Bristol has a core group of Black creatives who many do not know of each other and rarely have the opportunity to work together on celebratory cultural specific creative projects. I have long dreamt of such a project that not only celebrates African and Caribbean heritage and culture but would also create quality paid work for the such Artists whilst allowing them to skill share and gain wider exposure to the Bristol’s African and Caribbean community and to new and more diverse audiences.
The team consisted of Nadia Williams (Actor), Winston Pyke (Actor/Dancer), I-Kay (Actor/Singer), Kerry-Ann Waison (Actor), Omer Makessa (Musician), Edson Burton (Scriptwriter/Performer) Deborah Badoo (Director) and myself, Ruth Ramsay (Producer/Costume and Prop maker).
We were also truly blessed to have been joined by Charleen Downer, Chane Barnes and Elyssa Richards (Revelleres/Dancers) of Fresh Dance Company. When they came on board even though I didn’t have the budget to pay them they still wanted to be a part of the team and by doing so became an integral part of the performance.
Being a new team whom for most had never met each other much less never worked together had me chewing my nails. As I walk towards the Bristol Old Vic on our first day together, I could feel slight panic, and this was made even more nerve racking by the fact that we only had three days to create our Scratch performance.
When I entered the theatre, I found many of the team were there already and had introduced themselves to one another. Immediately my fears melted and as I observed this amazing group of Bristol Black creatives, I knew from that moment that not only was this a unique moment in time and everything was going to be alright.
Anansi and the Grand Prize 