Strange Cargo has always championed the notion of artists supporting their own practice by using their creativity to make a living in the arts. Artists have an adept ability to apply specialist - and seemingly unrelated - knowledge gained in one creative field to other disciplines, and to generate a totally original result. For this reason the Strange Cargo team incorporates a wide variety of practitioners, each keen to work with others and passionate about their own professional development.

The annual event programme offers our trainee artists experience in practical construction and workshop skills, health and safety awareness, and aspects of event management. This very practical grounding helps equip them to work on a wide variety of creative projects from fine art residencies to processions. In recognition of this need Strange Cargo also delivers training programmes in a number of aspects of creative practice and event management - contact us for details. In addition, training the public and leaving a legacy of skills in communities is central to Strange Cargo's practice, and is a valuable tool to increase awareness - and experience - in the arts in a wider context.

Strange Cargo is proud of its reputation for delivering high quality and innovative work, and it is always adapting and evolving both its approach and its production to ensure its portfolio remains fresh and exciting, both for the audience and the artist teams involved. Professional development for Strange Cargo's artist team is recognised as hugely important to enable the Company to continue to grow and deliver to such a high standard, and for this reason the Company has organised a number of research and development trips to learn techniques from other makers and to experience carnivals and traditions in other countries. The teams have benefited hugely from their time visiting and learning from French giant maker Stephen de Laurence, attending the immense Viareggio Carnivale in Italy with maker Gilbert Leferge and most recently exploring and experiencing the ancient Kukeri tradition in Bulgaria. All these trips have gone towards informing and inspiring projects here in the UK.