SPILL Festival + Think Tank

24/04/2025

🚨 We're hiring a Freelance Producer! 🚨

We are looking for a friendly, proactive, and meticulous Producer to join us part-time across summer and autumn.

You'll be working closely with the SPILL Team, programmed artists, community participants, and a range of creative practitioners to manage projects and bring the 2025 SPILL Festival to life.

📅 30 days between June and November 2025
💸 £6,000 (£200 per day)
📍 SPILL Think Tank, Ipswich
🕛 Application deadline: 19th May 2025

Find out more and apply here: https://www.spillfestival.com/work-with-us

📸 Alexander Ward, SPILL Festival 2023.

16/04/2025

📣 SPILL is looking for new Trustees!

We're seeking energetic and committed professionals to join our board, with up to two positions available.

SPILL brings memorable and out-of-the-ordinary art to Ipswich. With exciting new commissions and artist projects coming in 2025, we are entering an important phase in SPILL's story and would love for you to join us.

🗓️ Deadline for applications: Monday 30 June 2025
🔗 Trustee Information Pack and details on how to apply here:
https://www.spillfestival.com/work-with-us

📸 Alexander Ward. Monumental Constructions by Olivier Grossetête on Ipswich Cornhill, part of SPILL Festival 2023.

10/04/2025

📣 NEW THINK TANK SHOWS ON SALE

Join us this spring to explore Suffolk history through sound and film. Tickets are £5 each, or catch both for just £8! 👇

SHIFTING SOUNDSCAPES
Matthew Shenton
📅 Thu 22 May, 19:30
🎟 https://www.spillfestival.com/shifting-soundscapes

An experimental live music performance uncovering the history of Holbrook. What do its changing sounds reveal about class structures, national identity, and the growing environmental crisis?

The evening will include a Q&A session hosted by our Artistic Director, Robin Deacon.

IMMATERIAL TERRAIN AND OTHER FILMS
Emily Richardson + Jonathan P. Watts
📅 Thu 5 June, 19:30
🎟 https://www.spillfestival.com/immaterial-terrain

A series of powerful films exploring fragile Suffolk landscapes, and how they are changing at an uncertain time.

The evening will include a conversation with artist Jonathan P. Watts.

Don’t forget, the Think Tank bar is open before and after each performance ✨

03/04/2025

Workshops in action! 📸

Our Associate Artist, Isiah Jordan, has been leading free photography workshops for young photographers.

They’ve been exploring different cameras, experimenting with styles, and are now heading out to capture their first shots.

You can check out their photos at this year’s Festival, showcased in an outdoor exhibition in the centre of Ipswich.

It’s been a privilege to see their work develop! 🙌

26/03/2025

Taking place at the Think Tank in April 👇

If you're aged 14 - 18 and enjoy theatre, get involved!

Award-winning performance artist, Louise Orwin, is looking for a group of 14-18 year old girl, non-binary or femme presenting people to participate in a week long workshop for their exciting new show, Opera For A Dying World. Workshop details:

⭐️When: 7th - 11th April
⭐️Time: 10am - 4pm everyday (8pm on Friday)
⭐️ Where: Central Ipswich

Opera For A Dying World is not an Opera as you know it! It is loud, messy, opinionated and with a heady dose of pop-culture!

During the week we will look at stories, role models and narratives traditionally found in operas to ask how relevant they are today? We're particularly interested in exploring the roles of tragic heroines, looking at opera's obsession with their tragic (and sometimes) ridiculous deaths!

The week will be spent playing with these themes, devising material, and at the end of the week participants will get to perform in a 20 minute sharing of material, directed by Louise.

You don't need to be able to sing and you don't need previous theatre experience. You just need to be interested in theatre, meeting people and having a good time!

Fill in the form on the link:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScO-4RGeCyW2zBtNTeBftnOI41s3qlD2u6Qn73avBP3WFIsQg/viewform?usp=header

OR contact Cassie at [email protected] for more information.

25/03/2025

🚨 SPILL ARTIST RESIDENCIES ARE BACK 🚨

Our Think Tank space is hosting artist residencies again from 30 June - 25 July 2025!

If you’d like to spend a week researching and developing a new idea with us in Ipswich this summer, we’d love to hear from you.

Our SPILL residencies include:
💡 Mentoring and advice from SPILL staff
💻 Access to tech and equipment
💸 An honorarium and access fund
👏 The option to informally share ideas with an invited audience
💫 Marketing support

‘I’ve never had an opportunity like this before and it’s been an amazing experience - productive and thought-provoking in the best way’ Flo Reynolds, 2024 Residency

🗓️ Deadline: Monday 28 April.
If you’ve applied before you’re welcome to apply again!

