05 Nov Guest Blog | Matt Winkworth & Chris Bush
KSF Artists of Choice, is open to artists across the disciplines of dance, theatre, musical theatre, music and film. Over the next few weeks, we will post guest blogs from some of our 2015 grant winners about how the grant has impacted their work. Applications will be open in early 2016.
Names | Chris Bush & Matt Winkworth
Project | Untitled Musical Theatre Project
Year Awarded KSF Grant | 2015
CB: We were given £10,000 to write a new piece of musical theatre, and stage an industry workshop of our piece.
MW: We’re also being provided invaluable support through the help of experienced mentors.
CB: Being given the grant feels like a huge vote of confidence. Obviously the money is incredibly useful, as is the kudos that comes with it, but you can’t underestimate the impact of a group of industry experts saying ‘we like this idea – go make it.’ We want to reward the faith placed in us, and make a show that nobody else could.
MW: The support of the KSF award allows us to work on a project on which we can be more experimental and write more freely.
CB: More than anything, the grant buys us time to write. Being a freelance artist is a constant juggling act between following your dreams and paying the rent, and this means we can legitimately put in the hours to make a show we both feel really passionate about. It’ll be the most ambitious project we’ve attempted together so far, and I don’t think we’d be doing it without KSF.
CB: In terms of next steps we need to get the show written! This will be our fourth piece together as writer/composer, but it’ll be very different from anything we’ve made before. Because we’re writing in a faux-verbatim style, we want to generate some of the libretto through improvisation, giving actors prompts and recording all the ‘ums’ and ‘ahs’ of natural, unplanned speech – it’s going to be a new and probably quite time-consuming process. With any luck we’ll have a draft script within the next month or so, and a score by Christmas…
MW: Or at least some of a score by Christmas. Really it’s about getting down to the writing. I’ve never written a sung-through piece of this scale before, and we’re trying to develop it in quite an innovative way, so I think it will be about writing lots of sketches and ideas and seeing what sticks.
CB: I don’t know why any artists wouldn’t apply for the grant. It provides vital industry support and cold hard cash to make the art that excites you. Even if you’re not ultimately successful you never know who you might meet along the way. There’s literally no downside.
CB: One of my most memorable experiences was receiving the phone call from Kevin Spacey himself to say we’d won, which was a wonderfully surreal experience. It came out of the blue and for the first few minutes I genuinely didn’t believe it was him – I thought it was a friend making a prank call. Needless to say I played it pretty cool. I think Matt’s still a bit heartbroken that it was my mobile number on the form rather than his.
MW: The actual interview pitch itself was quite exhilarating as well; I’d not really had to pitch to such a large industry panel before. It was a bit like Dragon’s Den, but if they were all really encouraging and friendly.
CB: I would advise other emerging artists to see as much as you possibly can. Make the work that you want to make. Keep showing it to people until someone says yes. Never write something you don’t believe in because you think it’s what somebody else might like – you can always tell.
MW: There’s also that saying about being in the right place at the right time, but you can at least make sure you’re hanging out nearby. Surround yourself with creative types, go and see new writing and don’t be afraid to approach people. And I don’t mean that in any euphemistic ‘networking’ sense, just be yourself.
Read more about Chris and Matt’s project here.