Five artists have been selected from a competitive field of applications for 7 Small Acts.
Supported by Falmouth Art Gallery, Small Acts and Creative Kernow Associates are thrilled to be partnering to offer an opportunity for artists who embody liveness and performance in their practice, or who would like to expand the possibilities of performance in their work.
7 artists + 7 artworks x 7 minutes = 7 Small Acts
In October 2026, Small Acts are taking over Falmouth Art Gallery! 7 Small Acts will be an exhibition and performance salon – an evening of small acts that each take as their starting point an artwork from Falmouth Art Gallery’s extraordinary collection. Largely held in storage, the collections include a diverse range of artforms, periods and themes including significant holdings of surrealist works, automata and work by women artists in Cornwall.
Curated and hosted by Small Acts (artists Katie Etheridge and Simon Persighetti), 7 Small Acts will invite a diverse selection of live artforms into Falmouth Art Gallery. These could include, but are not limited to, spoken word, drag, live music, dance and performance lectures.
Guided by the question, ‘What is a small act?’ participating artists will choose an artwork from the gallery’s collection to respond to, creating an original 7-minute live performance that will be performed alongside an exhibition of the selected artworks at the 7 Small Acts evening salon on 2nd October 2026.
The creative making process will be supported through two half-day workshops/performance labs facilitated by Small Acts including individual mentoring, plus a technical run/rehearsal on the day of the performance.
We are thrilled to announce the following five artists who will perform alongside Katie and Simon:
Sam Horn-Norris Bradbury
Sam Horn-Norris Bradbury is an artist living and working in Cornwall from 2005. Since graduating from Falmouth Uni he has enjoyed planning and facilitating art workshops for all ages and abilities for museums, galleries, libraries, schools and other groups. Inspired by these workshops he has continued to create work that is playful and in a wide range of media. Working predominantly in illustration he also creates puppets, automata, collage, willow sculptures, parade floats, sculpture and more – as much inspired by fantasy, sci-fi, horror, comics and other pop culture as he is cubism, outsider art, dadaism and naive art. The outcome is artwork that is both an escape from the ordinary but also relatable and rooted in our shared ability to be creative and experience wonder.
Rachel Elizabeth Coleman
Rachel Elizabeth Coleman is a dance artist, weaver and systems change practitioner based in Cornwall. Rachel’s work spans live art, research, fibre arts and environmental policy. Rachel uses the power of live, collective experience to conjure alternate imaginings of the future, exploring social cohesion and ecologies of being through embodied storytelling.
Rach likes to run the coast path, ride gravel bikes, and read books.
Chloé Eathorne
Chloé Eathorne is a Cornish poet and sound artist whose practice weaves together land, body and folklore. Rooted in the geology of Cornwall, her work explores post-industrial landscapes and the tensions between histories of extraction and ecological renewal. She is a member of the Southbank Centre’s New Poets Collective (2025–2027) and one of the poets representing Penzance. Incorporating Kernowek and field recordings into her poetry, she seeks out the rust and resilience beneath postcard visions of Cornwall. Her work has been published in Aspier, Cornish Modern Poetries and 26 Places in Cornwall.
Ruby Lawrence
Ruby Lawrence (b. 1992, Newcastle-upon-Tyne) is an artist working across writing, poetry, performance, and film. Her work often explores embodiment, resistance and recovery. Her poetry has been published by Still Point, Magma, Propel, Gutter, Pamenar Press, Perverse and elsewhere.
As a performer, she is interested in the playful and deconstructive spaces that can be opened up (for audience and artist) through use of repetition, mimicry, and inter-speech sounds.
Ruby lives in Lostwithiel, Cornwall. She aims to go as slow as the slowest part of her needs to go. 🐌
SCAMP
Scamp is a genderqueer performance designer/maker & drag artist, Puppeteer of objects, fantasies & that thing you’re longing to ooze out. They focus on queer, neurodivergent, disabled, and access lead collaborations with puppetry, drag, installation, performance, site-specific and outreach. They are co-director of Blooom Cornwall and proud member of Kernow Drag Collective. They have recently been collaborating with sound artist Jess Beechey on a new project called Dark Fiber.
Image credit: H Mittelstaed
About Small Acts
Based in Cornwall, Small Acts work with people and places locally, nationally and internationally to create live participatory artworks and performances that bring individuals and communities together in unexpected and joyful ways.
Lead artists Katie Etheridge and Simon Persighetti each bring over 25 years experience in the fields of socially engaged practice, live art and site-specific performance to their unique collaborative practice which explores the intersection between architecture, community, place and performance.
Small Acts projects have been commissioned by partners including Flamm Festival, Compass Live Art, Creative Peninsula, National Trust, Art Centre Penryn, University of Exeter, Lancaster Arts and Live Art Development Agency.
Image credit: Small Acts. Photography: Paul Fuller
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