Learn more about the residencies and apply now via the link in bio 🔗

📸 Natalie Whitney’s 2025 residency

20/03/2025

Do you spot any familiar faces? 📸

We've been reflecting on The ICA Project, which revisited the Ipswich Caribbean Association building through an exhibition last year.

New oral histories have been added to the ICA Memories website, preserving community stories while recognising the lasting impact of the building's absence.

Explore the archive here ➡ www.icamemories.co.uk

The ICA Project was funded by the Annie Tranmer Charitable Trust and Historic England's Everyday Heritage grant programme, celebrating working-class histories.

17/03/2025

Our 2025 Winter Residencies have wrapped! ❄

Over the past month, four artists have used technology to transform the Think Tank - pushing the limits of extended reality, crafting interactive sonic experiences, experimenting with AI’s role in theatre-making, and exploring how communities navigate death and grief.

A big thank you to Simone French, Emily May-Godden, James Murray-White and Natalie Whitney for spending an inspiring week with us!

Keep an eye out for when our next residencies launch, or sign up to our newsletter to be the first to know 👀

05/03/2025

From Ipswich to Austin! ✈ 🐰

Do you remember Megabunny + Friends? In 2023 we commissioned renowned artist Bruce Asbestos to create these playful inflatable sculptures, and now they're off to Texas for SXSW.

Take a look at Megabunny in Ipswich before they went international - let us know if you saw them!

📸: Alexander Ward.

03/03/2025

One of our artists-in-residence, Natalie Whitney, recently turned our Victorian gallery space into an immersive playground 🎹 🎵

Visitors became composers and co-created a musical score through interactive, sensory experiences ✨

P.S. great jumpers

18/02/2025

For SPILL Festival 2025, Australian artist Jodee Mundy is bringing her theatre performance, Personal, to Ipswich!

At five years old, Jodee got lost in Kmart—and that’s when she realised the rest of her family was Deaf.

In Personal, she explores her experience as the only hearing person in a Deaf family, through a captivating blend of performance, storytelling, multimedia and animation.

It is a smart, touching and deeply personal work looking at how we perceive one another, and we can’t wait to present it as part of SPILL Festival in October.

In addition to the performance, SPILL and Jodee will host:

🌍 Peer-to-peer artist development and mentoring sessions for Deaf and CODA (Child of Deaf Adults) artists based in the UK and Australia

🌍 A creative workshop for Deaf and CODA families in Ipswich, each delivered on a signing-first basis

Stay tuned for more announcements… 👀

Personal is supported by the British Council's Connections Through Culture programme

11/02/2025

Last few places remaining on SPILL + Isiah Jordan's free photography workshops for people aged 15 - 19! 📸

The workshops will start on Wednesday 19 February, and you can do as many or as few as you like.

Sign-up here: https://www.spillfestival.com/ipswich-as-you-see-it

Free photography workshops for young people! 📸

Our 2025 SPILL Associate, Isiah Jordan, is running socially engaged photography workshops for people aged 15 - 19 in Ipswich.

💡 What you’ll gain:
- Learn the fundamentals of film photography with no prior experience required
- Capture images that reflect your identity, experiences, and local community
- Engage in meaningful conversations about identity, belonging, and social issues
- Develop critical thinking and creativity through your photography

📖 Your work could be featured:�At the end of the workshops, you will have the chance to have your work published and showcased at SPILL Festival 2025.

👥 Who can join?
Anyone aged 15 - 19. Sign up here to secure your place: https://www.spillfestival.com/ipswich-as-you-see-it

Taster session details:�📅 19 February, 2 - 4pm
📍 SPILL Think Tank, High Street, Ipswich, IP1 3QH. We are located next to Ipswich Museum (you can't miss the scaffolding)

Supported by Norfolk & Norwich Festival’s bursary scheme and Eastern Angles Theatre Company’s Boost Bursary.

Photo credit: Isiah Jordan

06/02/2025

🚨ANNOUNCING OUR NEXT ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE 🚨

We are welcoming four incredible artists to SPILL this month! Each will be using their residency to develop bold, innovative work across performance, sound, digital tech, and storytelling

🎧 Natalie Whitney
Nat is an audio-visual participatory artist exploring creative technologies to craft interactive, sensory experiences. Their residency will develop a playable sonic work inspired by e-textiles, fairground games, and co-created musical scores

🎭 Simone French
A performance artist with over a decade of international practice, Simone will investigate the intersection of live performance and digital technologies. Their project, ‘Trainwreck’, is a satirical exploration of the gap between hype and reality in immersive experiences, looking at how AI can be used to shortcut traditional creative processes

🌍 Emily Godden
Emily is developing The Dunwich Charter, which seeks to build on The London Charter (Denard, 2012). It will offer a framework for immersive storytelling experiences in the cultural heritage sector, responding to the age of environmental crisis to create a guiding set of principles.

