Yesterday we saw the culmination of the fourth Umbro Industries with the staging of a ‘Dragon’s Den’ style final at Dale Street, which resulted in an unprecedented three projects gaining funding to develop and progress their projects. Up for grabs was funding to the sound of £10,000, awarded quarterly to support local creatives in realising their finest ideas.

Competition to get to the final was intense, with plenty of entries putting forward plans across a broad spectrum of arts in the Greater Manchester community.
Four ideas were chosen from those put forward and invited to present their ideas to a panel of well-known locals from the creative scene, there to decide using their expertise how to best allocate the grant. The proposals that emerged successful were Krysko and Kashiwagi, Streets Above and TOURIST magazine.

Krysko and Kashiwagi were awarded £6,500, which will go towards an exciting event they are staging which will mix music and art together. The duo are set to perform in the Whitworth Art Gallery on the 2nd October, combining wind-up gramophones and the latest DJ technology to create a musical accompaniment to the Gallery’s exhibitions. The Umbro Industries grant will help get more people from the community involved in the performances, as well as with the production of an album of the commissioned music.

A £3,000 grant will help Streets Above produce a pilot drama webisode centered around the lives of locals in a free-running group. They are then hoping to build on this by getting others involved with additional content across different media platforms such as blogs and events.

Last but not least, TOURIST magazine have been awarded £500 which the panel specified should go towards producing a business plan to track its future direction, from an online platform for art, music, fashion and literature, into the future.

All four finalists impressed the panel with their ambitious ideas, and they’ll be hoping for more of the same from the next round of Umbro Industries. You can upload your ideas through the Umbro Industries website now, with the next final being held in November. For more pictures from our latest final check out our special Flickr group, and if you’d like any more information on the project, feel free to contact us on industries@umbro.com.

After plenty of submissions, and much deliberation from our team of panelists, we’ve decided on the four finalists for the Summer round of Umbro Industries. These four creative ideas will now present their cases to the panel at next Monday’s final, before the most impressive walks away with the £10,000 prize to get their idea up and running.

Choosing the best from the latest round of applicants was a tough job, because of the amount of entries and the qualities of the ideas, but we think there’s some great ideas going forward to next week’s final. If you’ve been unlucky this time around, or haven’t had chance to apply for Umbro Industries yet, you can apply for the next round now by checking out the Umbro Industries website and uploading your idea.

For an idea of what the judges are looking for, here’s a quick glimpse at the four ideas that have made it to the final this time around:

Krysko & Kashiwagi

Well-respected Manchester DJ Krysko and contemporary artist Naomi Kashiwagi are looking to team up with the Whitworth Art Gallery to mix DJing, music, art and architecture. Giving people the chance to bring galleries to life through music, they also hope to produce an album featuring all of the commissioned artists.

Streets Above

Focusing on the world of parkour, Streets Above is a multimedia project that explores the lives of those involved in this world. Released as a HD-drama series, motion comic, blog-series, docu-drama, gig nights and a mobile website, Streets Above would also host a series of events around Manchester with the money if they are successful.

Tourist Magazine

An ever evolving platform for art, music, fashion, literature, Tourist Magazine seeks to shed new light on artists otherwise ignored. As part of this project, they want to launch a series of events and exhibitions at The Soup Kitchen to encourage underground art in Manchester. They also want to accompany this with a series of printed zines and a photographic series.

A Night On The Tiles

A collaborative group of Manchester-based spoken word artists, Penultimate are aiming to create new performance pieces that blend spoken word, theatre, hip-hop, music and video on a show based around Scrabble entitled A Night On The Tiles. Developing an already existing show, they aim to make it bigger and better before taking the show on a national tour.

We’ll be sure to let you know the winners as soon as we can after next week’s final – make sure you’re following Umbro Industries on Twitter for the most up to date news.

We’ve still got a couple of weeks to go until the new football season starts, but before that, another important date is approaching fast: this Friday is your final chance to enter the Umbro Industries Summer instalment. What that means is that, if you’ve got a great idea for a project here in Greater Manchester, but you don’t have the funds to get it started, you’ve only got until the end of this week to be in with a chance of winning a £10,000 helping hand.

