Friday 18 October 2013

BIRKBECK MA CREATIVE PRODUCING STUDENTS 2013-14


MIYUKI KASAHARA is a dancer and choreographer.  Born in Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) she began performing as part of the Anna Pavlova Ballet Academy and in the annual Christmas Musical at the Jesus Maestro Church since 2009.  She has been part of several other musical and performance productions as a dancer, choreographer and actress; and has also been part of the production teams for shows such as Virtus Belum (2010), Memories (2011), Amazing Classics (2011, 2012), and Styles (2012, 2013).  From 2011 to 2013 she directed and produced the Annual Class Presentation at Loyola School.  In April 2013 Miyuki graduated from the Technological Institute of Santo Domingo with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing.

HANNAH LAMBERT, born and raised in London, graduated from King's College London in 2004 with an English Literature degree, and worked for Moving Venue Events for a year before travelling in America, Asia and Australia.  From 2006 she worked for an international private equity firm in London, managing corporate and social events; and in 2008 she moved to Mumbai, working for ‘Groove Temple’, an Indian event management company, and also freelancing for theatre production companies including Ace and Rage Productions as assistant director, production assistant and stage manager.  Hannah returned to London in 2011 and worked as Festival Organiser for the 2011Seven Bridges Project in South London, and also for the 2011 and 2012 London Indian Film Festivals.  She also co-founded and programmed Up The Junction, a quarterly film and literary salon, and was curator of the Wilderness Festival Fiction Tent in 2013. 

MALIN BERGGREN LUNDELL studied Contemporary Dance & Choreography 2006 – 2008 at Södra Latin's School in her hometown, Stockholm (Sweden).  In 2009 she moved to London and completed a course in Vocals & Performance at Tech Music Schools.  She then became Communications Assistant for Secret Cinema and assisted with developing their project “Battle of Algiers”.  Malin then moved on to event organization, and as a freelance helped to produce many projects including The British Fashion Awards, The Prada LG Phone Launch, Tiffany & Co Winter Opening and The Chocolate Festival.  During 2012 – 2013 she was Head of Events (maternity cover) at the Swedish Chamber of Commerce for the UK, where she organised many conferences, seminars and themed events.  In summer 2013 she was an Island Manager for European Travel Ventures Ltd in Croatia.

IMOGEN ROBERTSON is originally from Rochester in Kent.  She became interested in drama as a History student at Royal Holloway, University of London.  As a student she co-founded a mini festival of new writing (2010) and was involved with university drama societies and youth theatre as producer and set designer (Eat My Fish 2010, Ripen Our Darkness 2011, Hamlet 2012).  In addition, she has produced an Edinburgh Fringe show and local fringe theatre for Devine&Riley Theatre, a production company she co-founded as a student with Royal Court Studio Group writer Georgia Coles-Riley (HAVERFORDWEST 2011, Something Good 2012).  Since graduating in 2012, Imogen has worked as a teacher of English as a foreign language, specialising in teaching English through drama; has written drama-based courses; and taught across Europe.  She has been involved in a voluntary capacity with Theatre 503, HighTide Theatre Festival and Battersea Arts Centre.

SENNE VERCOUTEREN was born in Utrecht (Netherlands) and first encountered theatre at the age of eleven, taking drama classes at Utrecht's Centre for the Arts.  From then on, he participated in numerous projects, including a production of Sam Shepard's Curse of the Starving Class, playing the role of Weston.  As a young producer, he staged The Who's Tommy, the Rock Opera as part of the final examinations at his secondary school.  Senne moved to London in 2009 to study History of Art at the Courtauld Institute, developing a special interest in early modern French art.  In 2012, he worked on the set of the sixth season of Spangas, a Dutch TV drama, as production assistant and subsequently as second assistant director.  Having worked for a PR agency during his final year at the Courtauld, he now hopes to build a career in London theatre.

