Stobbs IP, a Cambridge-based international intellectual property law firm, supported Cambridge Junction to develop its commissioning programme with an initiative to enable new ideas and creative work to be developed, made and shared with new audiences.
Since 2017, Stobbs funding has supported a total of 25 commissions to artists and performance companies. Over four years £70,000 funding has enabled the creation of new contemporary theatre, performance and live art. These works have not only be shared with audiences in Cambridge, but also with audiences nationally, internationally and online.
As with all our arts and artist development activity we strive to foreground the work of Global Majority, LGBTQIA+ and Disabled artists. The programme has always supported artists at different stages in their career development, with Troop New ideas commissions for those nearer the start of their career alongside larger commissions for more established artists.
2022 will be the fifth round of Stobbs New Ideas. Details to be announced December 2022.
Impact
Starting with an initial donation of £10,000 in 2017, together these commission have built an impressive catalogue of creative work. Importantly this support has enabled artists to extend their practice and to develop their reach as they make original and creatively disruptive new work.
The commissions can be used as match funding for further applications and leveraging additional investment in these artists and their practice, enabling them to tour projects nationally and international, gain greater recognition for their work, and sustain careers. Commissions also provide a valuable opportunity to take more time to nurture a new idea, and let concepts flourish over longer timeframes.
Offer to artists and arts companies
Specifically, the Stobbs New Ideas Fund offers artists and/or companies the opportunity to develop and present work at Cambridge Junction. The focus for the Stobbs New Ideas Fund is to support contemporary theatre, performance, live art and participatory, community and socially engaged work.
In addition to commissioning fees, artists and companies benefit from residency time and technical time and space in J3 at Cambridge Junction and producing and dramaturgical advice and guidance from Cambridge Junction’s programming and artist development team. Commissions lead to opportunities to present new work as work-in-progress, previews, or full presentations as part of our Arts Season or in festival contexts such as DISRUPT.
Premieres and Performances
2018
Stobbs New Ideas Fund Commissions
- Andy Field • News News News – 2019, Cambridge & Norwich
- Figs in Wigs • Little Wimmin – 2019 London, 2022 Cambridge
Stobbs Diverse Actions New Ideas Fund
- Hetain Patel • Identity Matrix Stobbs
Troop New Ideas Commissions
- Eden Harbud • The Pea – 2019, Cambridge
- Hazel Lam • Lighthouse – 2020, London
2019
Stobbs New Ideas Fund Commissions
- Sue MacLaine • Untethered Joke – 2022 Cambridge
- Hannah Ringam
- Nigel and Louise • Supermarket
Stobbs Troop New Ideas Commissions
- Charmaine Childs • POWER – 2021, Cambridge and tour
- Emma Spearing • Whole – 2021, Cambridge
- Urban Foxes Collective • motherCulture – 2021, Cambridge
2020
Stobbs New Ideas Fund Commissions
- Quarantine • 12 Last Songs – 2021, Leeds & 2023, Cambridge
- Symoné • UTOPIAN (t&c’s apply) – 2021, Cambridge
- Atresbandes with Bertrand Lesca and Nasi Voutsas • It Don’t Worry Me – 2020, Barcelona 2022 Cambridge
Stobbs Troop New Ideas Commissions
- Hannah Jane Walker • It Knows You Know – 2020, online
- Hester Chillingworth • Them’s The Rules – 2020, online
- METIS • Love Letters to a Liveable Future – 2020, online, 2021 Cambridge
2021
Stobbs New Ideas Fund Commissions
- Hester Chillingworth • Extinction Trilogy – 2022, Cambridge
- Rachel Mars • Forge – 2022, Leeds & 2023 Cambridge
- Selina Thompson • Twine – 2023 Autumn tbc
Stobbs Troop New Ideas Commissions
- Sanskruti Dance/Krishna Zivraj Nair • Magical Honey
- Sam Ross • Creepy – Work in progress 30 Nov 2022
- Reece Calver – TBC
- Chloe Akasha Carson – TBC
- Alan Seiglow • Four Sisters – Work in progress 30 Nov 2022
- Tombola Theatre – John Barleycorn Must Die
- (Chloe France)
Artist Development
Artistic Policy
