The Big Give

This year we’re taking part in The Big Give’s Christmas campaign. From Tuesday 03 December you can donate to our Big Give Campaign which will support the creation of our Primary Creativity Cards – but ultimately you are helping the next generation of primary school children to tap into their imagination and creativity at the very start of their educational journey.

There are countless reports that have been conducted about the importance of harnessing creativity in education, and like empathy which we’ve focused on for Feel Me, it’s a skill that can be taught. But why is creativity important?

Well, for so many reasons, it not only motivates children to learn and helps them retain information, it develops cognitive skills like problem solving and critical thinking, it supports emotional development and builds resilience, and it has been proven to help ignite those hard-to-reach students that can so easily fall into the cracks, not to mention of course the importance of creativity in their future careers at the very end of their educational journey.

The cards will be co-designed with artists, teachers, children and academics and will be a simple and engaging new classroom tool – however the implementation and outcomes will have lasting life-long effects for the children who use them, helping them to thrive mentally and spiritually.

So please give, anything you can, from the cost of your daily coffee, or the travel costs you’ll save from having a week at home this Christmas – whatever you can donate will help and will be DOUBLED – at no extra cost to you when the campaign runs from midday Tue 03 Dec until midday 10 December.

You can donate to our Big Give Challenge here and show double your love and make double the difference!

Thanks for your support!

Posted 22.11.24

Thank you for our Birthday Love!

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our 21^st birthday celebrations at Theatre Peckham on 08 November 2024. It was so very special to share our milestone with so many colleagues, collaborators and friends – old and new!

We had so much fun with you enjoying cake, bubbles, speeches and of course the Feel Me show! Your support and friendship are so valuable to us and the work we do. We hope you had enjoyed yourselves as much as we did re-living memories and plotting potential new plans and projects.

Thank you again to each and every one of you for being part of our journey – here’s to the next 21 years of quiet rebellion!

Posted 11.11.24

WIN Tickets to FEEL ME!!

Anyone who purchases a limited edition PBs 21 T shirt and shares a piccie of themselves in it, with us, will be entered into a competition to WIN 2 TICKETS TO SEE FEEL ME at a venue of your choosing!

We’ll select our fave piccie – so think glam, funny, absurd (and we’ll also even share some on social media – if you’re up for it).

Send your pics to Jus at: justine@thepaperbirds.com before 10 September to enter!

Get your T Shirt here: https://bit.ly/21stBirthdayTee

Posted 01.08.24

Celebrating 21 years with Shane!

Check out the beautiful tribute from our long-term collaborator Shane Durrant, celebrating our 21^st birthday milestone.

In the link below Shane shares some of the moving memories from 11 of our 14 shows he has worked on as music and/or sound designer on, including: A Smile Fell in the Grass, In a Month of Fallen Sundays, Accidentally Waiting to Happen, 40 Feathered Winks, In A Thousand Pieces, Others, Thirsty, On the One Hand, Broke, Mobile and Goldfish Bowl.

Watch here: https://bit.ly/ShanePBs21

Posted 26.07.24

Feel Me Is Going on the Road AGAIN!!

We recently found out that our application to ACE to support our autumn and spring tour of Feel Me has been successful!!! – We’re absolutely stoked about this, because not only do we get to tour Feel Me again nationally, touring to more fab venues and reaching more UK audiences, but we’ll also be going international with the show for the first time! In Spring 25 we’ll be off to Indonesia, including piloting an innovative hybrid version of Feel Me where young people in our home base of Essex can watch a livestream of the show and engage in real time with our audiences watching the show in Indonesia!

For more info about the show and our current tour dates check out the Feel Me page here.

Posted 10.07.24

Held - FREE Facilitator Symposium with Sheffield Theatres

Calling all South Yorkshire based arts practitioners and facilitators working with children, young people and local communities!!!! We’re teaming up with Sheffield Theatres to offer an amazing opportunity to join us both for a FREE one-day event, HELD, to connect, network, learn and share best practice.

