PRESS RELEASE - FLY THE FLAG ANNUAL CELEBRATION OF THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IS BACK WITH A PROJECT CREATED BY CELEBRATED CHOREOGRAPHER OONA DOHERTY

[Jan McNulty]

PRESS RELEASE

 

Fuel, The MAC, Eden Court Highlands, Sadler’s Wells and Wales Millennium Centre in association with Belfast International Arts Festival present 

 

FLY THE FLAG 2021

Directed and choreographed by Oona Doherty

 

www.flytheflag.org.uk

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• FLY THE FLAG ANNUAL CELEBRATION OF THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IS BACK WITH A PROJECT CREATED BY CELEBRATED CHOREOGRAPHER OONA DOHERTY

 

• YOUNG PEOPLE IN EACH OF THE FOUR COUNTRIES OF THE UK WILL CREATE A NEW FILM TOGETHER INSPIRED BY ARTICLE 19 - THE RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF OPINION AND EXPRESSION
  
   
• THE FILM WILL PREMIERE ON SKY ARTS AT 9PM ON 10 DECEMBER TO MARK HUMAN RIGHTS DAY

 

 

Fly The Flag launched in 2018 on the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), with artist and activist Ai Weiwei commissioned to design a flag as a symbol for Human Rights. 

 

Since launching, hundreds of arts organisations, schools and charities have displayed the flag across the UK and creative opportunities have been programmed, whilst children and young people have learnt about and celebrated Human Rights. The flag is central to the campaign and continues to be flown in recognition of our Human Rights, as an act of both celebration and defence. 

 

Fly The Flag continues in 2021, a UK-wide collaboration between arts organisations and human rights charities. Working in partnership with Eden Court Highlands, The MAC, Sadler's Wells and Wales Millennium Centre, in association with Belfast International Arts Festival, choreographer Oona Doherty - O.D Works LTDand a team of associate artists will lead a large-scale engagement project. 

 

This year’s project will see groups of teenagers in a post-Brexit United Kingdom give voice to their thoughts, their fears, their hopes and their dreams. Taking a look at some of the UK’s big questions as well as some everyday ones, the teenagers will create work with a unique and powerful perspective through the use of movement, spoken word and film.

 

The young participants will explore freedom of expression, creating work which will be filmed for Sky Arts, now free for everyone to watch. The film will be directed by Charlie Di Placido and co-produced by Fuel and House of Theresa. Alongside the film, schools and arts organisations across the UK will take part in engagement activities, promoting Human Rights and Article 19, culminating in a celebration of this work on 10th December, Human Rights Day.

 

Oona Doherty said: “This year's Fly the Flag project will expand my choreography and the sugar army with crews all over the UK from all different backgrounds. We will learn a dance designed to ignite confidence and will. From our crews we will develop our own original material in response to freedom of expression. Sky Arts will film this UK-wide army of young people. Dancing, shouting and expressing all that to them is important and what needs to change. This is the future. The good, the bad and the ugly truth of it. And we're dancing about it.”

 

Oona Doherty is an Irish dance artist based in Belfast. Doherty’s distinctive and visceral choreography has sparked international attention, earning her multiple awards, rave reviews and prestigious artistic opportunities both in Ireland and abroad. She creates intense, compelling works that appeal for societal change. 

 

Her credits include Hope Hunt and the Ascension into Lazarus (2015), which won awards at Tiger Dublin Fringe Festival and Edinburgh Fringe, Hard to be Soft – A Belfast Prayer (premiering at Belfast International Arts Festival 2017), which was voted UK dance show of 2019 by the Guardian, and Lady Magma: The Birth of a Cult (2019).

 

2021 will see Oona Doherty’s first collaboration with (La) Horde, collective at the helm for Ballet National de Marseille (FR). She is a former Belfast International Arts Festival Artist in Residence (2016) and Dublin Dance Festival Artist in Residence in 2020, 2021 and 2022. She won the Silver Lion Award for Dance at the 2021 Venice Biennale.

 

 

Notes to Editors

 

Oona Doherty

Oona Doherty is an Irish dance artist based in Belfast. Doherty’s distinctive    and    visceral choreography   has   sparked international attention, earning her   multiple   awards,   rave reviews  and  prestigious  artistic opportunities  both  in  Ireland and abroad. She creates intense, compelling works that  appeal for societal change. Her credits  include  Hope  Hunt and the Ascension into Lazarus(2015),  which  won  awards  at Tiger Dublin Fringe Festival and Edinburgh  Fringe,  Hard  to  be Soft  –  A  Belfast  Prayer  (2017),which was voted UK dance show of  2019  by  the  Guardian,  and Lady Magma: The Birth of a Cult(2019).2021 will see Oona Doherty’s first collaboration  with  (La)  Horde, collective at the helm for Ballet National de Marseille (FR). She is Dublin Dance  Festival  Artist  in Residence  in  2020,  2021  and 2022. 

