We had a fabulous time at our first Amps Annual Forum, it was nice to see so many of our Amps joining us on the night! A massive thanks again to our two event sponsors Red Pepper Events and Sweet Venue for supporting the event with drinks and food, and for lighting up the room. See photos from the night here.
We’re also delighted to let you know that Gemma Connell and Malath Abbas have been awarded the first ever batch of our Amps’ Community Ideas Fund – a given amount of funding (20% of all Amps subscriptions, a total of £400 this year) which is awarded each year to a chosen project originated from a collaboration between two or more individuals who are part of Amps. All Amps were invited to vote on the night – physically and virtually – for their favourite project. Read some insights into Gemma and Mal’s project below.
About the awardees:
Gemma is a post-hip-hop dancer, choreographer and Artistic Director of The Artifact, a company which creates dance in conversation with other art forms. The Artifact creates choreographic work that aims to tell stories that have been untold or mis-told throughout history whilst producing improvisation events that combine dance with other art forms including spoken word and live coding. The Artifact also deliver sensitive and enjoyable workshops across the UK with a diverse set of participants from undergraduate students to women recovering from violence.
Mal is an independent game designer, artist and producer working on experimental and meaningful games. I’m establishing Scotland’s first game collective and co-working space Biome Collective, a diverse, inclusive melting pot for people who want to create, collaborate and explore games, digital art, technology and culture.
The project in one sentence:
With the fund, they’ll deliver together a one-off full day workshop to create a new game using paper prototyping, word games and movement based tasks, for young people recovering from domestic abuse.
Who will benefit from the project:
A group of around 10 young people aged 9-12, using the service at Dundee Women’s Aid. These young people are either experiencing domestic abuse, or recovering from that experience. The activities offered at Dundee Women’s Aid are sometimes the only place that these children feel safe and able to express themselves fully, however Dundee Women’s Aid are not able to fund all of the activities that they’d like for these young people.
More about the collaboration:
They’ll explore playful making through experimentation and prototyping through play, ideation, creative expression and collaboration! Delving into both dance and game design, they’ll cover a range of accessible tools that make the creative process open and adaptable for all. They’ll begin by playing a series of physical, digital and word games along a theme to create a friendly atmosphere. Word games will be explored using Gemma’s Flow! technique which she usually uses with artists and workshop participants to write spoken word. For this workshop, Gemma will use it to create short, fun poems through lists of random words to set the scene for the game, as well as break the ice among the group. The theme that they’ll use will be decided upon in consultation with the young people prior to the workshop, allowing them to lead fully on the ideas they want to create. We’ll follow with an exploration of what makes a game and the importance of characters and movement before we begin generating ideas.
Thanks again to our Amps for their support and good luck to Gemma and Mal!
Super excited to collaborate with Gemma and The Artifact on this project combining game design and dance. We at Biome Collective have a track record in combing various art forms and making the digital process accessible. Working with young people from Dundee Women’s Aid will be a great opportunity to do this. Big thanks to the Creative Dundee Amps community for supporting us! We look forward to sharing our learning with the community.
– Malath Abbas
See our Amps supporters here and how to join the Amp Network here.
