VAULT Festival is delighted to announce the VAULT Five Artists for 2022-2023! Our mentoring programme for early & mid-career artists and live performance makers received 100s of applications, and our final VAULT Five will be Beth Bowden, Yuxuan Liu, Tatenda Naomi Matsvai, Gaynor O’Flynn, and Tatenda Shamiso.

Our VAULT Five programme was launched last year to provide artists an opportunity to gain a step up in their careers and to help them realise their ambitions, with the programme culminating in a show at VAULT Festival.

Previous VAULT Five artist Gemma Barnett said of the programme,

“Being a part of VAULT FIVE was great. In an industry that can sometimes feel a little lonely, you suddenly have people available to you to ask questions – a mentor, a whole creative team of people that really care and 4 other brilliant artists making work. I really enjoyed the process of it.”

The quality of applications was very high, with the shortlisted candidates representing a cross section of some of the leading early and mid-career artists working today. You can see the full list of shortlisted candidates here.

Beth Boden is an interdisciplinary theatre-maker & director. Trained at the University of Exeter & The Royal Central School of Speech & Drama (MA Advanced Theatre Practice) her practice makes a mess, deconstructs form, & subverts traditional theatre structures.

Yuxuan Liu is a Chinese theatre director based in London. He is a keen deviser and theatre-maker whose work varies from new writing and children’s theatre to the reimagining of classic plays.

Tatenda Naomi Matsvai is a facilitator and devised performance maker, working with spoken word poetry in theatrical and non-theatrical contexts, with a focus on community engagement.

Gaynor O’Flynn is a performer, writer & director. She started her career in TV, Channel 4, ITV, BBC, Canal Plus, amongst others. Her first video art work exhibited at The Tate, Liverpool, 1990.

Tatenda Shamiso is an Afrosurrealist theatre-maker, writer & musician with origins from Zimbabwe, Belgium, the United States and Switzerland. Central to his work are themes of community, identity, and joy within the diaspora.

You can read the full biographies of this year’s VAULT Five artists and find out more about the programme by visiting our VAULT Five page.