Gypsy Maker 5 – Dance Talks at Ballet Cymru

25th October 2022 – 12.30pm to 3pm

The Romani Cultural & Arts Company (RCAC) is excited to announce an afternoon of Dance Talks in association with Ballet Cymru to mark the installation of the RCAC’s Gypsy Maker 5 exhibition at The Riverfront in Newport.

This exciting installation of specially commissioned works from the artists Imogen Bright Moon, Corrina Eastwood and Rosamaria Kostic Cisneros, is the latest in our ground-breaking Gypsy Maker project, an initiative that supports the development of innovatively created artistic works by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller artists. The Gypsy Maker 5 project expands the work of the RCAC by continuing to engage GRT communities with the wider public in an ongoing dialogue about the ways in which art continues to inform our lives today.

The exhibition is commissioned by the RCAC with support from the Cyngor Celfyddydau Cymru | Arts Council of Wales .

Atodlen / Schedule

12.30 Croeso / Welcome RCAC/Ballet Cymru

12.35 Jên Angharad

12.40 Dr Daniel Baker

12.50 Dr Rosamaria Kostic Cisneros

13.15 Isaac Blake, Director, Romani Cultural & Arts Company

14.10 Tea Break

13.45 Toby Gorniak MBE

14.10 Dr Adrian R. Marsh

14.30 Amy Doughty

15.00 Q&A & Close

Biographies in alphabetical order

Jên Angharad is an experienced leader in the field of participatory arts and dance. She has a history of successful collaborations with organisations such as Theatr Soar in Merthyr, Cardiff University, Disability Arts Cymru, Wales Millennium Centre, Welsh National Opera and ArtWorks Cymru, the National Eisteddfod and many other organisations. She has recently become the new CEO at Artis Community, an organisation which focuses on providing high quality art experiences of real benefit with people of all ages in the central Valleys region.

Dr Daniel Baker is an artist and curator. A Romani Gypsy, born in Kent in the UK, he holds a PhD on the subject of Roma aesthetics from the Royal College of Art, London. His work has been included in documenta fifteen and Manifesta 14, and has featured in several editions of the Venice Biennale, both as artist (2007, 2011, 2022) and curator (FUTUROMA, 2019). Baker’s work examines the role of artistic practice in the enactment of social agency via the reconfiguration of aspects of Gypsy visuality. His work is exhibited internationally and can be found in collections worldwide. Publications include WE ROMA: A Critical Reader in Contemporary Art, Ex Libris, FUTUROMA and GRT LGBTQ+ Spoken History Archive . Lives and works in London.

Isaac Blake is a proud Gay Romany Gypsy and is Executive Director of the Romani Cultural and Arts Company (RCAC), a major third sector agency which leads the field in Wales by promoting advocacy through the arts for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities. Having trained at the Trinity LABAN Conservatoire of Music & Dance, Isaac went on to study at the Martha Graham School in New York. He now teaches dance at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. Isaac was Dance Curator for the RomArchive; the international archive of Roma arts and culture. He has been instrumental in supporting LGBTQ+ Gypsy, Roma, Traveller rights in UK, Europe and beyond, recently producing the first international LGBTQ+ GRT spoken history archive.

Dr Rosamaria Kostic Cisneros is an artist, researcher, consultant, filmmaker of mixed ethnic background who has over 25 years managing, developing and delivering projects. She is director of RosaSenCis film Production Co., a company that aims to create inclusive and accessible resources and teaching guides used by major organisations such as the NHS. Rosa has co-authored papers on ethics within dance, intersectionality, and led projects that explore ethical methods and equitable practices. She has a consistent commitment to projects that make education accessible to vulnerable groups, particularly in the Roma community. She has mobilised her skills as a Flamenco dance artist, filmmaker and writer to make spaces for those often excluded in the academic community, embracing thinkers and practitioners across many fields, including those working in Hip-Hop, African dance and in the broad area of cultural heritage.

Toby Gorniak Mbe is a Roma Gypsy and has been connecting audiences, young people, artists and practitioners for many years through his Hip Hop Company Street Factory, alongside his wife, Jo Gorniak. He is fuelled by a deep rooted passion, commitment, determination and philosophy of helping young people to fulfil their dreams. By creating a springboard, Toby empowers and enables young people to be better connected to their value and to see their potential whilst understanding the positive impact they can have on their community. Toby is committed to presenting programmes, workshops and activities that embrace dancers, practitioners, taechers, young prople, families and audiences of all backgrounds to gain mutual ubderstanding, passion nad exploration of dance, life, lover and hope.

Dr Adrian Richard Marsh is of Welsh Romany-Irish Traveller origins, a Researcher in Romani Studies and an expert consultant in Romani and Traveller early years education, working with Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller communities and NGOs in the UK, Sweden, Turkey, Egypt, across Central, Eastern, South-Eastern Europe, and the Caucasus. He gained a PhD in Romani Studies from the University of Greenwich, London (2008), a MA in Turkish Area Studies from SOAS (1998), and a First Class BA Hons. from SSEES (1996). Marsh also won the Andrew Ferguson Memorial Prize for his dissertation on royal women and power, in the Ottoman Empire (1996). He is currently living in Baku, Azerbaijan and Istanbul, Turkey where he leads the International Romani Studies Network, an NGO he established there, in 2002. He has published numerous articles on Romani identity, history and religiosity, edited collections from international conferences on Romani studies and contributed to many conference proceedings, peer-reviewed journals on education for Romani and Traveller children, as well as co-authoring the entry for 'Roma' in the Encyclopaedia of Global Human Migration.

We?anticipate that this exciting half-day symposium will generate great interest so please book your place early by registering on Eventbrite .