So what should you do if you want to enter? It’s pretty simple – just head over to the Umbro Industries website, and submit your ideas for consideration. The best ideas will then be chosen to present to our team of panelists at a special final event, with the winners then being awarded a share of the £10,000 kitty. It’s a simple, effective way for creative minds in Greater Manchester to get their hands on vital funding.

For this latest instalment, we’re very excited to welcome along two special guest panelists to help judge the entrants. Hip hop artist and Contact Theatre’s Artistic Director Baba Israel and Rachel Gasper, the new Executive Director of the Royal Exchange Theatre, have kindly agreed to join the panel for the Summer Umbro Industries. They’ll join the likes of expert photographer Kevin Cummins, head of Deconstruction Records Mike Pickering and Manchester City’s marketing expert David Pullan in picking out the finest entrants to receive the funding this time around.

So far, Umbro Industries has funded a host of interesting ideas, including a massively successful stage play, a series of limited editon record releases, the reopening of a street art gallery and a reggae-themed tea party. If you want to see your idea joining the ranks of Umbro Industries winners, head over to the website now and get your idea uploaded before Friday’s deadline!

We know that the football in South Africa might be a bit of a distraction at the moment, but we’ve also got one eye on next season as well – and the next opportunity for us to give away £10,000! It’s time for Umbro Industries to kick into gear again, as we look for the best ideas from you creative types in Greater Manchester. The Summer edition of our seasonal bursary is open for applications now, and you’ve got until July 30th to upload your ideas to our website.

Umbro Industries offers a helping hand to anyone with a great idea who’s looking for a financial boost to get the ball rolling. It’s open to anyone who lives or works in Greater Manchester, young or old, whatever your background. All you need to do is upload your idea to the Umbro Industries website, where you can also vote for your favourites. We’ll then pick a shortlist of submissions who will present their ideas to our team of expert panelists. They’ll then decide who gets the £10,000 prize.

It really couldn’t be simpler. We’ve had a real variety of winners – youthful music collectives, tough talking theatre and a reggae-themed tea party are just some of the six ideas to have been successful so far. So if you think you’ve got an idea that fits the bill, get over to the website and get your ideas in!

The latest Umbro Industries final was held last weekend, with two Manchester-based creatives walking away with a combined £10,000 in investment for their ideas – Rocksteady Tea Party and The New Mancunian. We spoke to both winners at Saturday’s Spring Umbro Industries final before and after they knew they’d been successful, here’s what they had to say…

Karen Gabay, Rocksteady Tea Party, who won £7,500

What’s the idea behind Rocksteady Tea Party?

‘My idea is to have a tea party in a great setting in Greater Manchester, and the backdrop to it will be this great music from the 1950s and 1960s, which has had a big modern influence: rocksteady, jazz, reggae and bluebeat. The idea is that we’ll get the older generation down to the event to teach everyone the dances, because every type of Jamaican music came with its own dance, so it’ll be quite fun to bring these different groups together in this setting.’

What is is about this type of music that you’re so passionate about?

‘My dad was one of the DJs who used to play this type of music on the soundsystems, so I’ve grown up with it and I’ve got a lot of it in my own record collection. Also, whenever you go to these type of parties, there’s always children up late along with the adults, and there’s this great atmosphere. A lot of students here in Manchester are into this type of music as well now, so I just think it’ll make a great backdrop to a party.’

It’s not the type of music that you immediately associate with Manchester, but doesn’t it have a long history here?

‘Yep, it’s always been here. Millie Stone, who sang My Boy Lollipop, used to own a record shop here in Manchester, and I remember her coming to the Town Hall to show people how to do the Rocksteady dance. A lot of people who are older will remember going out to these dances. It’s a real piece of community history as well, as you get people talking about their memories and experiences. I’ve worked as an archivist, and I’ve got footage of these old events that I want to turn into a film that we’ll screen at the event.’