Friday 20 September 10am – 5pm @The Crucible

Throughout the day we’ll collaborate through a series of practical workshops, as well as take part in talks and provocations introduced by guest speakers exploring creating inclusive spaces and safeguarding as freelancers.

To find out more email Jenna
J.Omeltschenko@sheffieldtheatres.co.uk

of click here to complete the form to take part in the day

Posted 28.06.24

Primary Creativity Cards

We’re currently working with 6 partner schools together as well as our wider team of collaborators at The Unicorn Theatre, to share our initial ideas on how we might be able to transform our popular ‘Theatre Creativity Cards’ resource into a new creativity tool for primary classrooms.

We have been really enjoying wrapping our brains around all the opportunities and challenges that primary teachers currently face and trying to figure out how we might be able to create something useful and exciting, offering more moments for creativity across the curriculum. Watch this space as we continue to test ideas and refine what this new resource could and should be.

Posted 26.06.24

Status

In April we’re back joining forces with our Associates, the New Wolsey delivering a new workshop programme for 13 and 18 year olds. Status is for young people who are based in or around Ipswich, and are passionate about expressing themselves. It runs over 4 days in the Easter holidays from Mon 08 – Thu 11 April 2024 from the New Wolsey Theatre’s NW2 building.

It’s free to attend, we’re providing lunch and there’s travel bursaries available, for anyone who might need them. So, if you fit the criteria and are interested, or know anyone else that does, get in touch. You can find out more, or sign up by dropping Adele a line on: adele@thepaperbirds.com by Thursday 28 March.

Posted 01.03.24

We are 21!!!!!

❤️ It’s Valentine’s Day and our Birthday  🎉🎂🎁💐🎈

Today 21 years ago, when we were 21 and had just left Uni together when we formed The Paper Birds. We were friends with maxed out overdrafts and an enormous passion to make devised theatre together. We were curious, determined and fearless. Other friends might want to backpack around the world, but we wanted to drive a battered old van up and down the UK, performing our shows in village halls and half empty studios. Everything was an adventure because we were together.

21 years later the adventures continue, only now we’re accompanied by a bigger team and our own children!  We have so much more we want to do with the company and have so many brilliant things happening this year to mark our special birthday, like our new Careers Package Navigate, the Feel Me tour and of course we’ll be coming full circle when we return to University to deliver our own MA and look to inspire others to develop their own socially engaged artistic practise.

We’ll be sharing memories and highlights throughout the year as well as letting you know how you can get involved in our celebrations.

We look forward to sharing the year with you and hope you join us on our journey as we continue to celebrate the power of friendship! ❤️

📸 HJ Photography

Posted 14.02.24

Study at Post-Grad Level with Us!

We hope you’re as excited as us to hear, that from next year you’ll be able to study with us at Uni as well as at School through the MA that Jemma and Kylie will be leading in conjunction with the University of Chichester.

The MA in Devised Theatre in association with The Paper Birds will launch next autumn and will focus on devised and collaborative theatre making, emphasising socially engaged and applied arts practices.

Click here to find out more.

Posted 09.10.23

Feel Me Tour Announcement!

We’re FINALLY back on the road with our new, interactive show, Feel Me (our first since 2020). It’s an intimate tour to start with this autumn, but there’s more stonking dates to follow early next year.

Feel Me explores empathy and unpicks how we make decisions about what we care about. Using your mobile phones, you’ll interact with the performers live on stage, making decisions about what is important to you in relation to the stories that unfold, as they take you on an exhilarating adventure through unfolding worlds.

See the full list of our tour dates here!

Posted 14.07.23

Feel Me Previews!

We’re officially on countdown for the preview of Feel Me, our first touring show in 3 years!! So, excited is not the word!!!

Feel Me is our new captivating interactive show that looks at empathy, which runs from Thu 22 – Sat 24 June at the New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich. Join us to embark on a thrilling journey that will delve into the depths of your emotions and challenge your perceptions, as it asks, via your mobile phone, who and what you care about from the stories unfolding live on stage in front of you.

