10 May 2012

A trio of theatre performances luring participants into a desperate hunt through cyberspace, a silent animation and an experimental performance art project infiltrating mainstream events have won their pitches for the second round of the Sky Arts Ignitions: Futures Fund, our one-year bursary for young, emerging artists in collaboration with arts charity Ideas Tap.

The creators of each project will receive a year’s funding of £30,000 as well as mentoring and guidance from Sky.

The winners are 25-year-old theatre director Felix Mortimer, 30-year-old performance artist Laurence Payot and 24-year-old animator Drew Roper.

Felix Mortimer is co-founder and artistic director of London-based experimental theatre company RETZ, which aims to tell stories that audiences interrogate explore and edit – unlimited by platform, location or time. He successfully pitched three RETZ productions: Trial, Colony and Process.

Drew Roper, who lives and works in the Midlands, secured his award for At-issue, a short, silent animation in which the central character changes state (from stop motion to 2D drawing to CGI) every time he sneezes. He describes himself as a new school filmmaker with old school traditions, expressing tons of passion, character and energy.

Liverpool-based performance artist Laurence Payot impressed the judging panel with her creative pitch for Back-Staged, a piece that will create uncanny collective performances making our cameras turn from centre stage to the audience.

“This is really what I needed at this point in my career,” she commented. “It feels like perfect timing – I’m now able to deliver the project confidently. It’s a fantastic boost.”

In February, silent opera director Daisy Evans and artist/animator Phoebe Boswell were both successful in the first round of Sky Arts Ignition funding, so five bursaries in total have been awarded this year.

We’ll be awarding a further five in winter 2012. From this summer, we'll start taking applications in our search for young, exciting artists aged 18 - 30 working in theatre, performance, film, music, dance or visual art.

In the meantime, support is still available from the Ideas Tap website for emerging creative talent, including information and help with funding. And keep up to date with other opportunities on the Sky Arts Ignition Series website.