How did you hear about Umbro Industries, and why did you decide to apply?

‘I heard it about through a friend who had also applied, and I thought that as Umbro had quite a cool image they’d be a great group of people to join up with. Also, it’s quite hard to get funding normally for ideas that involve film, so I thought this was a great opportunity for my idea.’

We also spoke to Karen after she was announced as a winner, here’s what she had to say…

How does it feel to have won?

‘It’s a great feeling, I have had this idea for some time and so to be able to realise it is most definitely a good thing. I feel really privileged to get the thumbs up from the judges.’

Were you optimistic of success?

‘It wasn’t sure as there were some great ideas put forward in this round, but I did have some good comments on my page from people saying that they liked the idea and so I was hopeful that the panel would agree.’

Were you nervous presenting in front of the panel?

‘I was anxious about it as the panellists are all so established in their own right but once I got settled down, it was an enjoyable experience and the panel made me feel at ease. I was delighted that they didn’t ask me to do any dance demonstrations by the way!’

What’s the first thing you’re going to do with the money?

‘I am going to start my research straight away so it will be buying materials so I can start on the pre-production process for the film. There’s people already interested in hosting the event, but the money would allow us to really make them special, more of an event than simply a club night.’

Dan Parrott, The New Mancunian, who won £2,500 to go towards his idea…

What’s The New Mancunian all about?

There isn’t really a platform for emerging bands and Manchester music in general on TV anymore. It’s something that I really enjoy doing, so the general idea is to be a voice for Manchester acts and bands, and to present them to the outside world. We basically want to have a very simple website, that’s presented like a three-page spread in a magazine, where you’ve got music news and things like that, but most importantly you’ve got video of the bands that you can watch. It’d all be shot with great production values, unlike a lot of music video that you see on the internet, which will hopefully make it stand out. It’s going to be a shop window for Manchester bands, so that whatever happens to them next, they’ll have this amazing bit of footage that they can take with them, really early on in their career.’

Why did you decide to apply to Umbro Industries?

‘It’s something that I’m really passionate about, but it’s not cheap, and I don’t have the money to get it off the ground, so it’d be great to have that initial boost to get it off the ground. Also, we want to make the website look great and to launch it with a bit of a bang, so again the money would provide that.

Speaking to Dan afterwards, he had this to say…

How does it feel to have won?

‘It’s fantastic, the first thing I’ll do is to get on with development, get everything down on paper and work towards getting things moving. I’m going to get in touch with people I know who can pass on advice so I can build the best possible site, and then get on with filling it with great content.’

Would you say that Umbro Industries is a good thing for Manchester?

‘It’s quite nerve-wracking, but it’s helped to get some really great projects off the ground. With other sources of funding, there’s plenty of hoops to jump through, but with Umbro Industries it’s all about the strength of your idea and the person presenting it, which makes it much more approachable.’

If you think you’ve got what it takes to impress the Umbro Industries judges, get over to the website and submit your idea. You could be in with the chance of winning up to £10,000 to fund your creations!

Gearing up for the chance to win £10,000 to fund their creative ideas, four of Manchester’s finest will be heading down to Umbro’s design studio this Saturday. They’ll then have to pitch their ideas to a panel of experts, who will decide which of the finalists will receieve the prize money. So who has made it into this final round? Which of the many ideas submitted for the Spring Umbro Industries have been chosen to battle it out? Here’s a quick guide to the four that will be staking a claim on Saturday…

The New Mancunian

A project aiming to produce a weekly online music magazine showcasing the best Mancunian music, The New Mancunian is a project developed by the brains behind local record label Love & Disaster. The aim of the site would be to provide both established and upcoming bands from around Manchester with a platform to showcase their talents, and give local music fans a hub where they can find event listings and an online community.

Rocksteady Tea Party

Aiming to celebrate the legacy of reggae, dancehall and rocksteady music in and around Manchester, the Rocksteady Tea Party would involve the filming of a short documentary featuring archive footage and modern interviews. The film would then be screened at an event aiming to bring together different generations of music fans with a tea party, dancing and DJs.

