Liz O’Neill
A multi-year grant totalling £255,000
Liz is Artistic Director and CEO of Z-arts, Manchester’s venue for children and families. In 2014, when she received her Breakthrough grant, she was in the early stages of refocusing and renewing the organisation, rebranding it as Z-arts, and working to establish its new focus on creative arts activity and programmes for children, teenagers and families.
The Breakthrough Fund has supported Liz as CEO of Z-arts to pursue her vision for family theatre, working with artists and other co-producers to develop, commission, produce and advocate for new work that reflects the diverse nature of family experience today. She has been able to produce work at a number of scales, including a major co-commission with Manchester International Festival, and to build her own and her organisation’s profile and know-how as originators and champions of new work of this kind. Z-arts has also developed leading expertise in engaging this work with young people and families across Manchester. Building on this momentum, Z-arts joined the Arts Council National Portfolio in 2018. Liz’s Breakthrough grant will conclude in summer 2020.
