Current and past projects

Just a few of the projects I have been involved with recently... 

Refugees and asylum seekers

Side by Side intercultural drama

Side by Side is a user-led, grassroots drama group, facilitated and project managed by myself and Johanna Van de Voort. Side by Side uses drama as a tool to promote intercultural understanding and positive integration and to celebrate diversity between people of all social and ethnic backgrounds, whilst raising awaress about the issues facing refugees and asylum seekers. The group is made up predominantly of refugees and asylum seekers, but equally encourages participation by new migrants and indigenous British people. In 2009 the group performed 'Hopscotch: Choice without Choice' at the Library Theatre during refugee week and toured to three schools and colleges. 'Hopscotch' was the second play the group has devised and performed, and was an expression of the group's collective voice, after months of exploration, collaboration and devising. It was an enlightening and symbolic tale of moving and settling, crossing borders, and surmounting obstacles, through the exploration of childhood games, language and communication, cultural identity and human identity, difference and sameness, friendship and solitude, loss, change, and adaptability, hardship and survival, and ultimately humanity and the strength of the human spirit.

Side by Side is run by a Management Committee made up predominantly of refugees and asylum seekers who are helping to drive this small voluntary organisation forward. We are hoping to train participants up in drama facilitation skills so that they can deliver awareness-raising workshops and training in schools, community groups and service-providers. We are at an exciting phase at the moment so watch this space! In late 2009 we won an Award for Bridging Cultures from the national Institute for Community Cohesion (ICoCo), which has only served to motivate us to do more!

Side by Side is a great opportunity for people of different nationalities, races, cultures, colours and faiths to come together, make friends with people they wouldn't normally mix with, talk about their experiences in a safe environment, build their confidence, and be an integral part of a participatory process which is both rewarding and empowering. If you would like to take part in our weekly drama sessions, get involved in a different way or simply know more about us, please contact admin@sidebyside.me.uk

Side by Side is funded by South Yorkshire Community Foundation and Awards for All. We have also received kind donations from Sheffield Freemasons and the Split Infinitive Trust. 

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Primary Schools: Curriculum-based projects

'Once upon a Trolley' - Pipworth Community Primary School - Creative Parternships Sheffield Change School

I worked alongside Visual Artist, Carmel Page, on a Change School project aimed at exploring how creative approaches to literacy can encourage collaborative working across the school. It wasn't a project without its challenges but in the end it proved very successul. In the spring term, we linked in with the Y5 topic of the Tudors and the Y1 topic of Cinderella. The Y5's created their own Tudor story and created a human story mountain, using visual and physical theatrical devices, soundscapes and imagery, and organising a Banquet for the Y1s to attend. Meanwhile, the Y1s were given a lot of freedom to explore and experiment with props and costumes they might use or wear at Cinderella's Ball, and created their own characters and extremely imaginative stories. In the summer term I worked soley with the Y1s on the topic of Aliens. Now, this was very exciting! It gave us the opportunity to use provocations and follow the children's lead. The Aliens had visited Pipworth and left clues in the garden. The project, from then on, consisted of carrying out a special mission. The children were extremely motivated and engaged in the topic and, as a result, were motivated to use their writing skills. It became a true collaboration between myself as practitioner, teachers, children and caretaker!

Special Needs

'The Settlement Project' - Northridge Special School - Creative Partnerships BDR  Enquiry School

I was initially brought in to work on a cluster schools project about human settlements, which the school had started with a professional architect. I collaborated with a visual artist, and worked with severely physically and learning disabled children from years 4-6 on the SEAL topic of 'ourselves'. We helped the children to create their own community and brought it to life through sensory means, using different lighting, music, and materials to touch and explore. The children were given the freedom  to develop their own emotional responses to the settlement, as well as being given the opportunity to understand and communicate their own feelings, which went towards helping them with their transition to a new school in early 2009.

