What is The Tea Project?
The Tea Project is participatory performance art that seeks to make the everyday extraordinary.
Our event will interlink: installation, live performance and of course tea. The project will be an active, artistic experience for participants that seeks to bring people together and poses the question “what do you think you could solve over a cup of tea?”
The Tea Project has been and will continue to work in association with mac birmingham. The project will engage a wide range of communities across Birmingham and the final piece at mac will be shaped and influenced by their input.
The Tea Project - Origins
In June 2013, I was given a vintage tea-set for my birthday. Within a few moments of opening, my housemate and I had the kettle on and the table set. Over the course of a few hours, we sat in our kitchen, drinking tea and watching as people came and went. We got talking about the people who may have owned the tea-set previously. We fantasised about the conversations that may have happened around the tea-set over the years.
While other people hovered around the subject and our kitchen table for a while, we were left thinking deeper. We realised that the possibilities for creating a piece of theatre with tea as the stimulus were endless, and so began the idea for The T Project. Since then, the concept has developed with us finding interest in the links and possibilities between tea and social change.
Our dynamics
We met at university, while studying Community and Applied Theatre at Birmingham School of Acting. We live together, make work together and ultimately, drink tea together (sometimes we combine all three!)
Officially, we are collaborating on this project as producer (Tara) and Director (me). These role titles aren’t so important just yet. This stage of the project calls for both of us to pitch in, and do some important groundwork. There is the possibility of us working with additional artists in the future, whether they’re actors, singers or songwriters. For the time being, me and Tara are really enjoying having a role in the artistic side!
What is the Creative Residency?
The Next Generation Creative Space Residency is produced by mac birmingham. It provides three emerging artists with the opportunity to develop their creative practice. The residency enables artists to research and develop an idea in a nurturing environment. It offers the recipient 12 weeks’ worth of access to the arts centre’s rehearsal space and facilities, £300 to spend on developing your creative business, £300 to spend on working with an artist, 3 days of creative business training, continuous mentoring and an opportunity for a public showing of work at the end of the residency.
Applicants were asked to submit an application form and portfolio onto IdeasTap. 40 applicants were then shortlisted and 10 invited to interview with a panel, these being; Dan Whitehouse (Next Generation Producer), Jerrell Jackson (Choreographer and mentor) and Louise Bying (illustrator and mentor). For the interview, we were asked to create a short presentation outlining how we felt this opportunity could contribute towards our professional development. From this presentation, we were then selected. Our residency began in November 2013, and will end in March 2014.