YVONNE WAIGO has always been passionate about her active involvement in the creative arts.  After working for a time in the customer service industry, between 2010 and 2012 she planned a large number of corporate events for the American finance company Speedy Cash Inc.  In addition, during this time she performed at the Cockpit theatre in London as part of the London Actors Workshop Showcase, after completing their intensive training course.  She has now gone on to gain further qualifications in Film Producing and Production Management, with additional involvement in charity events; she has added considerably to her range of experience; and she now aims to take her skills to the next level by focusing on producing live events.  .  

Thursday 12 September 2013

The sixth year of Creative Producers at Birkbeck!

On September 25 we will welcome the sixth cohort of creative producing students at Birkbeck.

They are

MIYUKI KASAHARA

HANNAH LAMBERT

MALIN BERGGREN LUNDELL

IMOGEN ROBERTSON

SENNE VERCOUTEREN

YVONNE WAIGO

In addition ROCHELE MITCHELL will return to the cohort after Christmas

More details about them all nearer the time!

Thursday 15 August 2013

Summertime ...... and the MACP rolls on ...!



Our current students have been working long and hard on their producing projects this summer ....

Sara Colohan has staged a series of glamorous CIRQUE DU CABARET events at the Spiegeltent

Sarah Georgeson has been Assistant Producer at Paines Plough
 
Lorena lo Pena has been working on a major web-based 'motiroti' MULTIWALKS experience and is also involved in producing the horse-drawn tour of Sabotage Theatre's RAVENS

In July Charles Pugh produced his music/dance FESTIVAL ESTIVAL in Valencia with considerable success

Above is a snap of them all in the chilly spring, working on a task at the Theatre Royal in Stratford East!



Saturday 4 May 2013

CAREER NEWS part three

The next ex-student to feature in CAREER NEWS is
THERESA PINE (2010)
Since graduating from the MA, Theresa has embarked on a PhD at the University of East London, researching the production of Mega Events. 
To assist in her research she worked as a volunteer for London 2012 Ceremonies Ltd, the company which staged the opening and closing ceremonies of the London 2012 Olympics. She spent  last summer working both at their rehearsal site in Dagenham and the stadium in Stratford. Working with the staging team, she took an active part in all four ceremonies. 
She is now concentrating her research on the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow 2014, the ceremonies of the Winter Olympics - Sochi 2014 and concluding with the production of the ceremonies of Rio 2016. Her research is supported by the IOC (International Olympic Committee) she is attending an IOC conference on the culture and educational aspects of the Olympics in Amsterdam this November and has been given access to the IOC archives in Lausanne. She is also producing for the Ibsen Stage Company and works as a supervisor at the Discover Children's Story Centre, also in Stratford.

Tuesday 5 March 2013

CAREER NEWS part two

The next former MACP student to feature in CAREER NEWS is



ESTHER FOWLER 2011

When I graduated from Birkbeck I began working with corporate companies including VTB Capital Bank and Royal Sun Alliance's Group Corporate Centre, which included organisational management, office support, front of house and event co-ordination and operational management.

In 2012 I became ‘Research & Knowledge Exchange Coordinator’ at Guildhall School of Music & Drama. This role involves coordinating and supporting work and projects within the Research department; as well as developing new ways to promote Guildhall Research through the education and arts community, who will benefit from this knowledge. I am also the administrator for the Doctoral programme at the Guildhall School, and I support all Doctoral activity.

I actively use the skills and knowledge that were instilled in me by the MACP.  I have just finished co-ordinating a contemporary music symposium called Getting it Right at LSO St Lukes; other upcoming plans include Little Opera Day, taking place this year at the Barbican; and I am coordinating a conference on Stage Management at the Barbican this coming summer. 
 

Tuesday 5 February 2013

FIRST INTERVIEWS FOR 2013-14

See my Birkbeck profile for more information about the course.

The first interviews for next year's MACP course will be held in mid-February.  There will be regular sets of interviews thereafter.

For all enquiries please contact a.mckinnon@bbk.ac.uk