02.02.2024 – Rapid Change

Programmed by our Young Creative, Maxi Himpe, the event introduced conversations surrounding sexuality and identity.

Oscar Rodriguez, a Salvadoran American poet and performance artist based in Kingston, stunned us with MOLD: Live Hypnosis, a piece that showcased the meaning of hypersexuality through a queer lens. In parallel, Crusty, a gender-bending performer, brought a lot of laughter and reflection with their satirical performance piece about the trans healthcare system in the UK. Next, Scarlett Stitt & Amitai Landau-Pope, a theatre-driven collab, captivated us with a unique monologue from the perspective of a box of Celebrations. And lastly, Jayran Lear, a Middle-Eastern thespian based in Manchester, enchanted us with her optimistic tale told through short stories, poetry, and mystic dance.

09.02.2024 – Liberation

“Liberation”, programmed by our Young Creative and Creative Talent Programme artist, Tanvi Ranjan, drew a focus on visual arts as a way of showcasing deep humane emotions based on personal backgrounds.

This event featured artworks from the graphic designer Takeo, who experiments with futuristic colors and contrasts used to impact viewers. We also got to see an ethereal illustration that aims to represent indigenous communities by the Fine Art undergraduate student Kitty Roberts. Moreover, Arisha, the singer-songwriter, performed a beautiful piece that explored queer and neurodiverse identity. Finally, the abstract expressionism painter who goes by the artistic name Ghost Flower, exhibited multiple vivid paintings made as a way of knocking out the stigma around mental illnesses.

16.02.2024 – Anti-Valentines

Despite its title, this Creative Sparks was all about celebrating love towards the experiences that shape us as individuals. This event was programmed by our Young Creative, Amy Lever.

Maria Telnikoff, writer, performer, and alternative comedian who embraces her experience of growing up with a trans female parent, dazzled us with her multi-layered powerful performance. As another wonderful performance, we heard Jas Nisic play and sing their original music, which seamlessly combines jazz and folk. As well as performative pieces, we also had visual artworks such as the paintings exhibited by the artist Charisa Francis, whom uses vibrant colors as an abstract medium to portray emotions. Similarly and ultimately, Natalia Bo enchanted us with her romantic paintings that reminiscent of her home and upbringing in Argentina.

23.02.2024 – Care & Healing

For our final Creative Sparks of February 2024, programmed by our Young Creative, Krati Doshi, we got to experience poetry in various unique ways, shapes, and forms.

First, the multidisciplinary artist and Fine Art student Puikeih Lam, mixed written words with prints and paint within each artwork as a way of exploring her psyche. In a similar manner, Jozoway, guided us to a metaphorical world through the concepts of books, by creating publications that represent a tangible form of expression. Moreover, the Italian freelancer and co-founder of the collective JunkJunkie, Lucia Martinez, shed light on the importance of hearing creative voices through her artistic way of storytelling, which often creates reflection about how we could improve as a society. And last but not least, Florence Grieve, the Bristol based artist, read a touching self-written piece in which she explores the urgency of inclusion for disabled people.

We are happy to announce that applications for our new Volunteer and Work Experience Manager are now live!

As the Volunteer and Work Experience Manager, you will take the lead in recruiting and managing volunteers and work experience students for the FUSE International 2024 festival and wider Creative Youth activities. This role is a gateway to developing skills in project management, administration, and communications, offering you a unique chance to work closely with young creative individuals in a fast-paced and dynamic environment.

For all information regarding this role, a full job description and how to apply please click here.

About our Artists

Puikeih Lam

Puikeih Lam is a multidisciplinary artist based in South-East Buckinghamshire and South-West London. She is currently studying BA Fine Art at Kingston University.

Lam works with written word, paint and print to explore her internal experience of the physical body. She is interested in translating the inner experience and allowing audiences to identify with the work, which is described as a symptom and simultaneously a therapy.

Instagram –  @puikeihlam

Jozoway

Jozoway, (b. 2000, Belo Horizonte). His work explores the idea of the book. Jozoway’s practice is rooted in the movement of parkour, the poetics of Five Percenter Hip Hop, and the Wisdom of the ancient Daoists.

His reductive method and meditative approach push against the constraints of both the physical and poetic aspects of his materials. Using printed matter as a physical way of expression. Much of his success comes from his ability to express deep truths pulled from within, through writing, publishing, and book arts.

Instagram – @jozoway

Lucia Martinez

Lucia is an Italian freelance artist and performer. Her main interest as a performer is to devise original and collaborative multidisciplinary pieces finding storytelling alternatives to the spoken word. She is passionate about connecting local creatives and utilising art as a commentary on societal and contemporary issues, spreading awareness on untold stories.

Co-founder of the collective JunkJunkie, she has discovered the power of working for and within a community and taken on roles such as artist liaison or performance coordinator.

Instagram — @___luce

                                  @junkjunkiecollective

Florence Grieve

Florence Grieve is a Bristol based creative whose work explores themes of identity, disability and inclusion. Her poetry has been published in Mslexia, featured as an Acumen Young Poet and broadcast on BBC Radio Bristol. She is drawn to storytelling through the belief it has the power to change attitudes. This interest in authentic representation of disabled lives extends to a love of cinema. When she’s not writing, she is developing her film curation practice, centred on accessible film exhibition, through Film Hub South West’s Beyond Boundaries programme.

