Commissions

Brave. Bold. Brilliant. 

We commission new and innovative work from the UK and through our wider global networks for our Festivals. We support the growth of creative ideas and are committed to art innovation in a public space.

We encourage and support artists to experiment with new approaches, practices and tools, with a focus on environmental sustainability, innovation, diversity, social relevance and reform.  

Martin Green and Emma Rice Keli A work in progress Hull Truck Theatre Studio (16)

Martin Green: KELI

A raw, live performance of Martin Green's audio drama KELI was presented at Hull Truck Theatre. Audiences were able to watch this performance whilst it was still in its development stages.

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Freedom Women Collective Tomorrow Exhibition Commission IWM Ferens Art Gallery (11)

Freedom Women Collective: Tomorrow

A beautiful collection of artwork, created by the Freedom Women Collective, a group of women telling their stories of displacement, displayed in Ferens Art Gallery throughout and beyond the festival.

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Surge: Beautiful Bones

A collection of cacophonous performances out on the city streets collided into a life-affirming grand finale in Queen Victoria Square, getting audiences on their feet and dancing.

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The Warren Nature Poems

Ten poems commissioned to be played at the Trinity Live Special nights for The Awakening 2023

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Broken Orchestra ReScore  Freedom Festival 2022 - Saturday 3rd September (5)

Broken Orchestra plus LIFE and Law Holt - RE:SCORE 2.0

After the success of RE:SCORE at The Awakening 2022, The Broken Orchestra brought back a second edition for Freedom Festival 2022.

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Stew & Sam

Stewart Baxter & Samatar Elmi: Landslides

A collaboration between Stewart Baxter (composer & visual artist) and Samatar Elmi (multi-awarded winning poet)

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Kaleider: Arch

An exploration of humans and materials, revealing the beauty and flaws of the global systems we imagine, build, and come to rely on. 

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Liminal Creative: Sirens

An unforgettable spectacle of audio-visual wonder which features the voices of female survivors of modern slavery

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Middle Child Theatre: There Should Be Unicorns

A hip hop, dance and theatre musical providing an inspiring outlook on the world of being oneself

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The Herd: Fast Food Megaverse

An audio journey which takes audiences around the city in pursuit of Mo – a fast food delivery driver who has become lost and trapped in an alternate universe.

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The Visionary Freedom Festival 2022 - Sunday 4th September-132

Jon Hicks & Matt Rudkin: The Visionary

Modern street theatre at its immersive best

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MOHAMMED

Mohammed Khaled: The Last Step Before Starting

Freedom Festival Arts Trust commissioned Mohammed Khaled to create a series of films which represented the experience of asylum seekers in Hull.

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Arjan Kruidhof: De Relaxerette

De Relaxerette will take you away for just a moment from this overflowing world.

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RE-Score Logo Square

Broken Orchestra plus Wai Wan, Katie Spencer and Low Hummer: Re:Score

'Breathing new life into old film'

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Wintercroft: Freedom Fox Masks

Freedom Festival Arts Trust were proud to commission Scarborough based artists Wintercroft to create a bespoke paper craft mask for the Awakening.

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Marco Barotti: Moss

A kinetic sound sculpture driven by air quality data generated by the World Air Quality Index.

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Freetown Media Centre: Freetown Films

Freedom Festival Arts Trust worked alongside Nova and KCOM with Freetown Media Centre and the British Council to commission the project, ‘Freetown Film Labs - Imagine a Perfect World’, a series of short films which strengthened Hull’s links with our partner city Freetown, in Sierra Leone.

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Freedom Festival 2021 - Saturday 21st August-33

Back to Ours: Dean Wilson Cinema Shack

In partnership with Back to Ours, we teamed up to bring the Dean Wilson Cinema Shack and DeanWorld Premiere Gala to Freedom Festival 2021.

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Freedom Festival 2021 - Friday 27th August-84

Broken Orchestra: Westcott Primary School Climate Change Podcast

Freedom Festival Arts Trust commissioned Broken Orchestra to create an audio podcast with Westcott Primary School which was shared for the first time at Hull Minster under the Gaia installation.

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Yara + Davina Arrivals & Departures (8)

Joe Hakim Podcasts

For Freedom Festival 2021, we commissioned Joe Hakim to create two podcasts as part of our online provision.

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Fruit Market Skeg Mural (2)

Skeg: Mural

During the 2021 Festival we commissioned local artist Skeg to paint a new mural in the Fruit Market.