With a mesmerizing blend of live performance, film, projection, dance, and music, ‘Feel Me’ invites you to explore the different lenses through which we are told, and connect to stories in the modern digital world.

Posted 01.06.23

Empathy Spaces - FEEL ME R&D

We’re delighted to be commencing Empathy Spaces, the R&D for our next show, FEEL ME.

As you’ll probably remember, we’ve been on the hunt for 8 emerging artists to join us for this process, and we’re delighted to confirm that we have our team of exceptional artists in place! As of Monday 28 November 2022, we’ll be taking part in a 2-week residency at Sherborne International School and will begin looking at how we can create ‘spaces of empathy’ for live and digital audiences.

At the same time, our friends and project partners at Padepokan Seni Bagong Kussudiardja are working with, and mentoring, their own group of exciting young artists. Over the fortnight we’ll be coming together online to share our work and consider how theatre can bring together people from different backgrounds, cultures and ethnicities to enjoy shared experiences and dialogue. Not only do we plan to gain a greater understanding and appreciation for each other and our many lived experiences, but we’ll also begin to develop content for our next show, FEEL ME, which will tour in 2023.

Empathy will be not only the artistic theme and inspiration for the project, but also embedded at the heart of our approach. We’ll be working with a host of artists and speakers who’ll be coming in to present and work with us to consider how we use empathy for positive social change. If this isn’t enough, we’re also working with a host of Youth Creative Councils in the UK and Indonesia, made up of young people aged 13 – 30 who will work with us to help us form the show, as well as consider how we engage our audiences in, FEEL ME – starting off with our first session at the New Wolsey Theatre.

Thank you to our funders & partners: British Council, Arts Council England & Theatre Centre.

Posted 24.11.22

NPO Success

We are so happy to share the news that next year we will become an Arts Council NPO.

We know that this announcement is a time of celebration for some and sadness for others, with this our fourth attempt at NPO and going into our 20th year as an organisation. Suffice to say it is an honour to make it onto the portfolio, we are so proud and excited by the program of work that we have planned over the next few years and we are deeply committed to working hard for this public money.

Thank you to everyone who has supported us so far, we are excited about what the next few years have in store!

Posted 04.11.22

8 Creative Collaborators Wanted!

We’re after 8, yes 8 young Artists to join our team on a long-term basis as we develop and make our new touring production, Feel Me, alongside our commissioners, the Theatre Centre.

This is a remarkable opportunity for 8 Young Artists under the age of 30 to;

• Take part in a bespoke mentoring programme; and
• Create a theatre show together about displacement and empathy, aimed at teenagers, which will tour nationally and internationally

We want to hear from artists who bring any combination of the following areas:

• Performer | Deviser
• Performer | Musician
• Dancer &/or Physical Performer Scenography&/or Designer including set & costume
• Musician | Composer | producing &/or Music Producer
• Sound designer including soundscapes & effects
• Lighting design, including AV and Projection Mapping

Deadlines:

Deadline for the Deviser | Physical Performer Dancer Applications: Monday 24 October at 5pm

Deadline for all other roles: Monday 31 October at 5pm

So, if you’re up for forming part of a collaborative creative team, want to develop your own practice through mentoring, build your network, and make work with two acclaimed national companies check out our Recruitment Pack from the Opportunities Page of the website and get applying!

Posted 10.10.22

EMPATHY SPACES

Posted 06.06.22

Seeking new Trustees to Join our Board!

We are looking for new Trustees to join us to lead the company through an important phase in our evolution.

We strive to have an exciting, broad range of voices on our Board, people who share our values and vision and can bring their varying life experience and skills to our work.

No previous Board experience is necessary, as we can provide training and support.

If you are interested to know more, then please download the Trustee Recruitment pack here.

Posted 20.01.22

Time to Celebrate our Young Creatives

After 6 months of hard work our young School of Hope creatives have completed the socially engaged online project and we’re delighted to be celebrating their achievements in a Graduation Event on Thursday 18 November 2021.

