Latest news with #awardwinning
BBC News
6 hours ago
- Business
- BBC News
Theatre in Dartford praised despite making heavy financial losses
An award-winning temporary theatre in Kent has been branded an "extraordinary success" by its director, despite racking up heavy Orchard West Theatre in Hythe Street, Dartford, posted a net loss of £755,999 for the last financial year, according to the Local Democracy Reporting was built as short-term replacement after its original venue was found to contain potentially dangerous reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) in September Borough Council leader Jeremy Kite also defended the venue, describing it as not operating in "ideal circumstances" but playing an important role in keeping the "spirit and culture" of the town's arts scene alive. In the theatre's annual report, discussed at a meeting of the council's overview and scrutiny committee on Tuesday, its director Tal Rosen wrote: "Despite the challenges of relocation, Orchard West has been an extraordinary success."We were proud to receive national recognition, winning Innovation of the Year at The Stage Awards 2025 and Temporary Structure of the Year at the Festival Supplier Awards."The report added that the theatre generated more than £5m for the local economy and welcomed more than 95,000 customers to 173 performances across 2024 and also employed 18 permanent staff, and had 65 "casual team members." But the report also showed Orchard West making a net loss of £755,999 – equivalent to 34% of its revenue - up from £353,423, equivalent to 14% in in overheads, such as the national minimum wage and other inflationary costs, were among the "financial challenges" blamed. In February Dartford council approved an additional £10m in funding to repair the original Orchard Theatre in Home Gardens, removing Raac and making it safe to use again. It is scheduled to reopen in May authority also gave £500,000 to Trafalgar Events, which runs the theatre, to ensure they could continue hosting at the time, Kite called the decision a "no-brainer" which would still be cheaper than an entire rebuild.
SBS Australia
14 hours ago
- Entertainment
- SBS Australia
Garma 2025
SBS's award winning companion podcast. Join host Yumi Stynes for Seen, a new SBS podcast about cultural creatives who have risen to excellence despite a role-model vacuum.
RNZ News
2 days ago
- RNZ News
Nelson photographer's 10-year Tuhoe project wins top award
Left: Children from the Teepa family drive the younger siblings home, after a swim in the Ōhinemataroa (Whakatane) River, in Ruatoki. Right; Tatsiana Chypsanava. Photo: Tatsiana Chypsanava A photograph is taken in an instant, but an award-winning long-term photography project can take ten years - as Tatsiana Chypsanava discovered. The Nelson-based photographer originally hails from Belarus and is a descendant of the Komi peoples of the Siberian North West Ural. She moved to New Zealand in 2008, and worked for Archives New Zealand - which is where she met representatives of Tuhoe, who were preparing for a settlement hearing. It led her to photograph the people living in Te Urewera, Tuhoe's ancestral land, on and off for a decade. That project, called Te Urewera - The Living Ancestor of Tuhoe People - netted her the Asia-Pacific and Oceania Long Term Projects Prize at this year's World Press Photo Awards. She joins Kathryn to talk about why she's drawn to telling the stories of indigenous people. The World Press Photo Exhibition is on in Auckland from 26 July - 24 August, and Wellington from 5 September - 5 October.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Murderbot' star Tamara Podemski calls for Canadian films, TV to get U.S. budgets
We frequently talk about celebrities who are triple threats, or those that go between projects in front of and behind the camera, but when it comes to award-winning talent, Tamara Podemski truly defines what it means to be a multi-disciplinary artist. She's acted on projects like Murderbot, Reservation Dogs and the film Four Sheets to the Wind. She's performed on Broadway as Maureen in Rent, in addition to having a successful music career and starting her own production company, Blackbird Productions. The Anishinaabe and Ashkenazi artist from Toronto is one of Canada's most impressive talents on her own, while also frequently collaborating with sisters Jennifer and Sarah, also award-winning talents in their own right. Whether watching her on screen, experiencing her work behind the camera or seeing her on a stage, Podemski has not just carved out a path for her own career, but has been a supportive force for other Canadian artists to thrive. Some of Podemski's earliest memories of performing include dressing up with her sisters and putting on shows for their family during Shabbat dinners at their grandparents' home. "It was the medicine we needed as children," Podemski told Yahoo Canada. "I would say that was the very clear understanding, that it was full of joy, it was connection." "So I try to always go back to that kind of beautiful feeling of artistic collaboration and the joy of what it is to make people laugh and put a smile on their face." In terms of understanding that this could be her career, Podemski went to a performing arts school in Toronto, Claude Watson School for the Arts, with rare publicly funded arts programs. Podemski was a dance major, but seeing her peers at school on TV and in professional theatre productions, a career as a performer didn't feel so out of reach. "I think the exposure and the accessibility to that world at a very young age, even if it was a crazy goal, I think I was just like, 'But they're doing it. Everyone's doing it. It's available,'" Podemski said. The first time Podemski was ever on TV was actually for a CBC segment with Bob McDonald. She was about nine years old and the segment was related to gymnastics and athletes training their bodies. Podemski's dad knew a producer on the show, who made the connection. But seeing herself on CBC, Podemski was able to get a glimpse of her desire