 

 

Charlie Di Placido
Director Charlie Di Placido has over fifteen years experience producing and directing films, commercials and music videos. Charlie has the ability to work with a vast array of clients from XL Recordings to the Tour De France. 

 

Charlie’s avant-garde videos for Jungle, showcasing young British talent, which accompanied the collective’s debut eponymous album, took the internet by storm in 2014. He has produced and directed genre-defining music videos for both Jungle and Kojey Radical, whose visual ‘Footsteps’ was nominated at the MOBOs 2016 for video of the year. 

 

He directed all of Jungle’s visuals for their 2nd album campaign, including videos for hits Happy Man, Heavy California! & Casio with 50+ million views. 

 

Recent works include co-directing and producing Nines’ ground-breaking and album-launching short filmCrop Circle along with the album reveal drone shot of the Crop Circle itself. Followed by the acclaimed release of Crop Circle 2 and the film for Nines’ number 1 album ‘Crabs In A Bucket’ along with the videos ‘Clout’ and Airplane Mode for the same campaign.  

 

In 2020 he directed the Black British Theatre awards at the Young Vic Theatre for Sky Arts, especially designed and formatted for the first attended awards show after Lockdown. Creative Directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah and produced by House of Theresa. 

 

In 2021 he directed a long form film to accompany Jungle’s acclaimed third album “Loving In Stereo” which consisted of 14 one take dance music videos, one for each track of the album, shot across 5 days in a derelict prison in Dover.

 

In 2021 he was nominated for Video of The Year twice at the Mobo’s 2021 & The GRM Daily Awards 2021.

 

Charlie strives to produce and direct iconic, innovative and important work that reflects the times. 

 

Belfast International Arts Festival
Belfast International Arts Festival (BIAF) is Northern Ireland’s leading international arts festival dedicated to contemporary performance, media and visual arts, and programming that cuts across traditional artform boundaries. The 59th edition takes place 6 October - 7 November 2021.

 

The mission of BIAF as the preeminent, progressive multi-artform festival within Northern Ireland is to actively engage both global and local communities in the richness and diversity of contemporary arts practice.

 

BIAF was established in 2015 out of the previous Belfast Festival at Queen’s to deliver an annual, city-wide, international contemporary arts event, with key elements of commissioning and premiering new works and showcasing the best new and established Northern Irish artists to global audiences.

 

The annual event, which reflects and promotes both our changing city and the continuing evolution of creative practice from around the world, covers theatre, dance, music, visual arts, film, literature, and outdoor events to animate the public realm, accompanied by outreach and education events. It uses a mix of arts venues, non-traditional arts venues and public spaces across Belfast city centre and neighbourhoods.

For more details https://belfastinternationalartsfestival.com/

 

Eden Court
Eden Court is a registered charity and is the largest multi-arts venue in Scotland, housing 2 theatres, 2 cinemas, 2 dance studios and conference and meeting spaces. It presents around 450 live performances and 2000 film screenings every year as well as almost 60 classes a week. This activity attracts an audience of over 300,000 people annually. Eden Court runs an extensive creative learning and community engagement programme. As well as the building based programme of weekly classes, youth theatre and youth dance, Eden Court also works with schools across the region. It is the only theatre in Scotland to offer Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) courses in Drama and Dance and an AS Level in Moving Image Arts. These qualification courses are open to pupils from across the Highlands. Eden Court is also a Scottish Government partner for Cashback for Communities, delivering its flagship CashBack Highlands programme, where seized criminal assets are redistributed to provide meaningful artistic activity for young people at risk. Eden Court is a registered charity and is grateful to receive regular funding from Creative Scotland and the Highland Council.     

 

 

Fuel

Fuel leads the field in independent producing in the UK’s live performance sector. We work with brilliant artists to make fresh experiences for adventurous people. To date, many of these experiences have been theatre, whether that’s in an actual theatre, on the streets, in community settings, or in purpose-built structures. All of the artists Fuel works with produce shows, performances or experiences which have clear, direct and playful relationships with their audiences. They appeal to the emotions and the intellect. Things that make you laugh and cry. These artists see the world in a different way; they respond to challenges and difficulties with ingenuity and ideas; they create something unexpected which articulates something new to audiences. Fuel was founded in 2004 and is led by Kate McGrath. Fuel is supported by Arts Council England as a National Portfolio Organisation, Fenton Arts Trust, the Garrick Trust, the Backstage Trust, the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, the Garfield Weston Foundation, and the Wellcome Trust through Sustaining Excellence. 

 

“One of the most exciting and indispensable producing outfits working in British theatre today.” The Guardian  

 

Fuel produce fresh work for adventurous people by inspiring artists. We believe in supporting and stimulating artists to develop their own ideas through provocation and challenge. We have a rich and trusting creative dialogue with all of the artists we work with, and we engage with all aspects of the development of the work. Each relationship is unique, as we try to respond to the needs of each artist individually. 