This is your chance to come and hear what young people think, want and care about in our world today.

‘The School of Hope Graduation’ is an informal and exclusive event for young artists and those working in youth arts and engagement, who want to ensure the next generation’s access to the creative industries.

It will not only celebrate the achievements of the 150 young creatives from across the world that took part in The School of Hope online project, but will also use it as a case study for how the arts and culture can have an impact on young people.

The event will look at the idea of impact in the arts and empowering young creatives to have their voices heard through socially engaged participatory and performance work. It runs from 2-5pm GMT – you can see a breakdown of the schedule via the link below, but the Graduation will include:

• The premiere of two short films we commissioned,
• Art works made and shared by young people,
• Some results from academic’s who have been measuring the impact of the Artson this project
• AND a panel discussion by a group of brilliant young and varied artistsabout ways into the industry, including 4 x UK beatbox champion Grace Savage, portrait and documentary photographer/dramaturg and director Myah Jeffers, illustrator Olivia Twist and spoken word artist Sonny Green.

The event is being filmed, so if you’re not available for the whole Graduation you can get access to the chapters you missed after the event.

Check out the event schedule and book your FREE tickets here.

Posted 28.10.21

Final artist announced as The School of Hope prepares to open

We’re thrilled to announce our final of four artists commissioned to inspire the young creatives participating in The School of Hope is Jade Anouka.

Jade recently appeared on our screens as Ruta Skadi in BBC/HBO’s His Dark Materials and Channel 5’s The Drowning alongside Jill Halfpenny. Her recent theatre credits pre-lockdown include: the title roles in Hampstead’sOlivier nominated THE PHLEBOTOMIST and QUEEN MARGARET at The Royal Exchange, she starred in the Donmar Warehouse Shakespeare Trilogy where she played Mark Antony in JULIUS CAESAR, Hotspur in HENRY IV and Ariel in THE TEMPEST.

As a poet Jade performs regularly including featured spots at The Southbank Centre, Richmix, The Roundhouse, and Sofar Sounds and most recently A Lovely Word at Liverpool’s Homotopia Festival. She has had work commissioned by Audible UK, Stylist Magazine, Broccoli Content, The Young Vic Theatre and most recently BBC Radio 4 where she wrote and performed THIS SUNDAY for their Short Works series.

Her debut play, HEART, combined her love of writing and acting when she performed it at the Vault Festival in 2019 it was due to get a full production and London run in summer 2020. Jade did a TEDxTalk ‘Being Black, Being a Woman, Being ‘Other’. She wrote, directed and co-starred in short film Her & Her for BBC’s Culture In Quarantine series.

We’re so delighted that Jade has joined our team of TSoH artists, alongside Akeim Toussaint-Buck, Arwa Aburawa and Sonny Green and we cannot wait to get started and see the high calibre of work the young artists create as a result of their briefs.

Posted 04.06.21

Interdisciplinary Performer, Akeim Toussaint Buck Announced as The School of Hope Artist

Introducing our third awesome commissioned artist to join The School of Hope team; Akeim Toussaint Buck.

Akeim is an interdisciplinary performer and creator who produces moving, thought-provoking, accessible and free spirited projects.

Since graduating from the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in 2014, he has been involved in multiple cross art form projects with a wide range of artists and communities from around the world.

His beautiful work combines skills such as: dance, film, poetry, beat-box, singing and acting, fused to create performances that tell stories capable of bridging the intersections of a variety of audiences – we’re so thrilled to have him as part of the TSoH team!

Posted 02.06.21

Documentary filmmaker Arwa Aburawa on board for The School of Hope

We’re delighted to announce that we have the awesomely talented Arwa Aburawa on board as artist for The School of Hope. Arwa is a documentary filmmaker and writer with an interest in social and environmental issues. She’s produced outstanding documentaries on a range of issues including the water crisis in Iran and the legacies of colonialism in Guatemala amongst many others.

