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Fri 1 May  |  10.30 - 11.30am

Online Panel Discussion  |  BSL interpreted  |  For all ages

Where are we now? 

Festival Director Kate Craddock and guest panel

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Join GIFT’s Festival Director, Kate Craddock, for a very warm welcome to the festival, and a whistle stop tour of the digital programme. Audiences will hear more about the process of moving GIFT into an online space, and how they can participate over the three days, with opportunities to ask questions and get familiar with the digital festival platforms. Kate will be joined by participating festival artists, to discuss emerging themes across the programme, including how the current global pandemic has impacted on their individual practice and livelihood.

Artist biographies

Kate Craddock

Kate is Founder and Festival Director of GIFT: an annual artist led festival celebrating contemporary theatre. Kate has combined working across academic roles and creative projects since 2005. She completed her practice led PhD in 2010 with the title: ‘Collaboration in Performance Practice: Trust, Longevity and Challenging Proximity’. Kate has worked as a Senior Lecturer at Leeds Beckett University and at Northumbria University, where she led on the industry focused MA Theatre and Performance programme. In September 2019 she became Research Associate at Newcastle University where is undertaking a research project exploring strategies for nurturing risk taking in audiences.

As a theatre maker, Kate has presented her performance work at a range of organisations across the UK and in multiple international festival contexts. 

Through GIFT, Kate presents a programme of contemporary theatre and performance that otherwise would not have a platform in North East England. Kate works closely with partners including BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art and Gateshead Council to deliver GIFT. 

Kate is a Trustee for ARC, Stockton Arts Centre and The Paper Birds Theatre Company. Kate was recipient of the Theatre Fellowship with the Clore Cultural Leadership Programme 2018/19, and undertook a secondment with HOME in Manchester. Kate is currently part of the British Council/Arts Council England GENERATE programme.

Ticket information and accessing events online


Due to Covid-19, this year's GIFT festival has been re-imagined online providing a digital space for us to come together and experience work and participate in virtual discussion events and workshop activities.

Tickets are limited and Pay What You Decide. You can make a donation to support this year’s festival here

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