News

If you are a freelance artist from Hull who has lost income because of the coronavirus outbreak, we are now making one-off grants of £200 available from the pot raised by our crowdfunding campaign.

Thanks to the kindness of the general public, we have now raised over £4,000, having smashed through our initial £2,000 target within 24 hours. We are now keeping it open and aim to raise £6,000, which will provide 20 artists with £200 each.

How to apply

Any artist from Hull, whether you work in theatre, dance, art, music or any other form, who has lost income through cancellations and shutdowns from venues, can ask for money, no questions asked. Simply email our artistic director, Paul Smith, to make a request.

We are offering grants on a first-come, first-served basis. GoFundMe lets us withdraw from the fund on a weekly basis, so we will let you know if we can help you and when to expect to receive the money.

Middle Child founding company member Ellen Brammar has joined the BBC Writersroom Northern Voices programme for 2020 – and we couldn’t be more proud!

Ellen, who wrote I Hate Alone in 2017, joins 16 other exceptional writers on a year-long development programme to write for television, with expert masterclasses, pitching opportunities and introductions to the industry.

“In January I was delighted to find out that I had a place on the BBC Writersroom Northern Voices programme, where I’d have the opportunity to write my first TV treatment and speculative script,” said Ellen.

“On the first day, I arrived in Salford feeling exhausted (blame the baby and a stupidly early train), was handed a BBC lanyard (I’m a sucker for a lanyard) and firmly told to banish all thoughts of any imposter syndrome – I absolutely, probably, definitely shouldn’t be here. And then we cracked on!

“I’m loving it so far, there’s a lot to learn and I head home with my head aching at the end of the day, but in the best possible way. I’ve always fancied myself writing for TV so I’m doing my best to grab this excellent opportunity with both hands and learn as much as I can from the course. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.”

Ellen’s writing credits in theatre include I Hate Alone (2017) with Middle Child, Walk in the Park (2019) with Back to Ours, Ten (2019) with Hull Truck Theatre and Ordinary People (2016) with Middle Child and Leeds Playhouse. She is currently writing a new show for Middle Child, to be produced in 2021.

Ellen was also longlisted for the BBC Comedy Script Room in 2016 with Cultured and shortlisted in the same year for the CBBC sketch show, Class Dismissed.

Over the past year, Ellen has mostly had a baby attached to her boob and is now excited to get back to writing and seeing what her sleep-deprived brain can create.