CURVE WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
SAT 15 AUG 2020
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Happy Saturday and welcome to your weekly newsletter from Curve. We hope this finds you well.
Though times continue to be extremely challenging for all of us in theatre right now, we’ve had some great news this week. We were thrilled to hear that Adriana Ivelisse, who you will remember as an electrifying Maria in our 2019 Made at Curve production of West Side Story, is among the nominees for this year’s The Stage Debut Awards.
The Stage Debut Awards are the only awards to recognise breakthrough theatre talent. They celebrate emerging actors and creatives, from all backgrounds. Curve has a tradition of supporting emerging talent and we are thrilled to be associated with these prestigious awards once again this year.
We are proud Adriana has gained the recognition she so thoroughly deserves for her astonishing performance as Maria, illuminating the stage with her passion, intelligence and truly exceptional talents. We send huge congratulations to Adriana from all of us in Leicester.
The West Side Story theme continues in this week’s Curve in Conversation with the incredible Ellen Kane, who created the explosive choreography for our production. Scroll down to listen to Ellen in conversation with Nikolai talking all things West Side, Matilda the Musical and more.
If you’ve been inspired by our Curve in Conversation series, you might also like to read our Creatives Commentary blog series where leading Curve Creatives reflect on their experiences of working on our Made at Curve productions. This week’s insight comes from our Executive Producer Aidan Grounds, who provides commentary on working on new shows at Curve.
All of this content can be found in our The Show Must Go Online hub, which we launched at the start of lockdown. The hub will act as a time capsule in the future, recording this extraordinary period in the history of Curve. It has been great to see you all engaging with and responding to our content, and we’d love to know a bit more about your arts and culture experiences online during this time. We are currently undertaking a digital survey in association with The Audience Agency, and would be grateful if you could please spare a few minutes to share your thoughts; the link to the survey can be found below.
On Tuesday (11 Aug), we illuminated our building in red to support the Light It In Red #WeMakeEvents campaign. The movement highlights the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the arts and entertainment industries, and we are proud to stand on ‘red alert’ alongside our friends and venues nationwide.
Finally this week, we encourage you to join our friends at An Indian Summer for their online festival which is now underway until Sun 23 Aug. The festival is a staple part of Leicester’s arts calendar, offering a vibrant and inspiring celebration of contemporary South Asian culture. Check out the full programme of performances, talks, tutorials, family activities and exhibitions here.
Thank you again to each and every one of you, Leicester City Council and Arts Council England for your continued support.
Have a lovely weekend, and be sure to take an umbrella with you if you’re out and about!
Best wishes,
Chris & Nikolai
DIGITAL SURVEY
Tell us how you've engaged with arts and culture online during lockdown
To help us better understand how our audiences have interacted with Curve and enjoyed culture digitally this year, we’d be grateful if you could spare five minutes to complete this survey from The Audience Agency.
The survey will ask questions about how you’ve been engaging with our digital work here at Curve and what motivates you to do so, as well as how you’ve been engaging with the arts more widely across the industry.
Thank you for your time, and for sharing your thoughts.
Adriana Ivelisse nominated at The Stage Debut Awards
We are delighted to share that Adriana Ivelisse (pictured centre), who played Maria in last year’s Made at Curve Christmas production of West Side Story, has been nominated for Best Performer in a Musical at The Stage Debut Awards 2020.
The awards are the only event that recognise breakthrough theatre talent, celebrating emerging actors and creatives from all backgrounds. Congratulations, Adriana!
Curve in Conversation with Ellen Kane
In our latest episode of Curve in Conversation, Nikolai Foster talks to Tony and Olivier Award-nominated Ellen Kane, choreographer of our Made at Curve production of West Side Story.
Watch the in-depth interview to hear Ellen discuss how she came to work in musical theatre, her work on Billy Elliot, Matilda the Musical and Groundhog Day, as well as her approach to finding the right moves for West Side Story at Curve.
Catch up on our Creative Commentaries
Over the past few months we’ve asked our leading Curve Creatives to choose their favourite photograph from a Curve show they’ve worked on, alongside some commentary to accompany the image – perhaps their vision for a particular moment in the show, a backstage story or bit of DVD directors-style commentary.
Catch up on insights from our Executive Producer Aidan Grounds, Photographer Ellie Kurttz, Choreographer Mark Smith and many more at the link below.
An Indian Summer Festival gets underway... online!
An Indian Summer festival celebrates contemporary South Asian culture with an exciting programme of performances, talks, tutorials, family activities, exhibitions and more.
Though the festival couldn’t go ahead across the city this year, the AIS team have taken the event online with a jam-packed schedule running until 23 Aug.
Leicester Merch Aid
Support Curve and other Leicester businesses
The brilliant team at Cool As Leicester have created Leicester Merch Aid to support local independent businesses during this challenging time.
For every item sold, profits will go straight back to the relevant business and their merchandise designer, so you can support both your favourite business and creative talent with your purchase.
Our Curve Collection is now available in a range of colours and sizes, and carries a vibrant, eye-catching design by Curve Creative Colin Richmond across the front.
To buy your Curve t-shirt today, and explore the other collections that are available, click the button below. Thank you for your support.