new writing mini-commissions
two new writing mini-commissions for under-represented LGBTQIA+ artists
about the commissions
Luca Cockayne and Priyanka Jha were selected from an open call to create a short piece of writing in any genre that broadly explored the themes: What does it mean to be queer in Scotland in 2021? and/or What does the term Sanctuary mean to you?
The artists each received £500 plus a mentoring session with poet, author and drag artist, Dean Atta, and Robert Softley Gale, AD of Birds of Paradise Theatre Company, to create the piece - with further support from Sanctuary Co-director Annabel Cooper and team to create a short film, working with award-winning filmmaker and Sanctuary Associate Artist Ania Urbanowska.
meet the artists
Click below to find out more about the commissioned artists…
Priyanka Jha
(she/her)
I’m Priyanka. Playwright, Director, Indoor Plant Keeper.
I’m writing a monologue exploring how sanctuary intersects with the many hats one might wear as part of their identity. My character will be a disabled, bisexual South Asian woman in her early twenties. Sanctuary will be framed through the lens of female pleasure and the often elusive ability to orgasm.
Luke (Luca) Cockayne
(they/them)
Luke (Luca) Cockayne is an artist and art writer based in the Southside of Glasgow, Scotland. Their work is often about ideas of identity, mental health, language, relationships, and the processing of trauma through painting. As a writer and photographer they've contributed to The Skinny and Artificial Womb feminist arts zine. He’s a member of Generator Projects artist-run space, co-chair of The Queer Dot artist collective and has a studio space in Bridgeton where he paints. @luckycockaye.
about their work
Sanctuary as Orgasm; Orgasm as Fireworks
Written and directed by Priyanka Jha
Sanctuary explores intersecting identities through the lens of female pleasure and orgasm in this sensory and poetic autofiction-inspired short film by Sanctuary-commissioned writer Priyanka Jha.
Sanctuary as Orgasm; Orgasm as Fireworks received its digital world premiere as part of our Anniversary Showcase. Find out more about Priyanka’s film and how to request access: Sanctuary as Orgasm; Orgasm as Fireworks.
Take Me To A Place Of Safety
Written and directed by Luca Cockayne
Take Me To A Place Of Safety is a new play written and adapted for film by Luke ‘Luca’ Cockayne, based on their lived experience. The piece is told from the perspective of a young man as he travels in a police van under Section 136 of the Mental Health Act – which compels the police to take you to or keep you in a ‘place of safety’ if you’re experiencing a mental health crisis – and is about the contradictions of this legal duty.
Take Me To A Place Of Safety received its digital world premiere as part of our Anniversary Showcase.
Statement from the filmmaker, Luca Cockayne, August 2022: “Unfortunately this film will not be available for the time being, as it has been brought to my attention by a person of colour that the film unintentionally perpetrates harmful rhetoric about the safety of people of colour in police custody, particularly those experiencing mental health crises.
“Police brutality both in Scotland and internationally has proven their inability to de-escalate situations such as the one depicted in the film and I would like to take the time to better research and re-edit it so as not to cause further harm.”
about the mentors
Dean Atta
Dean Atta’s debut poetry collection, I Am Nobody's Nigger, was shortlisted for the Polari First Book Prize and his debut novel, The Black Flamingo, won the Stonewall Book Award. He was named as one of the most influential LGBT people in the UK by the Independent on Sunday. Dean’s work often deals with themes of gender, identity, race and growing up – and has appeared on BBC One, BBC Radio 4, BBC World Service, and Channel 4. Dean regularly performs across the UK, and internationally. He is a member of Malika's Poetry Kitchen. Dean is based in Glasgow, and is Co-director of the Scottish BAME Writers Network and a patron of LGBT+ History Month.
https://sites.google.com/site/deanatta/about
Robert Softley Gale
Robert Softley Gale is an actor, performer and disability rights activist. Robert is the Artistic Director of Birds of Paradise (BOP), Scotland’s touring theatre company that promotes the work of disabled artists in partnership with non-disabled artists and mainstream theatre venues and companies. His previous work includes My Left/Right Foot the Musical (Birds of Paradise), Girl X (Traverse Theatre, Citizens Theatre, Dundee Rep Theatre, Eden Court Theatre), If These Spasms Could Speak (Arches, toured to Brazil, Estonia, Ireland, India and USA), Wendy Hoose (Birds of Paradise) and Purposeless Movements (nominated for CATS Best Director award).