In the Spring term I was asked back in to work in the new building, this time across the whole school - from reception to Sixth form! - in order to develop creative skills across a wide range of curriculum subjects, ranging from 'the shops' to the Civil War, to Imaginary Worlds.

The Orangery - for adults with special needs

I worked with Godfrey Pambalipe, a Zimbabwean performing artist, on this 8 week project run by darts (Doncaster Community Arts) aimed at increasing the confidence and social skills of adults with moderate to severe learning difficulties. We sung, danced and created scenes based on the participants' feelings towards their home town of Doncaster, and their hopes and dreams. It was a wonderful experience with lots of laughter.

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Offenders: Challenging behaviours

Silence the Violence

In March 2009 I travelled to South Africa to gain experience with the programme, Silence the Violence. Silence the Violence is run by Khulisa, an organisation dedicated to restorative justice through the delivery of interventions which promote rehabilitation, education and reconciliation among communities and individuals. It was a very exciting and educational experience, as I got to work in the High Security Unit of a South African prison on an HIV awareness peer support programme, with ex-offenders on an Entry to Employment programme and in communities on a youth-led peer education programme. The Silence the Violence programme is currently being piloted in London and I hope to be involved in the South Yorkshire-based project in the future.

South Leeds Youth Offending Team Summer Arts School

Over the Summer 2008 I contributed towards an 8-week long summer school for youth offenders (most on an Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme) on the theme of conflict, run by photographer Les Monaghan www.molomolo.co.uk. I drew on forum and image theatre techniques to encourage responses to world conflict as well as conflict within their own communities. We addressed issues that related to their own experiences, looking at the reasons behind, and the repercussions of, violence. This was a challenging placement, as I had to think on my feet more than in any other job before, and respond to the changing needs and dynamic of the group on a daily basis. The young people ended up improvising their own scenes around gang warfare between different postcodes in Leeds, and then responding in character to the consequences. The young people were trained how to use cameras by photographer, Les, and were encouraged to film and photograph themselves.

Substance Misuse

Phoenix Futures

Phoenix Futures is a leading provider of services for people with drug and alcohol problems. I worked with a group of women at Phoenix House Residential Rehabilitation Centre over a period of four weeks. I used different drama techniques to celebrate our strengths and accept our weaknesses, to confront demons and surmount mental obstacles, to look at things from different perspectives, and to think about aspirations for the future.  

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Early years: Creative literacy and story-making

Creative Collaboration Project - SureStarts - Manchester Education Partnership

For 15 months, I worked as Creative Collaborator in a SureStart Children's Centre in Manchester, ending in March 2008. With a total of 40 days contact time at the Centre and working in true partnership with staff and children, this was a unique opportunity to build up close and meaningful relationships. We used many of the ideas from the Reggio Emilia philosophy on pre-schools, focussing on child-led interests, giving the children the time and space to explore and experiment, and encouraging enquiring minds. We developed different story-making scenarios and stimulated children's imaginations through the provision of exciting resources, opportunities and our time. The staff have acquired new skills and learned different ways of promoting and responding to child-initiated play so that, hopefully, the intervention - now that it has come to an end - will have a long-lasting impact.

Various needs: Confidence-building

darts - Creative Strides - Improving access to enterprise

In 2008 I spent 8 months working part-time at darts as Drama Artist on a project which aims to promote enterprising behaviour. It is part of a wider government Local Enterprise Growth Initiative (LEGI) for which we delivered short-term (visual and drama) arts interventions with a diverse client group which includes: Ex substance misusers, people on long-term incapacity benefit, women's groups, refugees and asylum-seekers, people with mental health issues, and learning and physically disabled young people.The main focus was on increasing confidence, and looking at issues of motivation and aspirations.

Explanation of terms

 SEAL

Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning. This approach to learning aims to develop the underpinning qualities and skills that help promote positive behaviour and effective learning. It focuses on five social and emotional aspects of learning: self-awareness, managing feelings, motivation, empathy and social skills.

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