Manchester Independents was born in 2020 from a joint commitment amongst cultural organisations and venues in Greater Manchester, to support the creative talent across the region during the pandemic, and to ensure that our independent artist sector could continue to thrive.
Two years later, Manchester Independents is back with a 2023 iteration. Placing artists at the centre of the decision-making, we recruit 6 Artist Advisors with each round of commissions to raise the voices of independent artists from a range of artforms.
As independent artists from across Greater Manchester, the Artist Advisor panel play an active role in making decisions around brand design, and artist commissions, as well as providing a crucial independent voice. Meet the 6 Artist Advisors of 2023!
Alapelode Oluwatobi, Musician
Alapelode Oluwatobi, who goes by the stage name “Micah Stalgic”, is a rising star in the Manchester music scene. He has gained recognition for his unique blend of hip-hop, R&B, and Trap music. Born and raised in Nigeria, Micah’s passion for music ignited at a young age, and he is always delighted to entertain the audience.
He is a member of the advisory board at Reform Radio and currently working with esteemed organisations such as SoundBank Centre, STEAMhouse, Midlands Art Centre and The Factory International. Micah is actively leaving a lasting impact on both music and environmental fronts.
Alice Christina-Corrigan, Actor and Theatre Maker
Alice Christina-Corrigan is a visually impaired actor and theatre maker based in Manchester. Her practice is focused on creatively and intuitively breaking the technological landscape of creative access in theatre by implementing new and exciting ways to approach creative access.
Her work incorporates dynamic sound scores, audio description language and creative captioning. Her first production, Past Life, debuted at Camden People’s Theatre and has been performed at the Barbican Centre and Bloomsbury Festival ahead of a national spring tour this summer and is currently developing her second play, Fade alongside The Lowry.
Emily Simpson, Artist and Curator
Emily Simpson is an artist and curator from Manchester. Their work looks at love, lols and loss, explored through textiles, writing, zines, events, print-making and curation. The work often questions how experiences (of loss, life, language) are shaped by the non-binary perspective and its political implications.
Rory Aaron, Spoken Word, Music and Theatre Performer
Born in Derby and based in Manchester, Rory moves between the worlds of poetry, music and theatre. A former teacher and youth worker, Rory was a part of the BBC New Creatives scheme in 2020, and is currently part of South Banks 2022 New Poets Collective.
Rory has published his first collection with Bearded Badger press, and a second with Verve Press. His first two person play ‘This Town’ debuted at Contact Theatre in March 2023.
Selina Nwulu, Writer
Selina Nwulu is a writer of Nigerian heritage. Her poetry and essays have been widely featured in a variety of journals, short films and anthologies, including the critically acclaimed anthology New Daughters of Africa.
She was Young Poet Laureate for London 2015-6, an award that showcases literary talent across the capital, and was shortlisted for the Brunel International African Poetry Prize 2019. She is also a 2021 Arts Award Finalist for Environmental Writing. Her debut full length collection, A Little Resurrection, also a Poetry Book Society recommendation, was published with Bloomsbury in 2022 and is an Irish Times book of the year.
Gemma Nash, Sound Artist
Gemma Nash is a Manchester based Sound Artist. She uses sound to reimagine stories about people, places and objects. Her pieces include spoken word narratives, drum and bass tracks and eerie and seductive soundscapes using voice, synthesisers, DAWs and hacked controllers.
As a disabled artist with cerebral palsy she is particularly interested in exploring the way people experience, access, make and think about music and sound art. Check out the full range of her works here.
