Looking back at Mimbre’s 2023

15 Dec Looking back at Mimbre’s 2023

Everyone at Mimbre wishes all our partners, associates, freelancers and supporters here in Hackney, across the UK and worldwide a very happy holidays. Now, more than ever, we are hoping for peace on earth and may we all find human connections during 2024 and beyond. We thought we would take a quick look back at our 2023 to celebrate what we’ve achieved and say thank you to everyone we’ve worked with, performed to and learned from:

+ It was great to be out on the road with both Look Mum, No Hands!, our co-production with Daryl & Co, and Lifted. We visited more than 30 festivals, schools and libraries and were seen by more than 14,000 people. Outdoor touring, reaching large and diverse audiences, is always at the heart of what we do.

+ We love collaboration and we were part of several innovative projects in 2023. Some are still under wraps but are already making us excited for 2024. What we can finally share is the impressive sci-fi short Flite created by Framework, using state-of-the-art virtual production techniques. Mimbre’s joint Artistic Director Lina Johansson is credited as Movement Director, with Mimbre performers Freya Stokka and Jaide Annalise working behind the scenes on stunts and movement manipulation. It’s now available to watch online here.

+ Another project that we’re looking forward to share is Look Mum… Let’s talk about Disability, a series of short films we’ll be making with Daryl & Co. Read more about it here.

+ Mimbre Youth went from strength to strength with the young people in our classes in Hackney gaining skills and having fun, and we also did some creative consultancy for Shakespeare Walk Adventure Playground and Cirque Du Ciel on their Glastonbury Festival commission. If you’d like to support this work, then please consider donating to our fundraiser here. Thank you!

+ Adding even more anticipation to next year is our new show, Weight and Lightness (working title). We’ve had some great Research and Development time, and we can’t wait to work on our ideas further in the new year with designer Loren Elstein. If you’re interested in hearing more about this show and perhaps supporting or booking it, then please contact joint Artistic Director Silvia Fratelli on silvia@mimbre.co.uk

+ We were very happy to tour in Europe and employ a wide range of people, which is such an important part of how we approach our work. To support this we became a licensed visa sponsorship organisation in 2023 so we can continue to employ performers from around the world. We will continue to be international.

+ And as always we worked with some amazing women and non-binary acrobats doing astonishing things. Look back at our images from the summer on the South Bank, our Acrolab training residency with 101 Outdoor Arts which was attended by 39 artists and our monthly training sessions upping our group acro skills for future projects.

Thank you to everyone who has helped us throughout the year. Our funders, Arts Council England, Wilmcote Charitrust, Rank Foundation, Ford Britain Trust and Chapman Charitable Trust; our generous donors, our wonderful freelancers and our extremely supportive Board of Trustees.

Thank you everyone!

Photos by: Framestore, HeardinLondon, Arthur Le Fol and the Mimbre team