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10 Jun 24 | People
Kate McGrath joins the Cultural Programme as Visiting Fellow
Kate McGrath, Artistic Director and Co-CEO of independent producing company FUEL has joined the Cultural Programme as a Visiting Fellow.
This news coincides with the start of a programme to celebrate 20 years of FUEL; a celebration of everything that has been achieved as well as a statement of intent for the future, including new work from Khalid Abdalla, Toby Olié and Melanie Wilson.
Producing new work, as well as supporting the development of work and artists’ careers has always been at the heart of what FUEL does and this programme fulfils those aims with multiple new projects as well as ambitious and ground-breaking work designed to provide real and significant support to artists as they create new work and develop their skills.
The past is celebrated too, with a brand new podcast from Kate in which she takes a look back over 20 years of producing and examines how things have changed. Through interviews with a range of collaborators she is able to present a unique and important perspective on the development of the sector of two decades.
Alongside the podcast, FUEL has announced that Queen Mary University London is acquiring its 20 year archive with help from major grants from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the National Archives. This remarkable and invaluable set of resources will be available to the public for the first time.
Kate McGrath said: “To my surprise and delight, it’s Fuel’s 20th birthday. You would expect that over 20 years doing this, that the process would be getting easier, with more positive results, more respect and a more resource. But, whilst I am thankful every day for the many blessings in my professional life, and mindful of how much harder it is for so many others, especially those who continue to be marginalised by structural inequalities, many days at work are incomparably harder now than they were 20 years ago. The impact of the cost of living crisis and cuts in social welfare on our audiences, participants, artists and colleagues; the legacy of the pandemic on our resources, human and financial; the imbalance between rising costs and standstill or reduced funding; politically-motivated culture wars and financially-motivated social media algorithms leading to implicit and explicit censorship of freedom of expression: all of these challenges directly affect our work every day.
And yet there is hope – and there are moments of joy and humanity. We are lucky to be alive. And at Fuel, we’re producers so we make things happen. This year, we’re celebrating our birthday with a season of work by exceptional artists who possess a combination of insight into the world, and the ability through whatever their chosen form to share that insight with audiences in a way that creates wonder, empathy and the potential for change in how we think and feel about each other and the world we live in. Khalid Abdalla’s debut play is as beautiful and profound as you would expect from an artist and activist of his integrity and ability. Toby Olie and Ross Collins are creating a delightful puppetry performance about a Bear and Mouse resolving their differences. Melanie Wilson invites us to reimagine our relationship with animals amidst the ecological emergency in a sound experience which will linger with you. And this is just the beginning. We hope you’ll join our celebrations throughout this very special year.”
10 Jun 24