I would use the Dover Prize bursary to develop my work around HIV. I would like to develop a national and international network of collaborators with other artists and organisations supporting work around HIV. I would like to use the fund to take part in training to build my skills in facilitation of artwork for people living with HIV, as well as how to create community education arts programmes around HIV activism. I would also like to develop my existing relationships in this space, creating more work around HIV activism across the North East and the UK.
I would like to spend a month of paid time developing work for final production and a week developing a community engagement plan for the local Darlington community to engage with the artwork, as well as providing some workshops around the topic. I would like to create an accessibility pot for people based in the North East living with HIV, so that they can access the final production. I would also like to use some of the funding to create a collaborative film with another artist, as well as documentation of the final production.
For the final production, I would like to present a filmed performance, an exhibition of community work and research and development from the project. This final production would also include a live performance work. I would like this to be accessible to everyone living with HIV in the region.
This fund would allow me to develop my creative practice, building national and international collaboration opportunities. It would also tackle outdated stigmas around HIV, and create a voice for local North East communities living with HIV that is current to the current landscape of HIV in 2025.
I believe my work will enhance the profile of the arts in the region because of the diversity of work I would like to exhibit, from collaborative community facilitation, to film, performance and exhibition curation. One of the government’s key goals is for there to be no HIV transmissions in the UK by 2030, and this project could go a long way to aiding this in the North East. It will put the North East at the forefront of cultural production around HIV, and through the establishment of international collaborations, will direct attention to North East-based creatives. I am also adept at marketing campaigns, which will allow me to pull targeted markets that the Dover Prize would like to engage with Darlington into the orbit of my work.
I am a re-emerging dance artist with a passion for professional development and education. My main areas of interest of performance are looking at queerness, HIV and the Onnagata of Kabuki Theatre. Historically, I have performed in work by Lea Anderson, Melissa Rayne, Struan Leslie & Stephanie Schober and have reentering the dance industry after an 8-year dance career break where I was a Creative Lead across some of the UK’s biggest interior design brands. My main focus of my artistic work in the last year has been around the development of dance in the North East of England. I have set up a company called Dance Artists North East CIC (DANE) to help create opportunities for dancers based in the North East of England. With DANE, I have created 7 short films in the last year, helping to advertise two small local businesses and creating five short films for North Shields Cultural Quarter. Alongside this, I have been developing my skills as a dance teacher and facilitator in community settings, including teaching at Care to Dance CIC (care-experience children), at Dance City and North East Dance Project (community class programmes) and my residency at Helix Arts (creative community conversations and art workshops around HIV). I finished an artist residency at Helix Arts (North Shields, UK) in February 2025, where I worked on HIV awareness in the local community. The World AIDS Day event that we hosted on 1st December 2024 was attended by the local community and through social media, PR and the BBC was seen by around 50,000 people. This included an arts exhibition of work around HIV & AIDS from 1992 and community conversations, a live dance rehearsal and workshops.
Do you have a degree in visual or applied arts at undergraduate and/or post-graduate level? Please provide details. (200 words)
Yes, I have a 2:1 BA in Contemporary Dance from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and an MA in Performance Design and Practice from UAL: Central Saint Martins for which I achieved a Distinction.
Yes, I have a 2:1 BA in Contemporary Dance from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and an MA in Performance Design and Practice from UAL: Central Saint Martins for which I achieved a Distinction.
My company, Dance Artists North East CIC has been awarded grants through North Shields Cultural Quarter and Creative UK to develop our business and dance film works for the local community and local businesses.
Dance Artists North East is running a professional development programme for dance artists based in the North East. We are currently working on upskilling dancers through workshops on effective freelancing, creating choreography for film etc. and on contemporary dance technique and creative sessions. We’re doing this entirely self-funded with free space provided by Newcastle College in exchange for tutorial support for their dance degree students. These are all led by myself.
DANE was commissioned in 2024 to create five short dance films for North Shields Cultural Quarter, based on the rice history and culture of North Shields.
Yes, my World AIDS Day work with Helix Arts, National AIDS Trust and North Tyneside Council was featured in the Chronicle, including an interview with myself, and North Shields Cultural Quarters blog and events pages. World AIDS Day was also featured on the 1st December 2024 on BBC Look North.
https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/health/gallery/world-aids-day-arts-event-30492565
https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/helix-arts-national-aids-trust-30485386
I also was a regular contributor to publications including Vogue, Living Etc, and The Guardian during my time as an interior designer.
I was artist in residence at Helix Arts from July 2024 – February 2025. Here I completed community engagement talks and arts workshops around health stigma and HIV, curated a programme for World AIDS Day, as well as developing PR, marketing and social media collaborations with North Tyneside Council and National AIDS Trust.
Email: markwellarts@gmail.com
Address: 124 Chillingham Road, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE6 5BT, GB
Local Authority: Newcastle City Council
