Rosie Heafford
2015/16
I applied to LUTSF to travel to the Imaginate Festival, now the Edinburgh International Children’s Festival. A relatively small journey from Epsom to Edinburgh and a small sum of money has had a huge impact on the direction of my career.
Going to Imaginate was a chance to see international work for children, it opened up a whole new world of possibility, new thought processes and most importantly a critical support network. The staff at Imaginate have an incredible artist development programme that values artists working in different contexts and countries.
I travelled with them to Krokusfestival in Belgium. Whilst there, I met my now producer, Claire Summerfield in February 2015. Since then I have made two new works for children, re-visited Imaginate twice and visited two other European festivals. I’m currently touring Getting Dressed, celebrating clothes and encouraging children to have fun and be imaginative with what they wear.
In May 2017 I’ll be taking ‘Grass’, a dancework for children exploring the ground beneath our feet to the Imaginate festival – a circular path that all started with the funding LUTSF gave me. So thank you, it meant, means and will continue to mean a lot.
Photo credit: Stephen Wright.