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Play Chess Festival Trinity Square (7)

Ithaca: 5000 Miles

During the 2021 Freedom Festival, we partnered with Digital Democracies to commission Ithaca to exhibit 5000 Miles - a 360-degree audio experience.

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Yara + Davina Arrivals & Departures (1)

Yara and Devina: ARRIVALS+DEPARTURES

Taking the recognisable form of a station or airport arrivals and departures board, the artwork invites the public to share the names of people who have arrived and departed as a way to celebrate a birth or commemorate a death.

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Can't Sit Still theatre den

Can't Sit Still: Play-Along Plink and Boo

For Freedom Festival 2020 Play-Along Plink and Boo is a circus theatre performance made specifically for camera

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Roziena Salihu

Lucas De Man/Company New Heroes: Hopes and Fears Across the Water

Spoken word performers from the UK and the Netherlands collaborate around urgent themes in a post-COVID-19 world.

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Freedom Festival - A Portrait without Borders - 6th Sepetember 2020-16

Kaleider: A Portrait Without Borders

At a time when we were distanced from each other, A Portrait Without Borders brought us together.

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Freedom Festival - Downtown Kayoto - 13th July 2020-42

BBC Introducing: Freedom at Home

In the midst of lockdown, an exploration began to discover how local performers could be given their sound back.

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_Three generations

Lee Karen Stow: Something to Breathe

In the following zoom conversation recorded during lockdown three generations of Hiroshima women reflect on the 75th Anniversary of the first atomic bombings on people and why their call for a world without nuclear weapons is more urgent than ever.

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Luke Wright: Logan Dankworth

The third in Luke Wright’s trilogy of political verse plays looks at division, trust and privilege in the Brexit age.

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Broken Orchestra: Fairwinds and Following Seas

A new commission for Freedom Festival 2019, in partnership with Hull Yorkshire’s Maritime City and with support from ACE project funds and BBC Blue Room.

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Our Story

Seth Honnor, Kaleider: Pig (IN SITU Pilot Project)

Pig poses a playful dilemma in public space from the moment it is unveiled.

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Chris Haring, Liquid Loft: Foreign Tongues (IN SITU Pilot Project)

Foreign Tongues puts the act of speaking at the centre of a choreographic process and reflects the experience of contemporary urban life, its polyphony and multilingualism.

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Benjamin In Situ

Benjamin Vandewalle: Studio Cité (IN SITU Pilot Project)

In Studio Cité, Benjamin Vandewalle combines a series of installations, performances and interventions in a public place, square or venue in a city, transforming the urban location into an artistic fun fair, a playground for the human gaze and a space where social encounters, discussions and the exchange of ideas can take place.

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Twenty Eight

Richard Wiesner: Twenty-Eight (IN SITU Pilot Project)

Twenty-Eight is a site-specific installation representing the EU group of twenty-eight member states. Individual states are represented by translations of their national anthems, which are a central theme of the entire installation.

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Lucas De Man

Lucas De Man: In Search of Democracy 3.0 (IN SITU Pilot Project)

In this new project, Lucas De Man works together with local partners to make an investigation of current democracy and its challenges for the future. With a travelling visual and musical show, full of stories and dialogue, he shows how a young generation shapes tomorrow’s democracies.

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Anna Rispoli

Anna Rispoli: A Certain Value (IN SITU Pilot Project)

A certain value is a multi-disciplinary format conceived by Italian artist Anna Rispoli and curator Martina Angelotti. A series of workshops will be held in six European cities until the end of 2019 with a reading-performance tour in 2020.

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Without Walls

Without Walls: 18 New Shows Commissioned

As a partner we're working with Without Walls to support 18 companies to bring new outdoor work to fruition this year - touring to nine leading outdoor arts festivals across the country, including Freedom Festival 2019.

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Poda Poda Print Shop

Print Shop: RISE [UP]!

A collective expression of freedom and empowerment.

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Full Tilt Aerial: Substratum

Commissioned for Freedom Festival 2018 by Full Tilt Aerial.

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Arun Ghosh: Ambhas (PRS Foundation New Music Biennial 2019)

We are proud to be commissioning a brand new piece about Hull, which will be performed in both Hull and London as part of this year’s PRS Foundation New Music Biennial and have commissioned award-winning clarinettist and composer Arun Ghosh to create a brand-new piece of music, inspired by water and journeys to the city from across the sea.

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Sura Medura

An international artists residency centre based in Sri Lanka.

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Beyond Words Project

Book Works: Beyond Words

The Beyond Words project began in September 2016.

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