She co-founded Other Cinemas, a community project which showcases the films and stories of Black and non-white people and also runs a small, informal collective of young filmmakers in her local neighbourhood.

Posted 28.05.21

Sonny Green joins The School of Hope

We’re beyond excited to announce the first artist joining us to inspire our young creatives in The School of Hope is Sonny Green.

Sonny Green has worked in the spoken word and live music scene for many years doing various gigs including being the first ever rap artist to perform at the House of Commons supporting Fatboy Slim. He’s renowned for his confident and original performances, calling it as he sees it. His angry lyrical tirades are completely uncompromising, unmaterialistic calling out everyone from politicians to his peers without fear.

We’re really looking forward to seeing how the young creatives engage with his stunningly powerful filmic brief and the artwork it inspires them to produce.

Posted 26.05.21

LAUNCHING OUR INTERNATIONAL PARTNERS FOR THE SCHOOL OF HOPE

We’ve got another quick update for you on The School of Hope (TSoH)! We’ve now commissioned all the artists for the project (news on who they are coming soon) and along with them, as you may have already seen over on our social media channels, we’ve been busy creating film briefs for the young artists taking part.

The project will be kicking off in just a few weeks’ time and the young creatives will be using the briefs to artistically explore who they are, how they connect with the world and question what changes need to be made.

We’re teaming up with Cast, Mercury Theatre, the National Theatre, Sheffield Theatres and Theatre Centre in the UK to deliver the project and we’re delighted to announce that we’ll also be linking up with young makers from Vancouver International Children’s Festival, in Canada, Boom Arts in the USA, Victoria Deluxe in Belgium and Padepokan Seni Bagong Kussudiardja (PSBK) in Indonesia.

We can’t wait for these young makers from across the world to come together to create, explore, experiment, and connect and look forward to their manifestos of hope.

Thank you to our funders: The Garfield Weston Foundation, The Rayne Foundation, British Council and Arts Council England.

Posted 21.05.21

UK PARTNERS ANNOUNCED FOR THE SCHOOL OF HOPE

We’ve got some more exciting news to share about our latest project, The School of Hope!

The School of Hope (TSoH) is all about ‘empathy’, which in itself is a massive and complex term, but at the heart of the project is our desire to help the young people participating to begin to creatively explore who they are, what is unique and special about them and how they understand themselves in relation to others. We’re currently commissioning young artists from different artforms and diverse backgrounds to work with us on the project to build confidence and creativity in the young people.

Through a series of films, provocations and creative tutorials they’ll be reflecting on their values and beliefs and those of different communities and countries. We’ll be encouraging them to creatively shape their thoughts into artistic outputs, which they’ll share with us and their moments will be fused into a short film which will premiere in the autumn. Ultimately, we hope to enable those involved to feel connected, empowered and driven to aspire for a better world and creatively share their visions through their own artistic lens.

And to do all of this we’ll be working with academics from three universities and a number of partner organisations nationally and internationally. Our UK partners span the country and we’ll be working with young people in the north through our partner organisations Cast in Doncaster and Sheffield Theatres. We’re also joining forces in the East with Mercury Theatre in Colchester and the Theatre Centre and the National Theatre, in London.

More news will follow soon about our international partners and the whole team that makes up The School of Hope.

Thank you to The Garfield Weston Foundation, The Rayne Foundation, British Council and to Arts Council England for funding The School of Hope and helping us to tap into the innate creativity we believe each young person possesses.

Posted 23.04.21

THE SCHOOL OF HOPE IS OPEN!

We’re so excited to launch our new socially engaged, digital arts project – The School of Hope! It’s created for young people aged 13-25 and is based on the theme of empathy. The School of Hope aims to improve the wellbeing of young people by giving them a meaningful and empowering platform to address the isolation they and others have experienced in the last year.