Freestyle

Freestyle is a cinematic look at the Manchester freestyle football scene. With their documentary, the Freestyle team are aiming to explore the community and the characters that inhabit the world of street football. Manchester is a real home for the freestyle scene, and the team behind the documentary aim to showcase the city as well as the skills on display.

Gemma Montgomery

With the aim of inspiring a new generation of musical talent in Manchester, Gemma’s idea is to set up a series of workshops in schools to teach kids about the music business. The workshops would introduce all aspects of the music world, such as gig promotion, DJing and production, with the aim of hosting an event organised by the workshops at the end of the project.

So, that’s the four ideas that will be pitching their proposals this Saturday. If you think you’ve got an idea that’d be perfect for Umbro Industries, then why not submit it for the next round? It’s a really easy process, and could result in you getting £10,000 to fund your project! Head over to the Umbro Industries website to sign up and submit your idea.

Having won £3,500 in the Winter Umbro Industries competition, Manchester-based theatre company Fink On are taking to the stage this week. They’re performing Crying In The Chapel, a play about the Strangeways prison riots of 1990, at the Contact Theatre here in Manchester, funded in part by the money Umbro Industries have provided. Ahead of the first performance, we caught up with Fink On’s Nick Clarke (pictured above right with fellow members of the theatre group) to chat about the play, its place in Manchester’s social history, and why they applied for Umbro Industries. Here’s what he had to say…

How did Fink On come together?

“We were established in 1998, and we did stuff in Band On The Wall, Music Box, Green Room, putting theatre on in music venues, and trying to reach out to people through that, which was quite a new thing. And then we came across the chance to do Crying In The Chapel, and we realised that it was going to be a big thing for us. Even compared to things we’d done beforehand and afterwards, this is still the most exciting piece of theatre we’ve worked on.

What is it about this play that makes it so important?

“The main thing that made us want to do Crying In The Chapel was that we realised that the prisoners on the roof of Strangeways didn’t have a voice. All the papers at the time were just printing unconfirmed facts and rumours as headlines. The play comes from their point of view, so to this day it’s the only place where the prisoners are given a voice. That’s why I think it’s so exciting.”

What does the story involve?

“It’s about a group of human beings that are put under extreme circumstances, their human rights are invaded, and how they try to combat that. It was never planned, that’s what is so interesting about these events, is that it was very much an ad hoc thing. What it’s mainly about is the right to protest, the prison system and its failings, and how the public look at prisoners.”

Would you agree that protesting is a part of Manchester’s history?

“Absolutely. It was a thing of the time as well. If you look at twenty years ago, you had things like the poll tax, and the Criminal Justice Act, which used people going to raves as a springboard for closing down the ability to have a gathering of people without a licence and all that. So we’ve lost that right to protest now. These people in prisons have committed crimes, but they still should have the right to be able to protest about their conditions.”

Why do you think it’s still relevent to a modern audience?

“Well, I think the only thing that rivals the Strangeways riots in recent Mancunian history is the bomb, so it’s definitely still relevant as a piece of social history. It’s not just about learning about what happened though, this is an exciting piece of theatre that lets the audience experience it in a dynamic way.”

Why did you decide to apply for Umbro Industries?

“I came across a flyer for Umbro Industries, and I had a look online at the panelists. I thought that the likes of Mike Pickering and Kevin Cummins are all from that time when the riots took place, so I thought that it’d be a story that they’d relate to. I also knew that, if I got to stand in front of the panel and speak to them about it, they’d understand it and how important it was. The right to party and the right to protest is something they’d understand.”

And are you glad that you applied?

“Absolutely, Umbro Industries is a tremendous opportunity for creative people in Greater Manchester to put their ideas front of some of the best creative forces in the city. To get their feedback and their backing as well, that gives your ideas a great level of validation.”

Fink On have also produced a video trailer for the play, which you can check out here:

Crying In The Chapel is being performed at Contact Theatre in Manchester from Monday April 26th to Saturday May 8th. For more information check out the Contact website.

