Becs Andrews is an award-winning performance designer and artist, overall winner of the 2003 Linbury Biennal Prize for Jeff Koons and the DARE Fellow in Scenography 2011-14.
Becs’ design work encompasses set, costume and video for dance, opera, theatre, film and television, including the Royal Opera House, The National Theatre, The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, National Ballet of Japan, Bern Ballet, Edinburgh International Festival, BBC, Liverpool ’08 Capital of Culture, Scottish Opera, Cork Midsummer Festival, Opera North, Hofesh Shechter Company, Grid Iron, ATC, Introdans, Phoenix Dance, ATMA, and regional theatres throughout the UK.
Becs works with established directors and choreographers including Bijan Sheibani, Richard Alston, Daniel Kramer, Hofesh Shechter, Didy Veldman, Jeremy Herrin, Jemima Levick, William Kerley, David Bintley, Mayuri Bootham, Karen Gillingham, and also works with artists from backgrounds as diverse as Matthew Herbert, Mark Watson and Laurence Payot.
Becs Andrews Company produced TRANSMISSION – a contemporary dance & interactive installation in collaboration with biologists, technologists, musicians and dancers from the Universities of York, Bristol, UWE and Falmouth, co-funded by Arts Council England and the Centre for Chronic Diseases and Disorders (C2D2), which premiered at York Festival of Ideas 2014.
Whilst DARE Fellow in Scenography at Opera North and University of Leeds Becs developed her practice of collaboration with scientists and musicians to create installations, film-work, performances and photographic essays. Projects Becs created during this time include Phase Revival: An Optical Harmonica co-funded by the Royal Society of Chemistry (Leeds City Museum / Howard Assembly Room, Opera North / Stage@Leeds, University of Leeds); Gold Dust: Of Memory and Light (University of Leeds); Conductor co-funded by CCI Exchange (Howard Assembly Room / Almaty Symphony Orchestra, Kazakhstan); her photo essay Songs of Experience with Bradford District Care Trust and the Alzheimer’s Society; and performance pieces such as Phantasmagoria: Seduction and Psychosis (Stage@Leeds)
Becs has worked extensively within the HE sector, as course leader (Design for Performance, Edge Hill) lecturer (Central School of Speech and Drama), visiting lecturer (Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, LIPA, Arts University Bournemouth); and resident designer at conservatoires (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Guildhall School of Music and Drama)
Becs is currently undertaking a Visiting Research Fellowship at the Department of Music, University of York in order to further develop her work with music and medical imaging technology within live performance environments.