Emma Rice’s new company, WISE CHILDREN, backed by Arts Council
A new company created and led by Emma Rice, Wise Children, has been awarded funding by the Arts Council South West, becoming one of their National Portfolio Organisations from April 2018.
Based in the South West of England, the company marks a new chapter for Emma Rice. Wise Children will conceive, create and present world-class, innovative ensemble theatre; a culmination of the process and ethos she has developed over her theatrical career. Emma has worked for twenty years as an actor, director and Artistic Director at Kneehigh and steps down from her current position as Artistic Director of Shakespeare’s Globe in April 2018. Her bold, imaginative productions and gift for storytelling have made her one of the most important and acclaimed directors working today.
Wise Children will work in partnership with venues to create ensemble work to tour nationally and internationally. Through a series of residencies, the company will develop and diversify audiences. Key partnerships are secured and will be announced in due course.
The company will create a training and apprenticeship scheme, ‘Emma Rice’s School for Wise Children’. The scheme aims to develop skills across the sector, training independent artists and diversifying the creative workforce. The training will be structured around intensive modules, with Emma drawing from the many excellent and established artists she has worked with over the years to support the next generation of practitioners.
Emma Rice said: “I am delighted that the Arts Council South West have chosen to support Wise Children. Anyone starting up a new theatre company in the current climate struggles against the odds to get started, and the Arts Council have given us a much-needed chance to begin our journey. I look forward to growing Wise Children to become the inclusive, passionate and imaginative company I know it will be. We will nurture and support diverse new voices and talent, bringing them together with the most brilliant and creative established artists and practitioners in the industry. This is a movement with a commitment to the generous exchange of skills, humanity and ideas at its heart. We are looking forward to welcoming everyone to share in our journey and to celebrate the power of theatre and all the curiosity, bravery and freedom it brings.”
Phil Gibby, Area Director, South West, Arts Council England, said: “We are delighted to be welcoming Wise Children into the National Portfolio. Emma Rice has an exceptional reputation for artistic and directorial leadership, it’s fantastic that she will be basing her new theatre company in the South West. We’re excited by the creative opportunities that will come through this investment, giving more people in more places across the country the opportunity to benefit from the wide benefits that arts and culture bring.”
ENDS
Editor’s Notes
For more information and images please contact Emma Draper or Claudia Conway at Draper Conway on +44 (0) 7910 837008 / +44 (0) 7966 567701 or email [email protected] / [email protected]
www.wisechildren.co.uk
Twitter @Wise_Children
Instagram @Wise_Children
Facebook: WiseChildrenCompany
About Emma Rice
Emma is the Artistic Director for Shakespeare’s Globe, stepping down from the position in April 2018. At the Globe, she most recently directed Twelfth Night and Tristan & Yseult, last year’s productions include A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 946: The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips and The Little Matchgirl (and Other Happier Tales). For the last 20 years, she has worked for Kneehigh as an actor, director and Artistic Director. Her productions for Kneehigh include: 946: The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips, The Red Shoes, The Wooden Frock, The Bacchae, Tristan & Yseult, Cymbeline (in association with RSC), A Matter of Life and Death (in association with National Theatre), Rapunzel (in association with Battersea Arts Centre), Brief Encounter (in association with David Pugh and Dafydd Rogers Productions), Don John (in association with the RSC and Bristol Old Vic), Midnight’s Pumpkin, The Wild Bride, Wah! Wah! Girls (in association with Sadler’s Wells and Theatre Royal Stratford East for World Stages) and Steptoe and Son. Other work includes: the West End production of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Oedipussy (Spymonkey); The Empress (RSC); and An Audience with Meow Meow (Berkeley Repertory Theatre).