@florence_grieve

About our Artists

Maria Telnikoff

Maria Telnikoff (she/they) is a writer, performer and alternative comedian. Creator of five star show  “My Dad Wears A Dress” (Nottingham Playhouse, Vagina Museum, Camden People’s Theatre and Underbelly, Edinburgh) about her experience of growing up with a trans female parent, she is excited to bring an excerpt of her new show “All The Men Are Going To Hate Me” to Creative Sparks.

It is also touring to Riverside Studio’s Bitesize Festival, Leicester Comedy Festival and Brighton Fringe. The show is about one woman’s attempt to write The Great (Female) Novel of the 21st Century. Part stand-up, part poetry, part interpretive dance, it’s an exploration of love, sex and literature. Maria is also co-host of alt comedy night Soft Play Area and a graduate of SOHO Theatre Comedy Labs Plus.

Instagram – @mariatelnikoff21

Jas Nisic

Jas Nisic (they/them) is a multi-award nominated Theatre-Maker and Singer-Songwriter, nominated for two consecutive OffFest Awards and shortlisted for Best LGBTQA+ production at the Greater Manchester Fringe. Their work has been supported by Queer Superbia Arts Fund and LGBT Foundation. They trained at the Royal Academy of Music in Musical Theatre.

Jas has been described as a “Mancunian Lily Allen’’ with relatable original music in a jazzy/folky style, Jas has been featured at Stockport Pride and BBC Radio Manchester, and was recently commissioned by HOME Manchester to write a song in response to the film “Red Shoes”.

Instagram – @jazzbyjas

Charisa Francis

Charisa is a creative – artist and actor with a background in musical theatre. In short, she is passionate about all the arts!

She began painting therapeutically focusing on self-discovery and understanding the world around her. Drawing inspiration from artists like Bansky and Kara Walker, Charisa brings the art of storytelling to her work. She uses her creativity to illustrate her play on common sayings, in a style she calls “abstract-literal”. Charisa is now exploring deeper messages through digital art.

Her abstract approach and use of vibrant colours (symbolising emotions) creates a visual world on canvas for inner thoughts and feelings.

Instagram – @charisa_x

Natalia Bo

I am an Argentinian visual artist. I studied Arts and Set Design at the Fine Arts University, National University of La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina. I dedicated myself to murals and acrylic on canvas paintings. All my work is related to the flora and fauna from Latin America, my hometown, friends and family.

I moved to England in 2019 with the aim of growing and expanding my art. I had the opportunity to exhibit back home in Buenos Aires, La Plata, Barcelona, and here in the UK, Bristol and Bath. I love to work inspired by what is around me and learn what comes with it.

Instagram – @natbo_

Be sure to visit our the Creative Sparks event page to secure your tickets!

Our final Creative Sparks event is coming up this Friday, make sure to come along and see what else we have in store!

– 23 February 2024 (CARE & HEALING)

About our Artists

Takeo

My name is Takeo and I am a graphic designer based in London. The main goal I aim to recreate within my work is feeling. I am intrigued how we all as humans can feel so strongly about something but find it hard to verbally describe those feelings, but could point at a picture that relates to us in that moment. I aim to visually recreate those indescribable feelings to make people go “ oh, I feel that, that makes sense!”.

Website: www.t4k30.cargo.site

Instagram: @t4k30__

Kitty Roberts

Kitty Roberts is a BA Fine Art student born in the West Midlands, working across a variety of disciplines and materials, particularly in painting, drawing, fibre art and installations. She is currently exploring feelings of nostalgia and immersion, fantasy visual development and indigenous community representation.

Though she is working towards a degree, she has begun to critique the privatising nature of artistic language at higher education level, and how using these teachings at career level could create a disconnect between ‘the public’ and ‘public art’.

Website: www.thisiskit.cargo.site

Instagram: @katoncanvas

Arisha

Arisha (they/them) is a singer-songwriter and cabaret artist based in Manchester. Their work is heavily inspired by nature and they often use natural imagery to explore the complexities of queer and neurodiverse experiences of the world. They are passionate about making their performance spaces accessible to all and making work that has a positive social impact.

Recent Credits include: Local Artist Spotlight for “Santa Must Die” by Archipelago Arts, Manchester Jazz Festival’s “Soundcheck 2023” programme and “Arisha’s OK Cabaret: An Operatic Extravaganza” which was nominated for Best LGBTQ+ Performance by Queer Lit UK and Off Fest 2023.

Instagram: @arisha.jan

Ghost Flower

Emily Gray, artistically known as Ghost Flower, is a London-based abstract expressionist painter. Her style merges surrealism with action painting, expressing emotions through dynamic brushwork. Her art, rooted in childhood, evolved as an unconscious form of therapy, blending psychology with raw emotional expression.

With an Art and Design Extended Diploma and a background in art therapy, Emily views creation as a therapeutic journey. She advocates for art as a coping mechanism and a means of exploring the unconscious mind. Through her work, Emily aims to destigmatize mental illness, promoting art as a liberating, judgment-free form of expression, accessible to all.

Website: www.ghostflower.co.uk

Instagram: @ghostflower.creations

Be sure to visit our the Creative Sparks event page to secure your tickets!

We have more upcoming talent being showcased at our Creative Sparks events every Friday this month, make sure to come along and see what else we have in store!

– 16 February 2024 (ANTI-VALENTINES)

– 23 February 2024 (CARE & HEALING)