At the beginning of the month Qissa attended the Creative Coalition Festival, an annual festival that brings together the UK’s finest, most inspiring creators, innovators, leaders and emerging talent for four days of panel discussions and presentations. We were struck by the number of amazing speakers representing the very best of the UK culture scene, so we wanted to share a brief round-up of what we learnt at the festival.
1. Hollie McNish is a genius.
Ok, we did already know this, but we were reminded of it at the festival. Hollie McNish is an award-winning poet, writer and performer. She has an excellent stage presence and writes poetry that is really accessible, funny and thought-provoking. Topics included stealing tea bags from hotel rooms and forgiving friends.
2. Beatboxing is really hard!
The festival was hosted by Kimmy Beatbox who, as well as seamlessly transitioning between online events, also attempted to teach the audience how to beatbox. It is an incredible skill and certainly not one we’re mastering anytime soon.
3. ‘Culture can peak people’s interest and open the door to an idea.’
This is so important in our increasingly polarised society and something very close to our heart at Qissa, where we embrace art for storytelling. This quote came from Samir Patel, CEO of Comic Relief, who was discussing how taking his child to see Little Amal, the 12-foot puppet of a Syrian refugee, helped to spark a conversation within his family about the plight of refugees.
4. Luna Carmoon is one to watch.
Carmoon is a film director, writer and a huge talent. The festival screened her 2018 short ‘Nosebleed’ which was haunting and impactful and definitely worth watching. Her first feature film ‘Hoard’ is currently in post-production and stars Stranger Things’ Joseph Quinn.
5. AR/VR will receive even more investment in the coming months.
Cropping up in various panels, creatives from different industries discussed the use of AR and VR in their work and how it can be used to further engage an audience. An interesting example was Meet Your Neighbour, an art installation from Maison Foo that worked with artists with refugee/asylum status to combine audio storytelling, AR and visual arts to create miniature houses that told the artists’ stories.
So, there it is, our very brief round-up. We heard about many other fascinating projects and initiatives, far too many to list here, but the key takeaway was that cross-cultural collaboration is always a good idea. Hearing panellists from different industries bounce ideas off each other and discuss big topics in the creative industries was really inspiring. Collaboration leads to new ideas, initiatives and ways of thinking.
We’re very grateful to Creative UK for curating such a fantastic festival and we hope to attend again next year and hear from more exciting voices in the creative industries.