to be on TV as a performer. While she's worked on productions in Canada and abroad, Podemski continues to be a significant supporter of the Canadian TV and film industry. "Jen and I keep this database of people that we love working with, some that are non-union, some that are coming up, some that need mentorship, some that are so super eager to say we'd love to work with you again," Podemski said. "The most exciting part is that as daunting as this business is, there's still a new generation of storytellers, filmmakers, creatives that want to be a part of it."Dance Me Outside — 1994 In the '90s Podemski starred alongside her sister, Jennifer, in Dance Me Outside, but had a bit of an interesting journey to get there, starting with answering an ad for a music video job she found at the back of Now magazine. "It was a dancing gig that I later realized, when I got the job, it was to be in a music video with no top. And I was 14 at the time. And I explained my father wouldn't approve of that. That's not how I want to break into the business," Podemski recalled. "The director was Bruce McDonald, and so he said, OK so it's not this video, but I have a feature film that I'm doing, Dance Me Outside, would you be interested in auditioning for that?" "I brought [Jennifer] to that first meeting with Bruce McDonald, because I was so scared to have like a dinner date with a director. And I've seen enough movies and heard enough stories that I was like, I shouldn't do this alone. So I brought my big sister, who ends up booking the lead role in the film." Podemski highlighted that having her sister by her side meant that she had a "safer" entry into a career in entertainment. "We all lived in little cabins and so there was nothing that I had to deal with that she wasn't supervising or protecting. She is a fiercely protective older sister," she said. "So I know that my entry into the professional world was probably a much safer ride than it would have been otherwise, had I not had my big sister with me through all of it." Four Sheets to the Wind — 2007 While Podemski has worked on many Canadian projects, she received significant recognition for a U.S. production, winning the Special Jury Prize for acting at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, for the film Four Sheets to the Wind, written and directed by Sterlin Harjo. Podemski described every part of creating Four Sheets to the Wind as a "surprise." She had just returned to Canada from New York, where she was playing Maureen in Rent on Broadway, and was ready to "recover" from performing that show for two years. But the transition back to TV and film wasn't easy. "Getting back into film and TV was brutal, and I could not book a job to save my life," Podemski shared. "And this was a random call, because usually they keep them separate. There's a few of us that can work back and forth, but it's very different communities and networks, and I didn't have any representation in the States, but Sterlin Harjo, he'd seen Dance Me Outside, ... but this was much later. He had gone through all of his casting for the lead role of Miri ... and hadn't found her. And then it was his friend Bird Runningwater, who is a celebrated Indigenous producer, [we] knew each other from my days in New York, in Rent. ... We became friends instantly and [Bird said], you should check out this actress up in Canada." Funnily enough, Podemski's character Miri was described in the script as having long hair down her back, but the actor had just gotten a short cut. So she did the self tape with a wig, which she later had to reveal to Harjo, but her hairstyle ended up working for the character as well. "I think the whole film cost $120,000, we're talking super low budget, and so for a film to even get noticed in that film festival world, the impact it had at Sundance, none of us could have prepared for," Podemski said. "There wasn't even money for a poster, like we had little postcards that we were handing out to people." "Then the craziest part was that I just left, right after I did my job, did all the press, ... I flew back and it was on my flight back that they called me to say I won the Special Jury Prize for acting. So that's how surprised we all were. ... But I feel like those surprises mean so much because we're used to the other surprises of like over-celebrating work, inflating our egos about this brilliant thing that we've made, and it goes over everyone's head and no one notices at all." But moving on from the high of the success of Four Sheets to the Wind, Podemski recognized that Canadian actors, compared to U.S. talents, are used to the "waves" in work. For four years after Sundance, when Podemski was living in Los Angeles, she didn't book a single acting job in the U.S. "There's just not enough," she said. "There's just not enough work to sustain us [in Canada], work that pays enough to also feed your family and pay rent if you're in any one of the metropolitan cities." "We know, from a very early age, entering the business, you need all your side hustles, ... whether it's teaching, whether it's bartending, whether it's writing, directing, that's when you start to diversify. So I think, because I came up in Canada that way, that's how we become the multi-hyphenates that we are, that prepares you for maybe when you do go to America and you get hit with the other dry spells that happen down there too. But they don't like to talk about them. I think I was better prepared to already have many other jobs in my pocket that I could do." Coroner — 2019 to 2022 By the time Podemski got to the TV show Coroner, starring Serinda Swan, the actor proved what she could do with a character that, on the surface, seemed to be quite generic. "I thought it was your basic supporting character, and especially when it's the assistant to the coroner, I was like, I'm just going to balance out all the death and drama," Podemski said. "I'm going to be the comic relief. Totally happy with that job description. It wasn't a heavy load." "But also, my little work that I had to do