kerrin tatman
creative producing
When not playing or writing music, I freelance as a creative producer for theatre shows, arts organisations, festivals and my own creative projects. Since 2015 I have raised over £500,000 in funding for North East of England projects and cultural organisations from bodies such as Arts Council England, Heritage Lottery, Community Fund and a variety of trusts and foundations.
My own funded projects and collaborations include...
Winner of The Journal Culture Award
'Best Newcomer' 2018
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR & CO-FOUNDER:
2017 - current
I am the Artistic Director of Moving Parts Arts CIO, an award-winning arts and community development organisation based in Newcastle upon Tyne. Through the focus of puppetry arts, we seek to improve the wellbeing of North East of England people and its visitors through facilitating unique creative experiences, meaningful participation opportunities and skills development programmes. Since 2017 we operated as a CLG with non-for-profit aims but in April 2021 we progressed to CIO charitable status.
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Our flagship output is Newcastle Puppetry Festival, which won The Journal Culture Award for ‘Best Newcomer’ in 2018. The significant programme of events takes place once every two years and includes performances and workshops for adults, children and families, as well as talks, training and networking events for professionals. We run bespoke community, education and career development projects in the city, such as our Puppet School, to bring creativity into the lives of all Newcastle residents. From 2022 onwards we will deliver larger scale community projects in between festival delivery, with funding secured for ‘Teeny Tiny Toon’ and ‘Wor Seahorse Spectacle’ over the coming months. The fourth instalment of Newcastle Puppetry Festival ran in April 2023.
Winner of a REYTA award for
'Best Small Tourism Event' 2015
CO-ARTISTIC DIRECTOR: 2017 - current
DIRECTOR'S ASSISTANT: 2014 - 2016
Founded by Anna Ingleby in 2005, Beverley Puppet Festival has recently delivered its tenth edition and attracts more than 10,000 people biennially. The event is the largest festival of British puppetry in the world, takes place over three days and presents a programme of shows, workshops and outdoor theatre for adults, children and families. The festival won 'Best Small Tourism Event' at the REYTA awards in 2015, and was nominated for 'Best Tourism Event' in 2017 and 2019. I joined the festival team in 2014 as the Director's Assistant and helped deliver the 2014 and 2016 festivals. I was made Co-Artistic Director in 2017 and produced the 2018, 2020 and 2022 festival editions alongside Anna and a small team.
"A display of marionettery like no other"
★★★★ The Wee Review on Cabaret of Curiosities
CO-ARTISTIC DIRECTOR: 2017 - current
Founded with my partner Matt Wood, at Tatwood Puppets we create touring visual theatre featuring puppetry and original music for adults and families. Following a summer festival tour in 2017 with scratch piece 'Apterous', we officially incorporated in 2018 to produce our two touring shows the Cabaret of Curiosities and Microbodyssey. The Cabaret of Curiosities is a contemporary vaudeville-inspired series of acts in a custom puppet booth, which can be performed indoors and outside. Microbodyssey is a medium-scale theatre show which uses shadow, large-scale puppetry and physical theatre to take audiences on a journey into the hidden world of microbes. In 2022 we produced The Squid & the Sea - an environment-themed outdoor show and walkabout piece featuring a 16-foot giant squid puppet made by Judith Hope. 2022 also saw the development of Cephalopod Puppet Making Workshops, where participants create their own octopus marionette to take home. Previous bookings include Nottingham Puppet Festival, Wilderness Festival, Shambala Festival, Centre for Life, Redcar Puppet Festival, Skipton Puppet Festival, NE1 and Alphabetti Theatre.
"My favourite theatre experience in a long time"
Audience feedback for Rum Punch
MUSICAL DIRECTOR & CO-FOUNDER: 2018 - current
Bristow & Tatman is a partnership between lyricist and songwriter Rosie Bristow and composer and musical director Kerrin Tatman. We have been writing music and staging theatre together since 2008. Just starting out we formed touring company 'NO SOUP!' Productions, which produced three original plays between 2008-2010 including runs at the Edinburgh Fringe and Camden Fringe. Jump forward to 2018 and we received Arts Council England funding to explore 'Rum Punch Circus Musical' - an original piece that merges folk, contemporary classical and traditional musical theatre. Following a sell out sharing at Alphabetti Theatre, the project went on pause during the pandemic but we are now revamping the musical and hope to bring our full vision to life.