Tuesday 29 August 2017

Sarah Sayeed: Jasmit and the Jukebox - First Meeting

The Rifco Associate scheme offers me an unrivalled opportunity to develop as a new writer, and to learn from specialists across the industry. 

At interview, Pravesh Kumar, Madani Younis and Brigid Larmour presented a very warm and inviting picture of the Rifco Associate scheme, and I am highly pleased to be selected for 2017/2018. I am excited about the possibilities of mentorship, potential collaborations and lastly, the chance to talk and develop skills which need to be developed and honed in specific ways. I hope this year will allow some much needed time and space to consider aspects of my artistic practise, work and application in order that I can firmly establish new ideas for theatre and music.


I am beginning what I hope will be a long and fruitful journey.

Friday 4 August 2017

Daya Kaur Bharj: The Black Sheep - First Meeting

I attended a two day comedy writing workshop last year with Rifco and found the suggestions and talks with the industry professionals to be greatly enriching. It massively boosted my confidence as a writer and was one of the key factors which swayed me to decide to pursue a serious career in writing. In addition, I felt encouragement from being surrounded by other young writers with similar backgrounds, skills and dreams. I am thrilled to have the chance to work with Rifco again, as I feel it is so crucial to support young people from a minority background who may feel apprehensive about being overlooked in the industry. 

In my first meeting with Pravesh and Sarah, we discussed how to develop my idea and what support I feel would be beneficial for me. They suggested that watching some spoken word performances in central London would be useful research for establishing my piece. I was asked what I wanted to get out of the process and what were my ambitions as a writer. They explained the deadlines and meeting dates and they made plans to arrange for an established spoken word artist to mentor me and have one to one sessions, which I feel will be a very useful in writing my spoken word piece and kickstarting my career. I’m looking forward to the next meeting where I can meet the other associates and begin expanding beyond my first draft.  

I’m confident that with Rifco’s guidance, I will be able to produce a piece that I can be proud of.