Recently, the Community Company of the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow and Dejahemujig Storytellers from Manitoulin, Canada received the coveted Spriti of Culture Award from the City of Glasgow. Citizens and Debaj are longstanding partners of ICAF and met at our event in 2011. They decided to create a co-production together for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. This show, ‘On Common Ground’, was a site-secific roaming performance through the Gorbals neighbourhood right behind the Citizens Theatre building (surf to our ICAF blog for an impression of that show). It sold out every night and received rave reviews in The Scotsman newspaper. And now this award. Elly Goodman, one of the two artistic directors of the community company of Citizens, writes that they were absolutely thrilled: “it was unexpected and a great surprise. Neil, myself and a cast member, Mari from the local community, went to receive the award and were fan fared onto the stage with trumpets! How crazy is that?” Elly, Neil, Matt Jennings, and Debaj are now making plans for a new collaboration that will bring them – and us – to the Earagail Arts Festival in Donegal, Ireland in July of this new year.
The spirit of ICAF is moving right along…