Artist Support Hub: Getting Into Festivals

A panel discussion with industry experts about how to get into working at festivals, as well as how to get your work programmed at festivals! Featuring Migration Matters, DocFest, and the University of Sheffield (Off The Shelf, Festival of the Mind, Festival of Debate and others).

Panellists will include:

VANESSA TOULMIN
Vanessa is Director of City and Culture at the University of Sheffield, and has led festivals and culture and heritage projects across the city, delivering great things to people and communities citywide, and also putting the city on the map in ways it hadn’t been before.
She has also been a key member of the Sheffield Brand Partnership since its inception.

JOHN RWOTHOMACK
John is a Ugandan-born, London-trained and international writer, director and actor, and Deputy Chair on the board of directors for Arts on the Run which produces Migration Matters Festival. Over the years John has been commissioned by Sheffield Theatres and English Touring Theatre, and has been nominated a shortlisted for various awards including Alfred Fagan play of year, The Sit Up Award and recipient of the Peggy Ramsay Award. John is the founder & artistic director of Roots Mbili Theatre, founded in 2021, as well as critical acclaim, has produced work written by John that has toured the UK and gone on international tours across the world. John has worked closely with Sam Holland to run Migration Matters Festival since 2018.

MITA SURI
With a background in community cinema exhibition, Mita Suri started working in DocFest as a volunteer at the festival and is now the Film Programme Manager, supervising the delivery of the Film Programme for the festival. She runs the annual Youth Jury programme, is responsible for the external contacts including filmmakers, national film institutes and distributors, managing the submissions process and programming DocFest’s year-round activity outside of the festival.

The event will take place at the Workstation, 15 Paternoster Row, Sheffield S1 2BX. The venue has level access, a lift, and accessible toilets. There are gendered and non-gendered toilets available. Assistance dogs are welcome at the venue.

This event is part of Sheffield City Council’s Culture Activation Event series and is supported by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. You can read more about Sheffield’s strategy for Culture here. Sign up to Sheffield’s Culture Bulletin here.