Manchester-based writer, performance artist and producer Keisha Thompson has won the Theatre Maker category at the Arts Foundation Futures Awards.
The £10,000 prize is intended to help artists with their working and living costs; Keisha was selected by judges including Manchester International Festival director John McGrath and playwright Bryony Kimmings.
Shows created by writer and performer Thompson include Man on the Moon, about her relationship with her father, and a new play, The Bell Curves.
Keisha – a former producer and director at Manchester’s Contact Theatre – is the senior manager of children, young people and learning at Arts Council England, the chair of radical arts-funding body, Future’s Venture Foundation, a fellow of the MOBO x London Theatre Consortium Fellowship and a member of Greater Manchester Cultural and Heritage Group.
Earlier this year, Keisha launched her debut book, Lunar, which features her poetry and the script of Man on the Moon.
Thompson's work has been presented at high-profile venues and platforms such as Tate Modern, the Blue Dot Festival and the British Council Showcase in Edinburgh.