in Season 1 was, ... why would a Native woman go and work in the coroner's office in a city like Toronto? So I had to come up with a story, but I didn't need to tell anyone. I was just showing up, doing my little funny quirks here and there, satisfying that story, and I had a great time. It wasn't until Season 2 comes around and they say we're coming back, and I think they wanted her to be pregnant, and I had, in my personal life, dealt with pregnancy loss and and loss of a child, and I was like, can we hop on the phone so I can be sure that I'm OK with what the full story of the pregnancy is. ... I thought I was just going to be explaining what my boundaries are, ... and they were so supportive, but the conversation ended up going into, 'What are you thinking for Alison?'" As Podemski started sharing this backstory she developed for her own execution of the character, the actor recognized that she was received with "eagerness," "support" and "openness" to explore Alison further. "I get off the phone and I was like, I think they just gave me a voice in a way that I've never had as an actor," Podemski said. "And the bottle episode at the end, they brought in an Indigenous writer. It was populated with so many Native actors. It was proof of something that I dreamed was possible, of just having a little bit more agency, because I was feeling a little bit puppet-y by that point." Outer Range — 2022 to 2024 Starring alongside Josh Brolin, Podemski's character Deputy Sheriff Joy was a highlight of the Prime Video show Outer Range, including what should be considered the best episode in the whole series, where Joy goes back in time to the 1880s, living with the Shoshone people. Unfortunately, the show was cancelled after just two seasons. "Outer Range is one of the most heartbreaking realities, ... and I've had a lot of heartbreak in this industry," Podemski said. "That one hurts so much because the making of it was one of the biggest team efforts I've ever experienced." "For that episode alone, we had over 100 Indigenous artists, stunts people, background performers, costumers, producers. We had five Indigenous producers just for that episode, language speakers, it blew my mind what we were able to do, and the support, and that is very much Amazon. It's very much Charles Murray, our showrunner, our writer Randy Redroad." The experience was so positive and impactful for Podemski that she thought, if she never worked on another project again, that would OK because she had that Outer Range experience. "Especially in the Western genre, you made a lesbian, Native, badass cop be the hero. ... It was very powerful," Podemski said. "The show was maybe too much on the periphery or too weird, or it didn't get the recognition or celebration that I thought it deserved." "I feel like we brought everything to it, but sometimes that's not enough. You have to hit at the right moment when people are ready. It was still COVID, people wanted escapism, but not escape to nightmare-ism. We wanted answers at that time. It's so funny, because you look at the trends of what hits and what lands and Outer Range, I think at a different time, would have had a different cultural response." In terms of where Podemski thinks we stand in really putting the investment behind projects to make a show or film as rich as Outer Range in Canada, she highlighted that we have the talented crews, but the money is the difficult part. "You're looking around at a crew and you are seeing more people of colour than you have ever seen in your life, and it's not there for like a D.E.I. initiative. It's because they're the most qualified people to do the job. So that part is amazing," she said. "I think that the money part is a hard one. ... We're still talking about numbers that we don't see in Canada. We just don't see budgets like that." "I find sometimes, because we're so good in Canada at making a lot with so little, it then becomes its own proof that like, see you guys did it, you don't need [more resources]. And what we're actually trying to do is say, no we need more resources. We need more support. We should be able to shoot one episode in more than five days. Can you give us that option? There's so many ways for us to grow and resources do affect what ends up on the screen, but it also means, when so much energy is put into the cost reduction, it is absolutely taking the energy away from the performance and the execution of it all." Murderbot — 2025 Speaking of budget and resources to pull off a project with great detail ... the Apple TV+ show Murderbot just had its season finale. Podemski took on the intricate world of the hit sci-fi, thriller comedy alongside Alexander Skarsgård, Noma Dumezweni, David Dastmalchian and fellow Canadian Amanda Brugel. "I have a unique perspective, because I get to go back and forth. I still choose to live in Canada and raise my family here, and I love living here, but those American jobs are certainly what helped me to have my production company, feed into my production company, give me ... the time in between jobs that I'm not freaking out about how I'm paying the mortgage," Podemski said. "I am very concerned about how we as ... Canadian creatives, ... how all of us are meant to sustain this with the limited budgets, the limited resources. Even the big American shows that do come here, they want the stars from America, and then we get the smaller roles." "Murderbot, ... my team, when that job came in ... as each week progressed and I would report back to them like, 'Guys, it's amazing and everyone's really great!' ... It is a unicorn because anytime I get to be on an incredible show that pays well, at least fairly, and I get to sleep in my bed every night, those are very special opportunities. And I also think, yes, they like bringing maybe their big talent from the States, but they have to employ locals. And when they see our locals, ... it's always so celebrated, and that's what I hear most of all from the big American shows that come here. ... They love our talent, they love our crews."
