We’re thrilled to announce that Rhys Slade Jones has been awarded The Mike Pearson Performance Bursary and will be the next Artist in Residence at Chapter from May – October 2025.
The Mike Pearson Performance Bursary has been established in memory of Mike Pearson (1949-2022) – acclaimed theatre artist, theorist and teacher, and a pioneer of site-specific performance, described as “one of the most influential figures in Welsh theatre in the past half century” (Nation Cymru).
To honour Mike Pearson's profound commitment to performance in Wales, we’re proud to offer this bursary award that will continue Mike’s legacy through supporting the career development of an artist working in performance in Wales. The bursary has been made possible through the generosity of Mike’s friends, family and colleagues.
Rhys Slade Jones is an interdisciplinary artist hailing from Treherbert and living and working in South Wales. Walking the line between the convivial and the confrontational, Rhys creates political work that straddles the worlds of performance, cabaret and craft. Their work is a meditation on queer ecologies, the limitless exuberance of queer raves and the inherently political nature of joy, all of which are complicated by a simultaneous awareness of environmental catastrophe and collective lament.
Rhys is currently Artist in Service for Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council, was a 2022 Future Wales Fellow with the Arts Council of Wales, and is a founding member of the queer Welsh performance collective CWM RAG.