Saboteur Awards 2019 Category Spotlight: Best Collaborative Work

It’s always wonderful when different artists and creators can come together to shape something new. This is why Sabotage loves to put a spotlight online collaborative work taking place throughout the year. You have until May 12th to vote for your favourite collaboration on our shortlist, and you can register your vote just here

Faces of Change, by Women Aloud NI

Women Aloud NI was founded by Jane Talbot, a writer, storyteller and coach, in 2016 and now has over 150 members.
Our aim is to raise the profile of the women’s writing scene in Northern Ireland. We do this by creating a supportive environment and by making opportunities for the diverse voices, of our membership, to be heard.
We are delighted to have been involved in this unique collaboration which marked the close of the successful Faces of Change: Votes for Women exhibition run in partnership with the National Portrait Gallery and National Trust NI.  Eleven members, representing the many genres within our membership, performed two readings on the themes of ‘Women and Power, voice and identity’. The event was held at the historic setting of Mount Stewart and it powerfully echoed the ethos of Lady Edith, Marchioness of Londonderry.
You can find out a little more about the project by clicking here.

Kevin Bateman Presents

Kevin Bateman is a surrealist poet from Co. Galway, Ireland. He hosts live poetry performances from places of natural beauty or spiritual significance, every few months since the summer of 2016. These unique spoken word events have been held in Ireland, Scotland, England and Malta and broadcast live on Periscope and YouTube, reaching worldwide audiences. By personal invitation only, he gathers together his writers in secret. His manifesto is that no writer nor the public are allowed to know who is reading before the event is broadcasted. He feels we live in a world where we know everything about everyone and there is no mystery or suspence. He wants them to dream at night and wonder who will be performing. It has been said his events are hiding inside the system.

Dino and the Diamonds

Poet/singer Konstandinos (Dino) Mahoney has been collaborating with musician/composer, Steve Halliwell, and backing singer/percussionist, Clare Harriot, on a project to make poetry more accessible through music, and to reach out to new audiences with the old bardic skills of creating magic through melody, performance and story telling.

Dino & Steve’s first songs explored a campy retro disco sound. In 2018 they decided to simplify, put away the synth and go acoustic – Dino & The Diamonds project was born.

It’s been an amazing year and Dino & the Diamonds have been getting a great response from gigs in pubs, clubs, art spaces. They are now making a CD and shooting a music video. Their aim is to reach new audiences in and outside London, and to perform at music & poetry festivals. Winning a Saboteur Award would certainly  help them on their way.

Man Up, by Restoke

Man up was a Collaborative project produced by Restoke that investigated masculinity and mental health. The lead writer on the project was Jamie Thrasivoulou who, along with Restoke, worked in collaboration with dance and movement artists, musicians, and visual artists to produce a piece of theatre incorporating spoken word, dance, music and visuals. The show was performed over four days in August 2018 to sellout audiences in a working men’s club in Stoke on Trent.

To find out more information about the Restoke organisation you can visit their website, and you can view the trailer for the Man Up project by clicking here.