The Independent
6 days ago
- General
- The Independent
Award-winning former AP photographer Jo Ann Steck is remembered for her wit and leadership
Award-winning photo journalist Jo Ann Steck — who broke barriers in male-dominated newsrooms by capturing some of the most notable moments in recent United States history — has died. She was 73. Steck died on July 11 after a yearslong battle with ovarian cancer, according to her former Associated Press colleague and longtime friend Dan Hansen. Steck's three-decade career spanning The Associated Press, The New York Times and the White House, took her all over the country and world — and thousands of miles away from where she was born in Hershey, Pennsylvania. She used her shrewd judgment and vision to lead teams of award-winning journalists to capture both profound joy and unspeakable tragedy alike, documenting natural disasters, the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, historic sporting events and more. But those who worked with Steck, often calling her 'Jodie,' remember her for her unique ability to lead. Steck worked for local outlets in Arizona, where she went to college at Arizona State University, before joining the AP in Los Angeles in 1980. Amy Sancetta remembers meeting Steck in 1987, when Steck led Sancetta and a small team of journalists to cover a plane crash in Detroit for the AP. Racing to the scene, Steck coordinated the team's efforts with walkie-talkies to swiftly deliver images of the heartbreaking event to the world. Despite the rush, Sancetta said, Steck never forgot to make each person feel valued. 'She saw a lot of really horrific stuff, but she found ways as a group to make us laugh and remind us of our humanity," Sancetta said. From then on, Steck became a mentor to Sancetta, who was still a relatively new employee and one of the very few women in the newsroom. Sancetta said her feelings towards Steck were not unique; Steck's bold humor, clear vision and unmistakable moxie made her a trailblazer for many young women breaking into the male-dominated field. 'As a young photographer, she found a way to make you feel like you belonged,' Sancetta said. 'She paved a path for an awful lot of us." Steck went on to work at The New York Times, The Santa Rosa Press Democrat and The Orange County Register, where she ushered in a new era of digital photography, before returning to the AP. To this day, her colleagues at the AP from that time recall admiringly how well she continued to cover the biggest events across the United States, such as the O.J. Simpson murder case and the Super Bowl. Later, Steck was the deputy director of photography at The Dallas Morning News, where she led a team of photographers who earned a Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography in 2004 for coverage of the invasion in Iraq. Cheryl Diaz Meyer, one of two photographers who took the photos that won the prize, said that Steck was exceptionally methodical and made sure that all photos were presented with nuance. 'You knew that once Jodie touched it, it was good,' Meyer said. Steck's work was recognized far beyond the newsroom. She served as the White House deputy director of photography under former President George W. Bush in his second term, from 2005 to 2009. 'She got to know everybody,' recalled Dan Hansen, a photographer who worked with Steck at both the AP and the White House. Hansen said Steck would remember the names of every single person she met, ranging from interns to White House cleaning staff to high-ranking members of Bush's administration. Hansen, who met Steck when the two were students at Arizona State University in 1976, said that Steck was like that the whole time he knew her. 'She would go into a room, and she would come out with five new friends,' he said. 'Because she was so funny, she was so charming — she just had that ability.' Steck retired in Port Orange, Florida, where she was a competitive pickleball player, according to an obituary provided by her family. She is survived by her partner, Susan Matthews, and her son. ___
