Start-up support from the Swedish Government Offices by “Kulturbryggan”

Circus By Me has been awarded a working grant from “Kulturbryggan” to do research for a new performance project. 89 000 Swedish crowns, (about 9500 Euro) which will be spent on literature purchases and travel expenses between Sweden, Mali and Belgium. The money will of course also be divided as salary to moi-même, as I’m doing a gruesomely large part of my job without being paid ...

Excerpts from the two assessor's motivations reads:
"The project aims to investigate and combine fairytale traditions from Sweden, Chile, Belgium, (…)with traditions of West Africa, and through acrobatics, dance and music based on the West African instrument Kora create a show destined for children and adolescents, that should be toured around the world. The aim to unite the diverse traditions of tales and morality from these countries, is the prime quality of the project. The ambition of the project is interesting. (...) "

"The applicant is experimental concerning his/her own process and writes compelling about a well-planned research with an open end. The strength of the project is the international collaboration, the humanity above the academic and the courage to let the result stand fully open. The application is inspiring, sympathetic and artistically very interesting. (...) This project should be supported because of its most artistic interest and because it is challenging the ways of international cooperation.”

 (Freely translated from Swedish and Danish by signed Rebecka Nord.)


I am of course very happy and excited about all this work lying ahead of me in December, January and February. A trip to Mali. Discussions with the intended musician. Skype meetings with my two partners Catalina Castellano and Antoine Dutrieu. Interviews with librarians, professors and ordinary Swedes, Belgians and Chileans who reads children's books or tells stories. Studies of folk tales. Finally I can do a thorough research before a creation. If you would like to know more about the project, if you have ideas or suggestions, do not hesitate to contact me!

 

26 Nov 2013