Artist Residencies
Welcome to OnFife's exciting artist residencies page!
Between January and May 2021, OnFife are supporting three, four-week-long residencies for artists who will be using their practices to reach out and inspire groups who, due to Covid-19, are facing additional barriers to accessing vital resources and opportunities for participation in creative projects. The project is funded by the 'Performing Arts Venue Relief Fund' supported by Creative Scotland with funding from Scottish Government, and OnFife warmly invites you to engage with our resident artists! Due to our venues being closed due to Covid-19, all activities will take place online so please join us from your phone, tablet or computer.
Our third resident artist is Queer, Scottish, disabled interdisciplinary artist Eilidh Ellery from Mon 1 March.
Eilidh Ellery is a queer, disabled, Scottish, recovering ex-textile designer currently experimenting with re-training as an Interdisciplinary Adaptive Dance and Circus Artist through practice-based research in a community arts setting.
[Video Description: Eilidh, a small, chubby, pasty-pale, femme-bodied, non-binary person wearing square, blue, plastic tortoise-shell glasses and an oversized white t-shirt with a bringht pink square and white text printed on it which reads “People Make Mistakes”. Mousey-brown hair piled up in a messy bun, with short, self-trimmed fringe; and midnight-blue painted nails. Sitting on a bed with white/grey/mustard-yellow/duck-egg-blue geometric pint bedding, in front of a lilac wall with cork boards covered in collages, including the New Pride Flag made of silk ribbons; and a broken wall-light with home-made yellow and red caution tape crossed over it, which reads “Nope!” in repeat. Eilidh grins, points, laughs and speaks with a lot of hand gestures.]
Throughout March, Eilidh will be hosting online workshops for adult learners (aged 18+) through East Neuk Burlesque; in collaboration with a variety of disabled creatives, who either already perform, or want to learn how. Whether you use a mobility aid, are Neurodivergent, or Dyslexic, have sensory issues, or mental health conditions; really anything that prevents you easily participating in community arts, Eilidh wants to find ways to support each other better through Q&A’s, interviews and surveys to find out more about creating accessible performing arts classes as part of her Residency.
The Free ‘Introduction to Face Dancing’ workshop series was held both as live Saturday matinees, 2pm-3pm; and as Free pre-recorded videos with subtitles. Eilidh will host a Q&A on March 6th where you can ask questions about ‘Face Dancing’ and get to know a bit more about how to join in with the project. The workshops will be held March 13th, 20th, 27th, and April 3rd. And the videos will be avilable to request for Free until June, so that you can still learn about ‘Face Dancing’, even if video calls, or Saturday afternoons don’t meet your current access needs.
For further details and to attend the workshops or access the recordings, please email eastneukburlesque@gmail.com with “Face Dancing Workshop Booking” or “Face Dancing Recording Request” in the subject line. If you would like to be interviewed or are willing to respond to an access survey, then please send a separate email to the same address with “OFAR Interview Query” as the subject line and add a short introduction on who you are and what style of performing arts or dance you are interested in.
You can visit Eilidh's Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/eilidhellery/ and read more about her previous work and future goals on her blogsite here: https://eilidhellery.wordpress.com/.
Our second resident artist was award-winning non-binary drag artist Jordy Deelight from Mon 8 Feb.
Watch Jordy's introductory video below!
"Picture that, you're 24...doing a will, a funeral plan" Please watch this insightful video from Jordy Deelight on life as a drag queen with cystic fibrosis.
Jordy is from Scotland and has worked professionally between the BBC and National Theatre of Scotland. Jordy's work has looked at physical and mental health in performance, creating informative work that explores different parts of personal using real experiences and auto theory. For this residency, Jordy will be working alongside producers Catriona Calchini and Alannah Watson digitally, with an LGBT+ focused group and shielding group in Fife, creating digital pieces of performance about the pandemic and how it impacted the lives of those in Fife. They will be launching "The Gratitude Initiative" exploring: what 2020 taught us and what we are grateful for in 2021, using gratitude journals as stimulus.
Jordy, along with producers Catriona Calchini and Alannah Watson, is particularly interested in working with LGBT+ groups and people who have been shielding during the pandemic. Jordy would like to interview participants and host digital workshops via Zoom for a few weeks during February giving Fife residents the chance to share their stories.
Watch Jordy's final video, the culmination of the project now.
You can also visit Jordy's website, find more of Jordy's work HERE and visit Jordy's Facebook HERE.
Watch "Jordy's 65 Reasons to Live" on BBC Scotland: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0776ms4 (available on iPlayer until 28 March 2021)
At the time of filming, Jordy identified as he/him but now goes by they/them pronouns.
Our first resident artists was Kirkcaldy singer-songwriter David Latto, from Mon 11 January.
Watch his introduction video below now!
Watch David's first update video on his project!
Watch video update 2 from David below!
Video update 3 from David below!
David has performed at concerts and festivals across Europe including Celtic Connections. His lyrical and inventive songwriting is influenced by relationships, place and the inner landscape. His residency project involves creating four songs based on the experiences, stories and lives of four elderly community members in Fife. Each participant will be interviewed and David will write, record and produce a song inspired by the experience. The songs will be available to stream or download. In a time when isolation is a bigger problem than ever it is hoped that this project will help shine a light on the elderly community and perhaps reveal some interesting stories in song! Visit David's Instagram to keep up-to-date with the project, his website HERE and find out more about his goals, work and life HERE. David has now written 4 songs for the project so look out for those being released soon.