For the Spring Umbro Industries, we should be able to announce the four finalists very shortly, with the final taking place this forthcoming Saturday.

With the latest Umbro Industries going strong, with plenty of great submissions so far, we thought it’d be a great time to look at some of the work that our previous winners have already got up and running thanks to our help. Same Teens, one of the winners of the Autumn Umbro Industries, recently launched the latest copy of their XOX Magazine, which was funded by the bursary we provided. To celebrate the launch, the Same Teens team were DJing at Common in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, so some of us here at Umbro went down to say hello and take a couple of pictures. If you’re interested in checking out the magazine they’ve produced, you can pick it up all over Manchester, in select venues around the world, or you can read it on the web here. They’re hosting a party on Easter Sunday here in Manchester as well, which promises to be a rowdy affair, for more details on which bands are playing and exactly what they’re up to, take a look here.

Another one of our Umbro Industries winners have also been getting their ideas in gear after receiving their funding from us. Fink On Theatre, who won £3,500 in the Winter Umbro Industries to go towards their play, Crying In The Chapel, are getting ready for their first rehearsals. The play, which is an inside account of the infamous Strangeways prison riots of 1990, is being staged at Manchester’s Contact Theatre between Monday April 26th and Saturday May 8th. If you’re interested in finding out more about the play or buying tickets, take a look here.

The final of the Winter Umbro Industries was held at Umbro’s design studio here in Manchester yesterday, and we’re delighted to announce that Upper Space Gallery and Fink On Theatre’s Crying In The Chapel have been chosen as the winners. The two projects, whittled down from over 80 entries and a final shortlist of four, will now receive the funding they need to bring their ideas to life – £7,200 for Upper Space and £3,500 for Crying In The Chapel.

So what will this money be used for? And how does it feel to win? We spoke to both winners before and after the announcement to get the inside story of their ideas.

Upper Space

Barney Francis of Upper Space Gallery is a previous Umbro Industries finalist, having been selected for the shortlist in the Autumn edition. Refining and refocusing their ideas this time around, Upper Space were looking to reopen their exhibition space showcasing the best street art from around the world. “Last time, we were maybe not as confident about the idea, but now we’re really excited about what we want to do,” Barney explained. “We’ve found a venue that’d be perfect for what we want to achieve, it’s going to be more accessible, and really orientated towards helping people to collaborate.

“Our submission last time was more of a one-off project, whereas this time it’s all about sustainability for a long-term exhibition space. We’ve got the infastructure and all the contacts in place, so we want to put them into action. We’re looking for funding for 12 months, plus we want to put on a special event to launch the new space and to celebrate our return to Manchester.”

Being involved in Umbro Industries on two occasions, Upper Space are well placed to see the impact it can have on Manchester’s creative community. “It’s amazing to see all these ideas coming together in one place,” he admitted. “It’s a bit strange to be going up against your friends, because we know so many other people that are applying for the Umbro Industries, but then everyone has been so lovely. It shows just how many ideas there are around Manchester.

“The effect that winning Umbro Industries would have on us would be massive. It’d give us the opportunity to get set up and be self-sufficient as a business. It’ll mean the constant worry we had before about raising money would be gone. We’ve got some cracking stuff that we get going straight away, so we can’t wait to get started.”

Speaking to Barney again after the winners were revealed, it was clear how much the decision meant to Upper Space. “We’re absolutely chuffed!” he said. “It hasn’t really sunk in yet, but I’m sure when it does we’ll realise just how big this is. It’s so nice to know that the support is there and the fact that the money is there is amazing. We’re going to give it our best shot, and make Upper Space as good as it can be. The pressure isn’t off now, it just means that the pressure is just about making the new gallery as good as it can be, and we can’t wait to get started.”

Crying In The Chapel

Submitted by local theatre production company Fink On, Crying On The Chapel is a play about the infamous Strangeways prison riots which took place twenty years ago. Fink On’s proposal was to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the events by staging the play at Contact Theatre, with the Umbro Industries funding allowing them to stage workshops around the performances and to offer free theatre tickets to young audiences.

