Lydia Murrãy – Producer
My job is to support the development and delivery of all IOU productions and our learning programme.
Artists make work in many different ways and need support in varying ways to help create work, I am able to adapt and change to best aid the projects being undertaken. If you are looking to do an internship, residency or project with IOU, I would be your first port of call.
How long have you been with IOU and what has been your highlight?
‘This could be a chance to point to a particular production you worked on, or particularly reflects your own interest/work as a creative.
I’m new to the IOU team but have been following the company for many years. I have partaken in many of the workshops and seen the work that IOU has produced over the years. I am Halifax born and bred so culture projects in the area have been a passion of mine and I can’t wait to get involved in producing these myself. I’m very excited about working with the IOU team and focusing on our emerging artist support programmes and new hostel based in Hebden Bridge to create arts-based residencies for all.’
Tell us about your professional journey before joining IOU?
‘I have studied various qualifications over the years in performing arts and teaching. Over the past 10 years I have worked as a lecturer, facilitator, director and producer working with all mediums of artistic work. My career has focused on supporting emerging theatre makers creating new performance work, as well as training actors to achieve various qualifications and aid them in industry.
As a creative practitioner my focus is within acting and stand-up comedy. I create comedy work of an autobiographical nature, that often involves performance lecture (and occasionally interpretive dance). I have experience of touring as a solo performer, as well as taking part in multiple collaborative projects nationally. My practices have changed over the years from predominately acting based projects, to choreography, stand-up comedy, photography and site-specific pieces; all of which have opened my eyes to the diversity of performance which I now embrace in the projects that I create and produce.‘
Tell us about any stand out productions or exhibits you’ve experienced that left their mark on you?
‘My most resent cultural experience involved spending a week with 15 other creatives exploring autobiographical performance. We experimented with different devising techniques and searched within ourselves to find personal stories to create performance from. The result of this, was not only meeting other amazing creatives in the field, but being able to create work that I’d never have imagined without being in this setting.
Residencies allow for an all-encompassing arts-based experience that I feel can be more absorbing than going to a one-off workshop. This is why I am so passionate about arts residencies and given that IOU are now able to offer these at their hostel in Hebden Bridge, I’m really looking forward to seeing these through to fruition.‘