Kristin Rawcliffe

Hello! I’m a theatre maker, writer & opera singer living and working in Gosport. I co-run Gosport Creates, a community-directed, artist-run project supporting the creativity of women in Gosport. We organise workshops, performances and experiences that celebrate play, exploration & community, currently these run on Tuesday evenings at venues across Gosport. My award-winning show It is I, Seagull originated in Gosport, and toured around the UK and to Australia in 2025. I have a Masters with Distinction in Opera Performance from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and a First Class (Hons) degree in English and Drama from the University of Kent. My work is supported by ACE, the Mayflower Theatre, the Winship Foundation, & an HCC grant.

I am an artist living on the edge of The New Forest. I use folklore, folksong, old customs, games and rituals to explore contemporary issues particularly social and economic disparity. Country living can be a strange mix of bounty and hopelessness but when people have access to their own strong and sinuous roots, their own history and stories they have anchorage and hope. I seek the stories that connect us and as an artist I’m thinking of different ways of pinning them up on the metaphorical village hall notice board for all to see. Alongside my own practice I run drawing workshops as The Village Hall Draw and community workshops around the New Forest working with Culture in Common and Hampshire Cultural Heritage amongst others.

I am a Wiltshire-based visual artist and consultant working with people and places through commissions, projects, residencies, walks and workshops. I work with media of relevance to each place, its ecology and heritage, from ‘natural’ and recycled materials, to photographs, text, sound and video. Previous Hampshire residencies have included working with Spud (New Forest), John Hansard Museum (Southampton) and Andover Museum. My consultancy work includes writing for publication, mentoring for emerging artists/creatives, and advisory work/professional development for the arts/heritage and environmental sectors. Access and inclusion is key to all my work, with a particular focus on the value of queer and neurodivergent voices/experiences.