JENNY SEALEY MBE TO DELIVER CREATIVE KEYNOTE AT THE CHILDREN’S MEDIA CONFERENCE 2015
Skwigly
The Children’s Media Conference (CMC) is delighted to announce Jenny Sealey MBE as the Creative Keynote for this year’s event. Jenny joins an eclectic, high-profile collection of speakers, focussing on the central theme “All Change?”.
Jenny’s Creative Keynote takes place on Thursday 2 July, and will look at her personal and professional experiences working in the arts, the importance of foregrounding the Aesthetics of Access and the realities of arts funding restrictions. Jenny co-directed the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympic Games, and she will discuss the window that cultural moment provided for positive images of disability and how we can look to create more opportunities like that in children’s media. Her talk will also focus on the potential of the television and theatre worlds working in tandem to forge creative partnerships which foster more diverse narratives for young audiences.
Jenny has been Artistic Director of Graeae since 1997 and has pioneered a new theatrical language, coining the term the ‘Aesthetics of Access’; the creative integration of sign language, audio description, diverse physicality and different voices from the beginning of the artistic process. Her recent directing credits include ‘Blood Wedding’ which toured the UK earlier this year, ‘The Threepenny Opera’ (co-directed with Peter Rowe), the Ian Dury inspired musical ‘Reasons to be Cheerful’ and the acclaimed adaptation of Ted Hughes’ ‘The Iron Man’.
Jenny Sealy commented: “I am hugely honoured to be asked to speak at this year’s conference. I have a vested interest in ensuring all young people have access to high quality inclusive drama so I am looking forward to rousing a positive drive towards this shared goal.”
Greg Childs, Editorial Director of Children’s Media Conference said: “We are so excited to have Jenny as our Creative Keynote this year. The session is always one of the most inspiring and talked-about of the entire conference, and we are more than confident Jenny will give us ample food for thought as we set the collective industry agenda for the year ahead.”
Currently in its 12th year, the CMC is the premier event in the UK for supporting children’s media and hosts a global delegation of creatives, producers and distributors of kids’ content across all media. This year’s CMC has the theme of “All Change?”.