past year have developed alongside Jerwood Live Work Fund recipient Connor Allen. LOYALTY exists to support and nurture the next generation of talent in Wales and this years cohort has benefited from training opportunities, CPD and mentorship sessions with the likes of Luisa Omielan, Rikki Beadle-Blair, Bryony Kimmings and more. 

 

Connor Allen
 

Jodi Ann Nicholson

Jodi Ann Nicholson
Jodi is a mixed-race British/Afro Caribbean dance and visual artist based in South Wales. Training in contemporary dance at TrinityLaban and exploring Fine Art in Cardiff School of Art and Design, her practice plays with multiple disciplines. When looking at her practice through a focused lens Jodi’s work is about understanding the impact of past and place on her identity. Her work is often autobiographical, bringing the experience of adoption and a mixed race heritage into the conversation; when looking at her creative practice through a wide lens, Jodi’s work is about community, identity, home and belonging. She seeks to work with people and hold conversations that are relevant to them in relation to community, identity, home and belonging; with the aim to connect and celebrate the communities that we live in. Jodi is currently developing an immersive, movement and spoken word solo show, [working title] Dear, Love From which looks into her relationship with her birth mother to talk about topics of loss/grief, adoption and mothers. Some of Jodi’s past works include: The Branches of Me, Benjamin#2, Barry Community Quilt, Moving with Benjamin and SHIRT. 

 

Joel Bertram

 

Winnie Arhin

 

Rhiannon Mair

Rhiannon Mair
Rhiannon Mair is a Theatre and Performance Practitioner and Creative Researcher.  Recent works include devising and performing work with Volcano Theatre, working as a dramaturge with BACA on an Articulture project, and being the lead artist on the ‘Pair’ project with Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru. After graduating in Theatre, Film and Television, Rhiannon worked as an actress, mainly with Arad Goch Theatre company.  She returned to Aberystwyth University to read an MA in ‘Practicing Performance’, led by Mike Pearson.  She went on to work for over a decade as a lecturer on the BA ‘Theatr a Drama’ degree at the University of South Wales.  During her time there, she completed a PhD in Welsh on the Welsh Chapel, Community and Performance (in addition to bringing up two children!).  She has devised performance work as a solo artist, with groups, and with both Eddie Ladd and Lowri Davies. 

Taking Flight Theatre Company

Taking Flight Theatre Company takes risks with creative access to make bold, unusual theatre productions with Deaf, disabled and non-disabled performers. Their work tours Wales and beyond and they often find themselves in out of the way places, as well as traditional theatre venues. Alongside their touring work, they nurture the next generation of disabled talent, both on stage and behind the scenes. They do this through running inclusive professional training courses and mentoring schemes for people who identify as Deaf or disabled & are looking for the next step into a career in theatre, or to develop existing skills and build confidence. With over 10 years experience, they’ve become the 'go-to' organisation in Wales for advice, information or inspiration on integrating access and working with inclusive casts. Taking Flight also runs Wales’ only youth theatre for Deaf and hard of hearing young people.

 

Ciaran Fitzgerald

Ciaran Fitzgerald
Ciaran Fitzgerald is an emerging disabled writer from Port Talbot in South Wales, a graduate of the BA Scriptwriting course at the University of South Wales in 2019. Since graduating, he has written short pieces for The Other Room’s Young Artists Festival in 2018 & 2019. In 2019, his first play Chasing Rainbows was commissioned for R&D by Pontardawe Arts Centre. He has been a member of Sgwenwyr Ifanc Fran Wen, a Welsh language writers group, and The Oli Lansley Mentoring Scheme for writers run by WildChild. An extract of his play Blockbusters was showcased at the Park Theatre, London in September 2021. He is currently developing his first TV commission ‘The Special Ones’ with Tiger Aspect Productions and ‘The Old Enemy’ with Rangabee. He was commissioned by Theatr Clwyd in Summer 2021 to write a ten minute play for their ‘Curtain Up’ project. Ciaran is also working with The Other Room Theatre to develop his play ‘Cariad Traws Gwlad,’ and was also a member of the Sherman Theatre Writers Group for 2021-22. Ciaran has cerebral palsy, and his lived experience of disability informs much of his writing.

 

Emily Rose

Emily Corby
Emily Rose is a Welsh deaf artist who works for Deaf Hub. Emily has lived in a lot of places but keeps coming back to Cardiff and feels it's probably where her heart is! She hopes that Edinburgh will give her a path to find where she could enjoy working, and also hopes to gain some opportunities in the theatre working world.

 

Mason Lima Jones

Mason Lima Jones
Mason Lima-Jones is a Postgraduate textile artist from Cardiff with ADHD and Dyslexia. She loves working with fabric and thread using traditional and modern methods of textiles, screen printing and dyeing fabrics. Taking Flight will be her first stepping stone to her dreams of working in the theatre costume industry, expanding her knowledge and experiences in a professional theatre working environment.

 

Macsen McKay

Macsen McKay
Macsen McKay is an actor and theatre maker from Cardiff. He has worked with companies such as Told By An Idiot, The Llanarth Group, Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru, and is excited to be performing with Taking Flight again after working with them on ‘The Curious Case of Aberlliw’ all across Wales earlier this year.

This is Wales in Edinburgh project manager Maggie Dunning said: “We’re very excited to be supporting a unique group of artists and producers to attend the Fringe this year and hope this opportunity will allow them to experience showcasing in a new way. The quality of applications to this programme were exceptional, and the number of successful recipients highlights the exciting talent currently brewing in all corners of Wales.”

The cohort will takeover Wales Arts International's Instagram account throughout the showcase week, documenting their journey and experiences at Edinburgh Fringe.