Introducing Firebird Promotions - Part Two: The "How"

Why Firebird?  Because it's about beauty and hope coming from places of darkness or difficulty, taking flight and soaring.  It's about regeneration and about the future.  

(And someone else had already done a Phoenix festival.  I actually spent months trying to find an alternative firebird based myth to name it after, until a close friend said "I don't see what's wrong with Firebird". Oh yeah. )

So after lots of thinking and planning, and a huge amount of advice from some amazing people, the plan became something like this...

1. Start finding groups that are doing this kind of work, and doing it well, to a standard that will work at festivals and events

2. Partner with these groups, and get their acts out at events

3. Build a network of people and organisations that work in this sector, and create opportunities for them to learn from each other, share experiences and move forward, both in person and online

4. Put on events that showcase the Firebird artists, and that celebrate this kind of work, starting with small events and working towards a festival.

We're starting small and growing gradually, but I was under no illusion that this was something I could or should attempt to achieve single handedly.  So I got a bit excited when I was in Cambodia having a skype chat with a good friend of mine from the festival world, and discovered that she had found herself immersed in this work as well, using theatre in some amazing work with refugees in Leeds.  To make a long story short, when I got home I asked her if she would think about taking on the challenge with me and luckily for me, after lots of talking and thinking, she decided to go for it, and so Sophia and I became Firebird Promotions.  

So with very humble beginnings (our first official meeting was in a tent at a festival), we are now an established Community Interest Company, with offices in the inspiring Co-Exist world of Hamilton House in Bristol, and on the verge of signing our first partnership agreement with some INCREDIBLE artists from Manchester, and looking to get them on stage this summer.  

It's really happening, and whilst we have days where it's terrifying and still a huge amount to learn, I have absolute faith that we are doing something that needs to be done, and that it will work.  So we'll keep you up to date with our news here, and will be posting videos and photos for your enjoyment on here too.  And if anyone wants to get in touch for whatever reason, we'd love to hear from you - our emails are on our website www.firebirdpromotions.org.

And we'll start doing shorter blog posts now, promise!