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Create. Communicate. Tell stories.
The future of communication and creativity
With Sam McAlister, Armando Iannucci, Prentice Whitlow, Gareth Malone and Bonnie Greer.
In an era of AI, are the human traits of communication and creativity more important than ever? You are warmly invited to the School of Communication & Creativity at City, University of London, to hear from eclectic and influential panelists on this topic.
To celebrate creatives, thinkers and storytellers, the discussion will be followed by performances from students and the School's Creatives in Residence, with a drinks reception to introduce our friends and community to the UK’s only school of communication and creativity. This will be hosted by City's President Anthony Finkelstein, and the Dean of the School of Communication and Creativity, Professor Anna Whitelock.
The school will also be holding a community 'open house' on Wednesday 8th May in our unique 'Pool' space, a former swimming pool dating back to 1896 to which all are welcome. Join us for a tour of facitiies, performances, immersive sound demo and more. There is a seperate registration for this.
Speakers
Sam McAlister was the interviews producer on BBC 2’s flagship news programme Newsnight, securing head-to-head pieces with Silicon Valley CEOs, world leaders and Hollywood stars. Her book Scoops: Behind the Scenes of the BBC's Most Shocking Interviews, offers a backstage pass to some of these unforgettable moments.
Most notably Sam led negotiations for the ground-breaking interview with HRH Prince Andrew. This chapter from her memoir was optioned for a Netflix film ‘Scoop’. Sam is played by Billie Piper, with Gillian Anderson as Emily Maitlis and Rufus Sewell as Prince Andrew.
Armando Iannucci is a writer and broadcaster who has written, directed and produced numerous critically acclaimed films, television and radio comedy shows. His screenplay for the film 'In The Loop' was nominated for an Oscar at the Academy Awards. His iconic series for the BBC – 'The Thick of It' – was nominated for 13 BAFTA Awards, winning 5 during its four series run.
Armando is currently working on a new comedy for HBO entitled’ The Franchise’ with Sam Mendes, and will be making his debut as a playwright with ‘Pandemonium’ at London’s Soho Theatre, followed by the highly anticipated stage adaption of Stanley Kubrick’s ‘Dr Strangelove’. The play will open in London’s West End in autumn 2024.
Prentice Whitlow is a US-born British choreographer and digital producer working at the intersection of dance and interactive media. In 2019, Whitlow was awarded the Black British Theater Award for Best Dance Performance in a Dance Production. In 2020, Whitlow was named one of the 100 most influential people working in interactive media by the British Interactive Media Association. His performance credits include The Mark Morris Dance Group, Elisa Monte Dance, Phoenix Dance Theatre and BBC Film. As a choreographer, Whitlow has been commissioned by DIS Magazine for MoMA PS1, Lorry TV (DK) and Nike. As an interactive media developer, Whitlow has designed and produced mobile, web3, virtual reality and metaverse-oriented interactive experiences with game studio Dream Reality Interactive, run by former head of Playstation’s London Studio, Dave Ranyard.
Whitlow currently lives in London where he works across volumetric capture, motion capture and virtual production in his role as a Digital Human & Metaverse Producer at Dimension Studio, whose clientele include the NBA, Netflix and AppleTV+.
Gareth Malone OBE is a fellow of the Royal Academy of Music. He first appeared on TV in the three-part BAFTA award-winning series The Choir for BBC, along with three further series; The Choir: Boys Don’t Sing, The Choir: Unsung Town, and The Choir: Military Wives in 2011 and has had three number one records in the UK. His 2014 series The Big Performance won the Royal Television Society award for best children’s television and Gareth Goes to Glyndebourne won an International Emmy.
Most recently Gareth presented a 3-part easter special for BBC One, Gareth Malone’s Easter Passion, where Gareth took eight untrained singers and staged his own performance of Bach's St John Passion.
Bonnie Greer is a playwright, author, critic and broadcaster. She has appeared as a panellist on Newsnight Review and Question Time.
Bonnie has served on the boards of several leading arts organisations, including the British Museum, the Royal Opera House and the London Film School. She has won the Verity Bargate award for best play, and her memoir, Parallel Life, is published by Arcadia Books.
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