We’re teaming up with academics to plan and measure the impact of a series of 5 ‘digital lessons’ which will be delivered by our partner venues, festivals and youth theatres throughout the UK and around the world. At the heart of each lesson will be a bespoke artwork, of varying artforms, commissioned and created by us and 4 diverse British artists. The young people taking part will experience these artworks, as well as undertaking tasks, discussions, and activities before creating their own artworks in response to each lesson.

A filmmaker will fuse their artworks to create a short global story about empathy, which you’ll all be able to enjoy when it premieres in autumn 2021.

Thank you to The Garfield Weston Foundation, The Rayne Foundation, British Council and to Arts Council England for funding The School of Hope and helping us to tap into the innate creativity we believe each young person possesses, to help harness their talents, increase their levels of empathy and improve their wellbeing.

Posted 12.04.21

COVID 1 YEAR ROUND UP

We can all agree it’s been an unforgettable 12 months. Life in the UK changed dramatically on 23rd March 2020 when we went into the first national lockdown, and Covid’s heart-breaking affects echoed across the world. These affects hit communities in so many ways, as we were forced to question everything we knew about day-to-day life.

As a small independent arts charity, The Paper Birds have certainly felt these drastic changes, and we’ve been forced to adapt and respond. We’ve been consistently amazed and inspired by the resilience and determination of all those we’ve worked with over the past year.

Now, one year on, we’re taking some time to reflect. We are all still grieving in countless numbers of ways, as Covid-19 continues to affect our health, our communities, our education and our livelihoods.

We’re so grateful to have connected and felt the love and support of so many people over the last year, even throughout the months of isolation, protest and constant challenges. Thank you to every single person who gave their time and energy to join us for a workshop or webinar, and continued to stand up for what they believe in. Thank you to all the teachers, parents and carers who have worked tirelessly to make sure young people keep learning creatively. Thanks to our Board and all our Individual Giving donors, for consistently going above and beyond. Thank you to everyone who has supported a friend, a loved one or a stranger during these crazy times.

It is The Paper Birds’ mission to change the world, one encounter at a time. While that’s not been easy over the last 12 months, we’re looking back with gratitude and looking forward to the future.

Here’s to a brighter, safer and more positive future.

Love,
Jemma, Kylie, Charlotte, Georgie, Jus & Katie x

Posted 23.03.21

THE PAPER BIRDS ON AQA A LEVEL DRAMA SPEC

We are delighted to have been recognised by the AQA exam board as a leading contemporary practitioner and included in their ‘prescribed practitioners’ list for students of A Level Drama to study. From the academic year 2020-21, students will be able to emulate our style and methodologies in the creation of their own devised pieces for examination. This recognition has been a long term ambition of ours and we send huge thanks to the team at AQA and the many teachers and students who have supported our work and rallied on our behalf!

Posted 14.07.20

DISTANCED DEVISING - ONLINE CPD!

Join Co-Founders of The Paper Birds, Kylie & Jemma, for a webinar on devising theatre in a socially distant climate.

Our first session on Fri 29th May at 11am has been super popular and sold out in less than 24hrs!

But never fear! We’ve added more sessions to accommodate all the amazing interest we’ve (thank-you lovely drama teachers!)! Book ASAP to avoid disappointment as these will sell out: https://www.thepaperbirds.com/cpd/ 

Posted 13.05.20

MERCURY CREATIVES

We are thrilled to have been selected to be part of Mercury Creatives: a support, mentoring and growth programme funded by The European Union Regional Development Fund and run and managed by the brilliant team at The Mercury Theatre, Colchester.  We will be both mentors for Found In Translation Theatre Company, as well as mentees working with Fern Potter and Assis Carreiro over the next year, as part of Mercury Creatives programme. We can’t wait to take part in all the events and activities planned, and get to know more people working in our sector in the South East region. In these uncertain times it’s so great to have time to reflect with peers and colleagues – huge thanks to The Mercury for making this possible. Here’s a pic of the official launch event – try and spot our Co-Director Jemma in the crowd! (Image Credit Seana Hughes)

Posted 09.04.20

TOUR DATES POSTPONED

Obviously with the increasing concern regarding the coronavirus pandemic across the globe, we are sad to announce that we will need to put things on hold for a while with our tour of Ask Me Anything. Dates for our run at Chats Palace London are being rescheduled, and we will publish them asap. If you are a ticketholder for these events 24-26 March, please contact the venue directly.

