The Visionary Arts Foundation has announced the shortlist for the annual Visionary Honours awards, taking place on Wednesday 18th March 2020 at the Ham Yard Hotel, Soho, hosted by leading British comic and disability rights advocate Sally Phillips and featuring a special guest performance by rising star singer-songwriter Marika Hackman.
The foundation focuses on making the arts, media and entertainment industries more inclusive and accessible in the UK. They helps to develop and launch the careers of young creatives from BAME, LGBTQ+, disabled and low income groups as well as anyone who feels their story is not being told in the mainstream. The Visionary Honours launched last year to ensure culture, media and entertainment that have inspired social change and debate are recognised, focusing on equality, diversity, inclusion, mental health, anti-social behaviour and environmental change.
Highlights include Booker prize winning author Bernardine Evaristo for Girl, Woman, Other, Marika Hackman’s vibrant and vital Any Human Friend, Greta Gerwig’s beautiful Little Women, and BBC1’s Seven Worlds, One Planet.
From books that are breaking down mental health stigmas, to television shows inspiring self-love and positivity, films and documentaries that ignite and inspire generations to come, to gender-bending, rip-roaring feminist theatre shows and songs that are brimming with hope and a social message to be heard, the Visionary Honours offer a vital space and platform for under-represented voices that are having a cultural impact in the UK today.
Spanning across culture, media and entertainment, the Visionary Honours is not just about rewarding talent, but primarily about highlighting the social impact their work has had and the inspiration it will give the next generation of creatives to make their own mark in the arts and communities beyond.
Founder of the awards and creator of the hit West End musical Thriller Live, Adrian Grant commented ‘The Visionary Arts Foundation believe that entertainment and media has the power to change the world and voices of all cultures, creed, gender, sexuality and ability should be heard, seen and respected. Through the Visionary Arts Foundation it is our goal to open doors and provide opportunities for young creatives and to inspire them to produce work that can influence positive social change.’
The winners will be chosen by a public vote which opens on Thursday 20th February and they will be announced at the Visionary Honours on Wednesday 18 March at Ham Yard Hotel.