OpenMind
Antwerp Mansion, Rusholme Grove, Rusholme,
Manchester
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OpenMind is the name of the event/performing arts/production company run by Ushiku "Indigo Angel" Crisafulli.
OpenMind project goals:
Here are the project goals for OpenMind in various areas.
Autism Workshops and the Autistic Organisation:
The OpenMind Collective features within its core team of volunteers/artists 3 people with high functioning autism, therefore it was a natural fit for us to work with the Autistic Organisation. The AO has begun with support from Mind Aberystwyth to set up local AO groups offering peer support all across the UK. OpenMind will be providing workshops, free entry to OpenMind events, performance, poetry and art exhibition opportunities to autistic people as part of our commitment the Autism Friendly Environment Charter, and the aspirations of the AO, and the needs of its service users.
For more information about the AO and the AFEC please visit the AO website:
http://www.autisticorganisation.org.uk/
LGBT community:
The OpenMind Collective features 4 LGBT people within its core team of volunteers/artists, and amongst us are members of VADA LGBT Theatre Company, Young Enigma LGBT writers group, Huddersfield LGBT Society, and alumni of LGBT Youth NorthWest. We have presented many LGBT centric events in the past, and with the creation of themed events from April 2013 onwards we will be holding LGBT centric events in the future – as well as taking part in the annual Pride Fringe activities.
Grim Ushiku Media:
Grim Ushiku Media (GUM) is our plan to create a huge multimedia platform for artists, musicians, actors, and project participants through the providing of free to use high quality video footage to enrich their portfolios, regular video and audio podcasts of OpenMind's plans and developments including announcements and video recorded project meetings, digital radio, promotional videos, audio and video recordings of new work, live audio and video streaming of events, album releases, high quality HD video streaming and digital downloads of events, competitions, and exclusive online content. This will enrich artists, musicians, actors, and project participants in the local area whilst also providing a global reach for our work and theirs via the internet. Recently one poem alone got 35 unique hits. If text can do this, imagine what we can do with the power of not just multimedia, but Grim Ushiku Media.
Live Events:
The premise of this event is an OpenMind for creative possibilities, and an OpenSpace to share them.
Each month we have a performance artist/poet(s)/band/musician(s)/comedian(s)/theatre practitioner(s)/dancer(s) etc sharing a new work with an informal Q+A online beforehand making familiarizing them with our audience. What was initially a theatre specific event has been transformed by the community it serves into a united artistic community.
As well as the main OpenMind artist slot we derive our name from, we also book roughly 3 or 4 artists each month in 15 - 30 minute guest performance slots in the second half, often styles outside of traditional theatre. For instance poets, bands, comedians, musicians, MCs, and dancers have and shall continue to work with us.
We are also known for our OpenSpace, a one hour OpenMic with a difference - some pieces don't even need a mic. If you're a dancer you dance, if you're a contortionist you contort... basically whatever your performance skill or talent is, if you want to share it you're given 5 minutes to do so. Many of our guest and headline acts wowed us with their skill at the OpenSpace before going on to perform in longer guest and headline slots, and our supportive circle of artists often appear on the OpenSpace even when they're not listed on the bill as part of our wider performance community within Manchester.
If you're a performer, writer, theatre practitioner, band, dancer, musician, singer, comedian, ventriloquist, breakdancer, beatboxer, MC, rapper, poet, circus performer or anything anywhere inbetween we're happy to give you a platform to perform.