Posted 18.03.20

NEW BIRDS ALERT!

After 2.5 years, our wonderful Producer Melanie is going onto exciting new projects beyond The Paper Birds’ little nest. We wish her the best of luck with her new ventures. She has been an absolute star!

So, we have now recruited not 1, but 2 fabulous new birds to join our company! Justine is joining us in a newly created post: Marketing and Audience Development Manager, and Katie is our new Producer.

Here they are doing a lovely job of modelling our new Ask Me Anything tote bags on site at Live Theatre in Newcastle! Welcome gals!

Posted 23.01.20

JOB ALERT! PRODUCER AND/OR MARKETEER OPPORTUNITY!

Our wonderful Producer Melanie is moving onto pastures new, so we are on the hunt for a new Freelance Producer and/or Marketeer!

Full details below – please share far and wide friends!

Posted 13.11.19

HOME SWEET HOME CALL OUT FOR PARTICIPANTS

Home Sweet Home is an epic and creative museum takeover for young people aged 12-18 years old.

Join The Paper Birds to make a unique site-specific theatrical extravaganza in the heart of historic Leeds.

We’re seeking up to 20 young people ages 12-18 years to develop an original live performance at Leeds Industrial Museum.

Take part in a creative practical workshop this October half term with professional theatre-makers to create a live public performance.

Home Sweet Home will explore what it means to have a roof over your head and a space o call your own. Inspired by the UK housing crisis, homelessness, and the need for decent affordable housing for all, we are seeking young people with a passion for the performing arts, as well as young people who have a voice and something to say about their neighbourhood, their city, their nation.

The project and performances are FREE to attend.

Rehearsals: Monday 28 October to Saturday 2 November from 10am to 3pm.

Venue: Leeds Industrial Museum, Armley, Leeds, LS12 2QF.

Performances: Saturday 2 November at 2pm & 4pm.

Application deadline: Friday 18 October, but please apply as soon as possible to be sure of a place.

To apply please send a short email to The Paper Birds explaining why you’d like to be involved: education@thepaperbirds.com.

Posted 20.09.19

FLYING ABROAD: INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOPS

In addition to delivering over 30 workshops in schools across the UK this Autumn, The Paper Birds are leading a series of international workshops and masterclasses, for students and teachers, in the Netherlands, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Singapore.

Posted 19.09.19

ASK ME ANYTHING PREVIEWS AT LIVE THEATRE THIS JULY

Our brand-spanking new show Ask Me Anything is now on sale. Have you ever wanted to ask something really important, embarrassing, private, mundane? If you could ask anything about growing up, what would it be? Welcome to the 90s, a place of house phones, pen pals and dial up internet. A time where problem pages in magazines taught teenage girls, like us, about the world.    Building on the immersive and intimate nature of Mobile (2016) Ask Me Anything is a collaboration with singer/songwriter Rosie Doonan about finding your voice and being heard. Set in a multitude of teenage bedrooms, Ask Me Anything is an immersive, 360, theatrical experience. From Jackie to Just Seventeen, teenagers have been turning to agony aunts and problem pages for centuries; but now, with the world at their fingertips and 3.5 billion daily searches on Google alone, is there anything young people don’t know (or can’t find out)? We asked teenagers to write to us and ask us anything. Nothing is off limits. This show is our reply. With music, movement and mayhem we explore what it means to grow up in 2019. It looks at what we can teach the next generation and, more importantly, what they can teach us. Ask Me Anything previews at Live Theatre (Newcastle) on 11 – 13 July. Tickets are just £6-£8 and can be bought online at www.live.org.uk or by calling the box office on 0191 232 1232.