🎥 James Murray-White
A multi-media artist and documentary filmmaker who has lived and worked worldwide. He will be using his residency to explore changing practices around death, and our experiences of grieving

We are really excited to see their projects develop and will be updating you on their residencies, so watch this space!

Want to create artist opportunities in Ipswich? Join SPILL with Benefits to support emerging and established artists while receiving exclusive SPILL perks: https://www.spillfestival.com/spillwithbenefits

Image 1: Natalie Whitney
Image 2: Simone French, photographed by Darren Gill
Image 3: Emily Goddard
Image 4: James Murray-White

30/01/2025

Free photography workshops for young people! 📸

Our 2025 SPILL Associate, Isiah Jordan, is running socially engaged photography workshops for people aged 15 - 19 in Ipswich.

💡 What you’ll gain:
- Learn the fundamentals of film photography with no prior experience required
- Capture images that reflect your identity, experiences, and local community
- Engage in meaningful conversations about identity, belonging, and social issues
- Develop critical thinking and creativity through your photography

📖 Your work could be featured:�At the end of the workshops, you will have the chance to have your work published and showcased at SPILL Festival 2025.

👥 Who can join?
Anyone aged 15 - 19. Sign up here to secure your place: https://www.spillfestival.com/ipswich-as-you-see-it

Taster session details:�📅 19 February, 2 - 4pm
📍 SPILL Think Tank, High Street, Ipswich, IP1 3QH. We are located next to Ipswich Museum (you can't miss the scaffolding)

Supported by Norfolk & Norwich Festival’s bursary scheme and Eastern Angles Theatre Company’s Boost Bursary.

Photo credit: Isiah Jordan

28/01/2025

The Shefarers project lives on! 🌊

During SPILL Festival in 2023 we celebrated the 'Shefarers' of Ipswich, and there was a recent reunion in Hamburg

Shefarers of Ipswich was part of the Women of the Seven Seas project by artists secret agency geheimagentur, celebrating the women sailors, port workers, sailmakers, tugboat pilots, boat-builders, sea swimmers and more in our port town ⛵

Pictured are Cathy, Claudia, Sybille, and Esther

📸 Cathy Shelbourne

20/01/2025

Be the first to discover opportunities at SPILL, and stay in the loop as we get ready for our 2025 Festival, by joining our monthly newsletter! ✉

✨ Sign up here: https://bit.ly/spill-newsletter

16/01/2025

📣 EXCITING NEWS | SPILL Associate

We’re thrilled to announce that Isiah Jordan is our 2025 SPILL Associate!

Isiah is a UK-based photographer and youth worker, whose work explores identity, culture, and community 📸

His socially engaged approach looks at individual and group behaviour, and is shaped by the voices of the young people he collaborates with

He will be working with us to hold free photography workshops starting in February for young people in Ipswich, culminating in an exhibition during SPILL Festival 2025. We’re excited to share his progress!

💡 Interested? If you're aged 15 -19, sign up now for the workshops here and get the chance to showcase your work in the exhibition: https://bit.ly/Isiah-Jordan-Workshops

Isiah's Associateship is supported by Eastern Angles Theatre Company's Boost Bursary and Norfolk & Norwich Festival's bursary scheme.

Images: Isiah Jordan

06/01/2025

As we get ready for a busy 2025 Festival year, we want to thank you for all your support in 2024!

Here's what we did together last year...

📸 Commissioned The ICA Project exhibition and online archive, with photography by John Ferguson

✨ Partnered with Duckie to put on one of the biggest The Posh Club events in its history

🎬 Collaborated with Andy Field and Beckie Darlington, project partners and local children from across East Anglia to film MONSTERS, showing at SPILL in October

💃 Worked with choreographer Gillie Kleiman and 5 non-professional dancers to develop a new piece exploring contemporary dance

🎤 Held 10 Think Tank Live events across two seasons

🎨 Invited 8 artists to undertake residencies and explore their artistic practice with us

✍ Enjoyed our SPILL Associate Isabella Grieco's Sensory Storytelling and Writing Workshop, which was a creative space for new and emerging writers

🎙 Created a podcast with artists we have worked with and admire, exploring topics from Witch Hunts in East Anglia to fame on TikTok

👋 Hosted events from DJ evenings and comedy nights to Life Drawing Classes in our Think Tank venue

We couldn't have done it without you - here's to more creativity and collaboration in Ipswich in 2025! 🙌