Rachel Baynton

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

ABOUT RACHEL BAYNTON

Rachel Baynton is an artist, producer, and academic working in cross-artform contexts, with a focus on collaboration, co-creation and contemporary cultural production. She works nationally and internationally as a director, writer, and producer of politically and socially engaged arts projects and has collaborated with major commissioning partners including the NHS, the RAF, and the BBC.Her work is often site-specific - responding to locations and histories - and engages diverse communities in the co-creation of art and performance. This includes \'Raising Our Hands\', a large-scale processional performance created with women across the City of Lincoln for the Suffrage 100 Commemorations, and \'Everything We Are\', a piece developed with first-time performers for Paines Plough’s Roundabout Theatre.She is Co-Artistic Director of Proto-type Theater, a company of multi-disciplinary artists creating original performance. Together, they have developed an acclaimed body of work including the socially-engaged \'Truth to Power Trilogy\', digital animation \'A Dangerous Thing\'(commissioned by The Lowry),\'Fortnight\', a performance project using pervasive digital technologies (Theatre Sandbox Award – NESTA/Watershed, Bristol Old Vic), and \'A Machine They’re Secretly Building\'- part of the British Council Edinburgh Showcase and long-listed for the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award. Proto-type have been making work and supporting young artists in the UK, US, the Netherlands, Russia, China, Armenia, France, and Zimbabwe since 1997. Critics have called their work \"an intriguing brush with altered reality\"(New York Times),\"smartly intelligent, coolly reasoned theatre\"(The Guardian) and \"enthralling\"(Zambezi News).A graduate of Dartington College of Arts, Rachel’s background includes curatorial and collections work at Lancaster University’s Institute of Contemporary Arts (LICA), and regular presenting for BBC Radio Lincolnshire. She currently serves on the Creative UK National Council, is Associate Chair of UK New Artists, and a Trustee of Zest Theatre, supporting the development of early-career artists and championing creative opportunities for young people.She is Associate Professor and Creative Engagement Producer in the University of Lincoln’s School of Creative Arts, where she developed and now leads their postgraduate portfolio of courses in Arts & Cultural Management.