“Crying In The Chapel is an inside account of the Strangeways prison riots, based on prison diaries from before and after the riots, and loads of other stuff, which helped us to paint a bigger picture,” explained Nick Clarke of Fink On Theatre. “We did two studio performances in 2000 to mark the tenth anniversary of the riots, but at the time we didn’t really have the resources at our disposal to do it justice. Now, we’ve been able to develop a lot of the ideas, we’ve been through the training and the script has been developed so it’s better now than its ever been before.”

Speaking after the winers were announced, Nick was appreciative not just for the money that Umbro Industries will provide, but the wider impact Umbro’s involvement could achieve. “This will make a massive difference to us,” he admitted. “Not just for the financial impact, which is massive – but for the status that being involved with a brand like Umbro will give us. It gives us a credibility with the young audience that we’re hoping to reach out to.

“We’ve applied to so many trusts and organisations, and Umbro are the first to really show an interest in this way. Hopefully having them on board will encourage other people to get involved as well. We’ve taken a bit leap of faith with this project ourselves, so for someone else to do it as well is terrific.”

It’s clear that both Crying In The Chapel and Upper Space are worthy winners, and we’re sure there’s plenty of other creative ideas around Manchester that could benefit from Umbro Industries. If you’ve got an idea that you think would work, then applications for the Spring Umbro Industries are open now. The deadline for the Spring section is April 7th, so head over to the website now to get your ideas in the running for the £10,000 prize

Slightly later than originally expected, Umbro can announce the four ideas that have made it through to the final of the Winter Umbro Industries competition. The people behind these four ideas will now present their ideas to a panel of industry experts this Sunday, February 21st, with the best ideas winning all or part of the £10,000 prize. It’s a huge opportunity for the ideas involved, with those successful on Sunday getting advice and mentoring from the panel as well as financial backing.

Here’s the ideas that have made it to the final, plus a quick look at what they’re hoping to do:

Papergirl Manchester

Bringing an idea that was born in Berlin to the UK for the first time, Papergirl is inspired by the iconic image of American paper boys delivering newspapers. Instead of papers however, Papergirl will be delivering works of art to random people, bringing art to the public in a highly unusual and exciting way. They aim to make this a regular event around Manchester, and also hope to stage an exhibition and a party.

DiscRebel Ltd

Digital downloads are a massive part of the creative industry, but DiscRebel is looking to bridge the gap between the digital and physical worlds through download cards. They’re aiming to provide a service to people such as musical artists, who could sell cards with pre-loaded digital download cards to fans at gigs – that’s just one of the ways that their service could help creative people get their ideas across.

Crying In The Chapel

Produced by Fink On Theatre, a Manchester-based production company, Crying In The Chapel is an original piece of theatre that tells the inside story of the Strangeways prison riots of 1990. If they’re successful at Umbro Industries, they’re hoping to perform the play at Contact Theatre to commemorate the twentieth anniverary of the events.

Upper Space Gallery – The Second Coming

Opened in 2008, Upper Space was a gallery dedicated to showcasing and nurturing the finest street art talent from both Manchester and around the world, until it was unfortunately forced to close later the same year. An unsuccessful finalist in the Autumn Umbro Industries, Upper Space have now returned, more determined and more focused, with a plan to reopen a gallery within Manchester’s Northern Quarter and re-establish themselves as one of the most popular creative spaces in the city.

We’re sure you’ll agree that all four finalists would be worthy winners, but it’s now up to the panel to decide who will get to spend that £10,000 on their ideas.

If you applied for Umbro Industries, but haven’t made it to the final, this isn’t the end of the road. Umbro Industries is an ongoing, long-term project, dedicated to helping Greater Manchester’s creative characters, and you’re welcome to take another look at your ideas and reapply for the Spring Umbro Industries. Entry for that round is open now, with the deadline for submissions falling on April 7th. Why not take a look at the proposals from our finalists for some tips on how to get your ideas noticed?