 

Some of the artists Fuel has worked with include Will Adamsdale, Inua Ellams, Encounter, Fevered Sleep, Lewis Gibson, Gyre & Gimble, Nick Makoha, Racheal Ofori, Frauke Requardt, David Rosenberg, Andy Smith, Sound&Fury, Melly Still, Tom Stuart, Uninvited Guests and Melanie Wilson. 

Since our story began in 2004, we have: 

 

• produced over 143 shows, 7 festivals, 4 films, 36 podcasts, an app and three books. 
• supported the development of 107 artists and companies. 
• reached over 700,000 live audience members, 660,000 online audiences and 8,750 participants.  
• won 18 awards 

 

House of Theresa

House of Theresa is a new multi-platform production company dedicated to developing and producing original content in the Television, Film, Theatre and XR spaces with some of today’s most exciting artists. Whether you’ve heard of them or not! 

 

The company’s name comes from the house I grew up in: Theresa’s house. A home where every laughter filled room negotiated the past, the present, and the future in original and versatile ways. 

 

The work we intend to produce stands on the shoulders of Theresa’s house. Histories unhidden. Genres invented. Stories and voices previously unheard unleashed on any platform bold and imaginative enough to hold it. 

 

Kwame Kwei-Armah is an award-winning director, writer and artistic director. Having been the artistic director of the historic international World Festival of Black Arts and Culture, Senegal (2010), Baltimore Centerstage, Maryland USA, (2011-18), and Young Vic theatre, London- (2018- present), Kwame has been at the vanguard of multimedia creation for over a decade. 

 

For US television he executive produced ‘THE RAISIN CIRCLE’ for PBS, and the film ‘MY AMERICA’ directed by Hal Hartley. 

 

For UK broadcast, along with Lenny Henry, Kwame recently executive produced the BAFTA and RTS nominated series ‘SOON GONE’. 

 

Kwame is currently executive producing a new drama series developed and co-produced with Left Bank pictures and executive produced under House of Theresa, the BLACK BRITISH THEATRE AWARDS for Sky Arts, directed by Charlie Di Placido. 

 

 

MAC

Our award-winning venue in Belfast's Cathedral Quarter is home to all kinds of exhibitions, theatre performances, experimental works and endless goings-on.

The MAC is a cultural hub and since opening in 2012 has quickly become a beacon for the ongoing regeneration of Belfast offering an eclectic programme of visual art, theatre, dance, family workshops and lots more.

Since opening, almost 2.5 million visitors have come through the doors of the MAC. These visitors have attended more than 3,000 live performances, 45 visual art exhibitions, 100’s of family workshops and collectively drunk over 300,000 cups of coffee.

 

 

Sadler’s Wells

Sadler's Wells is a world-leading dance organisation. We strive to make and share dance that inspires us all. Our acclaimed year-round programme spans dance of every kind, from contemporary to flamenco, Bollywood to ballet, salsa to street dance and tango to tap.

 

We commission, produce and present more dance than any other organisation in the world. Since 2005, we have helped to bring close to 200 new dance works to the stage, embracing both the popular and the unknown.

 

Each year, over half a million people visit our three London theatres - Sadler’s Wells Theatre, Lilian Baylis Studio and Peacock Theatre. Many more attend our touring productions nationally and internationally or explore our digital platforms, including Sadler’s Wells Digital Stage. In 2023 we’re opening a fourth London venue in Stratford’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Sadler’s Wells’ new space will house a 550-seat mid-scale theatre, as well as facilities for a choreographic centre and a hip hop theatre academy.

 

Supporting artists is at the heart of our work. We have associate artists and companies, which nurture some of the most exciting talent working in dance today. We host the National Youth Dance Company, which draws together some of the brightest young dancers from across the country. Sadler’s Wells Breakin' Convention runs professional development programmes to champion and develop the world’s best hip hop artists, as well as producing, programming and touring groundbreaking hip hop performances.

 

Around 30,000 people take part in our learning and engagement programmes every year. We support schools local to our theatres in Islington and Stratford, designing experiences for children and young people to watch, explore and critically engage with the arts. We also run Company of Elders, a resident performance company of dancers aged over 60 who rehearse with renowned artists to make new work for public performances locally, nationally and internationally.

 

Sadler’s Wells is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation.

 

Wales Millennium Centre

Wales Millennium Centre is a furnace of inspiration whose building is nestled in Cardiff Bay, but whose reach is worldwide. By opening its doors as a convener, a digital producer, a storyteller and a creative resource, Wales Millennium Centre prides itself in giving artists, communities and young people in Wales a platform and a voice like no other.

 

It has produced and staged a huge breadth of productions, from operas, plays and musicals to a major festival, while welcoming the world’s best-loved and most successful shows to its stages.

As a charity, it is driven to unleash creative potential, and determined that everyone in Wales should call it their home.

 

The cornerstone of Wales Millennium Centre’s production schedule is its annual Festival of Voice; an international arts festival showcasing all the voice can do and immersing its audience in the incredible talents of artists from across the globe. 

 

For further information, please visit: wmc.org.uk 

 

Wales Millennium Centre is a registered charity, no. 1060458.