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City Arts’ Artist Development Programme supports people to make work with participation and community growth at its heart.
An example of this is our support for Duncan Townsend & Chloé Charody, and Chloé’s production company Chloé Charody Creations. The duo created JINGAH!, a magical tale of nature versus civilisation. JINGAH!’s journey began in Berlin, starting life as a children’s storybook, created with illustrator Maxim Krioukov. The story is designed to encourage young people to be more environmentally engaged and aims to inspire children to make positive change in their community.
JINGAH!’s story is being turned into a theatre production and is the basis for a free community programme, called ‘The JINGAH! Project’. We have supported the team to realise their aims.
Supporting the Production
Chloé & Duncan met with City Arts following the first Nottingham Puppet Festival in 2018. Inspired by the festival, they wanted to incorporate puppetry into JINGAH! to bring the characters to life.
We have connected them with a network of artists who are contributing to the theatrical production of the story. We introduced them to our long-time creative collaborators Mandinga Arts. The London-based company are creating 4-metre high puppet of Patrick Poppywopple, the central character of JINGAH!.
City Arts also helped set up a partnership with Nottingham Trent University’s Theatre Design Department. Students from the department will be part of JINGAH! in an academic and professional capacity. This will offer lots of opportunities to hone their skills in a wide range of theatrical disciplines while they work alongside internationally renowned creators and performers.
The JINGAH! Project
City Arts worked with Chloé and Duncan to secure funding from Arts Council England. This investment will allow the team to create a free community and education-based programme around JINGAH!’s story.
Chloé and Duncan want children and young people from diverse socio-economic and cultural backgrounds to engage with JINGAH! and its environmental themes. Our partnership in the city will support this.
We have connected them with artists in Nottingham who will contribute to a programme of activities for local schools. Our friend and colleague Jessica Kemp, who has sadly passed away, was part of this team. Her creativity and ideas will feed into the final project.
The JINGAH! Project will offer an exciting programme of creative activities to young people in Nottingham. They will meet the puppets from the production. In workshops with the cast, they’ll explore JINGAH!’s environmental themes. Professional musicians will teach them songs from the show.
At the end of the project, the children will be invited to perform! They’ll share the stage with JINGAH!’s amazing cast of performers including musicians, dancers, acrobats and aerialists. This finale production will be presented later in 2021.
About the artists
Chloé Charody is a composer and theatre maker. She has pioneered a dynamic fusion of opera, classical music & circus. Chloé has created a style of music and a theatrical genre that is unique. Her work has received plaudits from critics, the media & audiences worldwide.
Duncan Townsend is a songwriter. He has contributed to seven number one albums in European territories and holds two gold discs and one platinum. His work includes X-Factor winning singles. Duncan is confident working across musical boundaries. He has written German Hip-Hop hits, EDM classics and songs for underground alternative bands.