Production

Kriya Arts produces multi-award winning, high quality events for a variety of clients and in a wide range of mediums.

Since its inception, Kriya Arts has been at the forefront of producing multi-award winning, high-quality events for a variety of clients across a wide range of mediums. Our journey has seen us evolve and adapt, particularly in response to the challenges posed by the pandemic, which shifted our primary focus to exploring pilgrimage and listening as active tools for transformative change.

In 2021, we embarked on our most ambitious project to date—Listening to the Land Pilgrimage for Nature—in partnership with the No Planet B Initiative. This 500-mile pilgrimage across the UK involved 28 members of the public, with performances created along the route based on what we heard from the land and its people. This culminated in a powerful presentation in the Green Zone at COP26, featuring a hub at Kelburn Castle. Our collaborations with Wisdom Keepers and human rights lawyer Farhana Yamin brought indigenous leaders into the spotlight, resulting in significant advocacy such as the Earl of Glasgow’s speech in the House of Lords urging action on the climate crisis.

This pivotal experience led to the creation of the Strolling Mummers project in September 2022, where ten pilgrims, including Jolie Rose, walked 250 miles from Dragon Hill to Carn Les Boel. Their journey, Pilgrimage for Unity, explored themes of community and resilience, culminating in performances of an ancient mummers play. In 2023, the mummers ventured again, this time walking from Edinburgh to the Isle of Wight, performing Arthur’s Awakening: A Rousing Tale—a Pilgrimage for Re-Pair, which focused on healing our inner and outer worlds.

Our exploration of sacred and community-driven experiences continued with La Luna Coven, which started as a ticketed event during the Brighton Fringe Festival, offering a connection to nature and the lunar cycles. During the pandemic, it transitioned to a digital format, and in 2023, Boomtown Festival commissioned La Luna Coven to be the ‘end room’ of the festival’s Live Action Role Play game. In 2024, Jolie Rose and the coven walked to Boomtown, opening the festival with priestesses blessing the event’s participants, land, and intentions.

Before the pandemic, Kriya Arts was known for its innovative fringe theatre productions. In early 2020, we brought Kit Redstone’s Passengers to the Adelaide Fringe, commissioned by RCC Venue, following its success at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2019. Notable past productions include HIP, a one-woman show by Jolie Rose, which received critical acclaim and toured extensively in the UK and internationally in 2017. The show’s success paved the way for the interactive walking tour, HIP Trip of Brighton, and other innovative projects such as Backstage in Biscuit Land, which toured nationally in 2016 and internationally with the support of the British Council.

Awards and Recognitions

• 2018: Brighton Fringe Visual Arts Award in Association with HOUSE and AOH for Museum of Ordinary People.

• 2017: Total Theatre's Emerging Company Award at the Edinburgh Fringe for Backstage in Biscuit Land.

• 2016: Five and four-star reviews for Sisterhood at Pleasance Beneath.

• 2016: Edinburgh Fringe with Rhum and Clay’s TESTOSTERONE, part of the British Council Showcase, and won The Indies Best Theatre, Family, Musical or Dance Show at the Pleasance.

“You’re like a Swiss Army Knife of theatre”

- Jessica Edwards says of producer Jolie Rose

Specialties 

Problem solving. Budgeting. Fundraising. International Touring. Networking. Public speaking. Communications. Sticking to the integrity of an idea. Project managing. Bookings. Contracts. Marketing. Promoting. Branding. Designing. Web presence. Websites. Photography. Customer liaising. Inspiring. Team work. Creative writing. Obvious track avoiding. Quirky embracing. Coolness enhancing.

Portfolio

Chair of Education - Sark Chief Pleas Government (2003 to Present)

Conseiller - Sark Chief Pleas Government (2003 to Present)

Podcast Producer - Nonsense in the Chaos (2004 to Present)

Festival Director - La Beltane Festival (2003 to Present)

Co-Creator - Strolling Mummers (2022 to Present)

Co-Creator - Listening to the Land Pilgrimage for Nature (2021)

Producer - La Luna Coven - International Arts Ensemble (2019 to Present)

Co-Creator - Museum of Ordinary People - Pop-up Museum (2018 to 2022)

Producer - Passengers - International Theatre Co. (2019 to 2021)

Theatre Maker - Sisterhood - International Theatre Co. (2018 to 2019)

Producer - Rhum and Clay -  International Theatre Co. (2016 to 2019)

Theatre Maker - HIP -  International Theatre Co. (2015 to 2017)

Producer - Tangram Theatre Company - International Theatre Co. (2013 to 2016)

Producer - Touretteshero - International Theatre Co. (2014 to 2016)

Producer - Parrabbola - International Theatre Co.  (2013 to 2014)

Producer - Glass-Eye Theatre - International Theatre Co.  (2013)

Producer - We Flew Big - International Theatre Co. (2013) 

Producer - Crowtown Productions - UK Theatre Co. (2013) 

Curator & General Manager – Studio Wonderland & Grafik Warfare – Brighton Open Houses (2010-2011)

Producer/PA – Attic Theatre/Jonathan Kay – International Theatre Co. & Training Prog. (2005-2011)

Producer – 3rd Heaven Cabaret – Firegathering Festival (2005-2009)

Director & Producer – Suffolk Howlers – Touring Theatre Company (2005-13)

R&D Assistant – Zygo Arts – International Theatre Tour (2005)

Project Assistant – Zap Art - Brighton Festival’s Streets of Brighton (2003-2005)

Director – Shuffle Sister Ltd. – Theatre in Education (2002-2004)

Production Assistant – Nothing to See Here Productions – New Media Collective (2002-2010)

Director and Editor – Flow Magazine - Webzine (2001-2002)