Our Platinum scheme has been supporting artists since 2004 providing them not only with a platform to present work in progress, but to develop individual learning plans, provide artist-led workshops and one to one mentoring from a practicing artist.

Earlier this year we selected six artists/companies to develop their practice as part of Platinum. We intend to select another 12 after the summer.

Please return to this page for the announcement of our next call out.

The current artists are:

Arzhang Luke Pezhman

I am a writer/director skilled in dramaturgy and dramatic structure. I work primarily as a playwright, though I have taken courses and written for film and radio. I am also a writing tutor for these different mediums and I have in many educational and non-educational institutions. My tutoring has taken me into primary and secondary schools, FE and HE institutions, as well as Pupil Referral Units. I have also worked with Graeae (physically disabled theatre company) as well as with young offenders and carers. I also work as a writing tutor for several different theatres; Birmingham REP, The Royal Court, Soho (London).

Companis (Sian Tonkin and Kaye Winwood)

Companis, meaning to ‘break bread with someone’ is a nomadic practice working between the interstices of artistic and curatorial practice. Companis develops participatory artworks and experiences to explore the exchanges that take place between artist and audience, and engage audiences in acts of social or relational participation; specifically exchanges involving gift-giving, gestural or transient acts such as eating, play and conversation. Companis produces bespoke and memorable dining experiences, immersing the diner in a fusion of performance, food and spectacle.

Running throughout Companis’ artistic programme is an ambition to interrogate definitions of ‘value’ within contemporary society, offering alternatives to monetary and economic values in the form of social, convivial or familial wealth.

Companis was formed in 2009 and consists of:

Siân Tonkin worked for Ikon Gallery and VIVID (2000 – 2006) and is on a break from her PhD at the London Consortium, University of London. Since 2007 she has worked independently as a curator/practitioner of SharedTable and Companis.

Kaye Winwood worked for arts organisations Ikon Gallery and VIVID (1998-2009), and as an independent curator/producer since 2003 with Capital Art Projects and Companis. Most recently Kaye coordinated an artist-led festival ‘The Event’, and works on MA Contemporary Curatorial Practice at BIAD, BCU.

Cody Lee Barbour

My name is Cody and I live in Birmingham. I studied Graphic Design at University of Brighton. I am currently struggling as an artist as I feel lost in my direction. I have always been creative and inspired by art and so followed it throughout my education. Since graduating I have found it hard to know where to focus my art and have found my confidence and creativity dwindling. I have spent the last few months trying to boost my confidence in the work I have been producing. I see this opportunity as a real chance to take a journey that can help enrich me and my art. As well as being an artist I also enjoy drinking milk, wearing peppermint coloured t-shirts, boiling eggs, walking outside, visiting the library, collecting images, taking photographs, eating apples, making each day be full and appreciating small elements that make a day special that others may not notice.

Jaskirt Dhaliwal

I am an award winning visual artist and photographer and I am also doing my PGCE and teaching photography at Sandwell College. My personal work consists of a lot of portraiture. I am concerned with people and their stories; I have a strong belief that everybody has a story to tell.

I would describe myself as a self-motivated, friendly, enthusiastic and hard working individual who thrives on new challenges. I have a huge enthusiasm and passion for visual media, and my achievements so far in all these mediums proves my ability and determination to succeed and to be highly innovative and creative.

Having travelled a lot through working as a photographer, I have been exposed to a vast array of places, people and communities. The recent artist residency I carried out in Morocco with Terre Sans Frontiere, is a great example of creating work about a city. However I would now like to concentrate on working in the West Midlands and producing an extensive body of work based around my city, Birmingham.

Leon Trimble

I am a VJ and video artist from Birmingham, England who likes to branch out into other areas with my art form. I perform at large music festivals and events in the main. I have also exhibited my experimental photography, short films, and video installations. I run an artistic space in Digbeth, Birmingham with my partner, Arlene Burnett and friend, Paul Newman called The Rea Garden, where we curate artistic residencies, and i am planning to erect a geodesic dome to research 360′ visuals. At the moment i feel a little lost in my artistic direction, whilst still tinkering with the technical side of my artistic abilities. I feel my work could be deeper, more professionally represented, and feel that I should be applying for more commissions and travelling with it a lot more.

Louie O’Grady

I am a composer and sound artist who graduated last year from the Royal Welsh College of music & Drama. Since graduating I have worked as one half of louie+jesse. louie+jesse is a Cardiff-based collective of two core members with varying collaborators. I was an active improviser in Cardiff, a frequent participant in the Rove series at Chapter Arts Centre where my focus was on using electronics, specifically the use of field recordings in a live context

Outside of the arts I enjoy reading Philosophy; I am interested in post structuralism, especially Deleuze & Guattari but try to keep up with more contemporary works. I try to read as much classical literature as I can, I’ve a specific interest in novels by Dostoyevsky. I’m a keen cyclist and my greatest feat so far has been a 5 day tour of Wales; from north (Bangor) to south (Cardiff).