Posted 01.02.19

THIRSTY 2019/20 SCHOOLS' TOUR

Following the success of our Thirsty tour to over 50 schools, colleges and universities (Autumn 2018 to Spring 2019), we are bringing Thirsty back to schools.

Available for to book from October 2019 – January 2019.

Included in the Thirsty package is a show + workshop, with Resource Pack, video and post show Q&A. Get in touch now to secure your date!

education@thepaperbirds.com

Posted 02.09.19

THIRSTY TOURS TO OVER 50 SCHOOLS ACROSS THE UK

We’ve just begun our UK tour of Thirsty to over 50 schools across the UK. We’ll be touring throughout October to December 2018 and from January to February 2019. Fusing music, verbatim and stunning physical theatre, Thirsty examines binge drinking culture in the UK; lost memories, gained traumas, tales of bruised knees, uncontrollable laughter and sore heads. If you’d like to book our Thirsty  performance and workshop package for your school, college or university do get in touch quick as dates are now strictly limited! To find out more drop Melanie an email on melanie@thepaperbirds.com.

Posted 24.10.18

A NEW BIRD JOINS OUR NEST

We’re really excited to announce that the brilliant Georgie Coles has joined The Paper Birds team as our new Creative Learning Associate. You may have seen Georgie in our show Mobile or participated in one of the awesome workshop sessions she’s run for us. Georgie has worked with us as a performer and workshop facilitator since 2014 and we’re  really happy to have her on the team! She’ll be looking after our Creative Learning programme whilst Kylie is off on maternity.

Posted 10.07.18

GOLDFISH BOWL LONDON PREMIERE

We are excited to announce that we will be premiering our new collaboration this summer at the fabulous Battersea Arts Centre! A thrilling mix of spoken word, theatre, music, projection mapping and illustration based on the life and works of Caleb Femi – young people’s poet laureate for London. At 18 years old, recovering from a gunshot wound, Caleb sat in a hospital bed reading Frankenstein. Goldfish Bowl tells the story as to how and why this book, and this moment in his past, changed his future. With live music from rapper and producer Lex Amor and illustrations by Olivia Twist, Goldfish Bowl interrogates the many small, but defining moments that make up a life. BUY TICKETS A collaboration between The Paper Birds theatre company and Caleb Femi. Funded by Arts Council England, co-commissioned by Battersea Arts Centre, Roundhouse and The Albany. 

Posted 15.03.18

NEW PRODUCER JOINS OUR NEST

We are very lucky to have the lovely Charlotte Gregory to join our team as Senior Producer. Charlotte has worked in the theatre industry as both a performer and producer, having worked in the past with Stan’s Cafe and Vamos Theatre. We are of course very sad to say goodbye to the very brilliant Bonnie Mitchell who has been our producer for the past four years. We wish Bonnie all the best of luck as she takes on a full time role at her company The Wrong Crowd.

Posted 15.02.18

CATALYST Arts Council Grant

We are thrilled to announce that we have been awarded a grant from Arts Council England’s Catalyst fund. The fund is to enable arts organisations to create a more resilient arts and culture sector. In real terms, this means we will have support to grow our in-house fundraising capacity, enabling us to provide more opportunities for participation in communities throughout the UK, to develop the NEST strand of our work with emerging artists, and to develop skills throughout our organisation in creating a more sustainable future for ourselves in years to come. Well done to our brilliant producer Bonnie Mitchell for securing the grant! See the full list of awards here: Catalyst Small Grants Awards

Posted 19.01.18

ROAR R&D

This Autumn we began research and development for a new show in collaboration with Leeds based singer/songwriter Rosie Doonan. Supported by Live Theatre and Theatre Royal Plymouth, we spent 3 weeks developing ideas and presenting our work in show-backs held in Live Theatre’s Studio Theatre and Theatre Royal’s Lab. Huge thanks goes out to the two venues for hosting us and of course to ACE for funding the project. We hope to have some dates on the calendar soon to develop the piece further in the new year. Watch this space!

Posted 31.10.17