Trinity Laban Conservatoire champion this year’s Innovation Award winners

For the award, final-year Trinity Laban (TL) students pitch artistic business projects to a panel of experts, and have the opportunity to win £3000 of funding and a tailored 10-month mentorship programme delivered by TL’s acclaimed alumni. 

This year the panel consisted of co-director at Independent Dance, Nikki Tomlinson, co-founder of Black Lives in Music and former head of professional development at the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, Roger Wilson, and TL principal Anthony Browne. 

The TL Innovation Award was launched in 2019 as part of a strategy to help emerging artists find their voice and navigate the challenges of the creative industries.

This year's Innovation Award winners and their projects are: 

• Myra Brownbridge – Brilliant Corners
• Laudine Dard – Alone, Together
• Emily Edwards – Musical Theatre Masterclasses
• Anna Nicholls – Developing Dance with HAC
• Back on The Map Project: Emma Greene and Sunniva Rørvik – The History of Dance of the African diaspora: A Festival for the young people of Deptford
• Tough Boys Disco: Sula Castle, Roseann Dendy and Daisy Hingorani-Short – Open Dancefloor

More information is available on the award winners on TL’s website. 

Browne said: ‘The panel and I were incredibly impressed by the creativity, ambition and scope shown by applicants across dance, music and musical theatre this year.

‘The Innovation Award is one of the many ways in which Trinity Laban are nurturing entrepreneurial and project management skills in early career artists and strengthening our connections with the wider industry.'

Wilson said: ‘This is an important platform for Trinity Laban students to push the envelope and grow as creators.  

‘These are tomorrow’s professionals, encouraged to create and realise their ideas with a significant level of support. The impressive scope of creative and innovative ideas assured me that we can look forward to seeing great things from Trinity Laban students.’

Previous award winners have included multicultural all-female dance collective Mass Hysteria, who have created work for V&A’s Friday Late Series, Tate Modern and The Place’s Resolution; James Layton who founded London-based recording and concert series Into the Ocean, showcasing experimental new music; producing artistic director Hayley Hugget, who set up Tilley Peacock Productions, creating shows and workshops for children with Special Educational Needs and Disability. 

Innovation Award co-founder Joe Townsend said: ‘The award gives graduates more than just money to realise a project, the mentoring is a two-way learning relationship that provides a safe space for mentors and graduates to bring ideas into action and to help shape the bigger picture of music and dance.’

To find out more about the Innovation Award, visit their webpage. 

www.trinitylaban.ac.uk/creative-innovation/tl-innovation-award-2021