Announcing the Winner of our new £10k Arts Bursary Award

Introducing Thomas Eccleshare – A Bright Young Local Talent…
Thomas was one of four entrants shortlisted for the award, and despite strong competition he impressed the judges with his ambition and innovative talent in both performance and theatre direction.

The bursary will allow Thomas to now concentrate on developing his theatre company Dancing Brick and forge a career as a theatre-maker.   Cambridge Graduate Thomas, is the co-artistic director of the company which he set up after training for two years in Paris at the world famous Ecole Internationale de Theatre Jacque Lecoq.  He has performed across Europe and next month he is taking the company to the Edinburgh Fringe for a second year.  Dancing Brick will be touring their first UK show in the Autumn with dates at Madcap Milton Keynes booked for 22nd, 23rd and 24th October.
Thomas explains:
“It is my ambition to create, perform and tour my work, both in my home town and across the world. Though I have made a good start in fulfilling this ambition, I now need to build on this initial momentum. The arts bursary will allow me to commit myself 100% to this goal this year.”
“ Thomas is a very exciting local artist.  While his work is pushing the boundaries, it is also fun, humorous and accessible to mainstream audiences.  He clearly shows tremendous potential and we look forward to following and reporting on Thomas’s success this year. We are delighted to have been able to help him pursue his ambitions.” Bart Gamber, Grants Director Community Foundation.

The Foundation’s arts bursary has been devised to encourage artistic endeavours in Milton Keynes and to nurture local talents such as Thomas. The £10,000 annual award is designed to give an emerging artist the opportunity to further develop their artistic skills, or the freedom to concentrate on a new body of work. The funding  can be used to buy equipment, for training or travel, to rent a work space or simply cover living costs. For further information, please visit www.mkcommunityfoundation.co.uk or call the Foundation on 01908 690276

Date Published July 15th 2009