A Spalding-born actor has been given a national opportunity to investigate how rural communities preserve and develop their culture, after being awarded a Churchill Fellowship.
Ryan Gilmartin, who grew up in Spalding and attended Spalding Grammar School, will travel to Austria and Italy to study how communities build their own cultural events around local heritage. He plans to bring what he learns back to South Lincolnshire.
The Churchill Fellowship is described as a nationally competitive award for outstanding individuals whose research and ideas are intended to benefit communities across the UK. Gilmartin is one of only a handful of artists in the country to receive the award this year.
Research trip to Austria and Italy
The Fellowship will fund between four and eight weeks of learning from global experts. Gilmartin’s research will focus on the ways rural communities create cultural events that reflect their own histories and identity.
For South Lincolnshire, the project could provide new ideas for developing locally rooted events. The findings will be brought back to the area after his overseas research, although the source material does not specify when the trip will take place or which communities and organisations he will visit.
Show brings Lincolnshire history home
Gilmartin has already used Lincolnshire’s past as inspiration for his artistic work. His show Henry VIII Used to Hate Us explores the events after the Lincolnshire Rising of 1536, when people in the county rebelled against the king.
To mark the Fellowship, the production is being taken on tour. It will be staged at the historic Crowland Abbey on Wednesday, September 30, and at Flag Fen in Peterborough on Sunday, October 4.
The show combines live music, folklore and humour to tell the lesser-known story behind Henry VIII’s description of Lincolnshire as “the most brute and beastly” county.
Music for the production is provided by folk duo Dipper Malkin. The pair have played on soundtracks for The Hobbit and Netflix shows.
“I’ve spent years making work that puts Lincolnshire at the centre of the story, because I genuinely believe this county has one of the most unique and overlooked histories in England.”
“Now being awarded a Churchill Fellowship feels like national recognition of that and there’s no better way to celebrate than by bringing the show home for Lincolnshire Day.”
Gilmartin’s award and touring production connect his national research opportunity with a continuing focus on Lincolnshire’s history, including stories from the county’s past that he believes remain overlooked.