Trying to get involved...

I had a meeting yesterday with Rob Marsden who is a senior Drama lecturer at the University. 
He was very helpful in assisting me with what may become useful contacts throughout the project, and Rob himself has worked closely with all of the organisations he suggested.

 Firstly he suggested Borderlines at the New Vic Theatre, who run a variety of projects with different groups in the community. Now I am currently undertaking work placement at the New Vic, with two groups at the moment, but  I did have a meeting with the head of Borderlines Sue Moffat last week who had a chat to me about some of the projects they are currently working on and said she will email me a timetable of what they are doing so I can possibly observe some of the sessions, and although this meeting was primarily for work placement purposes, I feel that the work placement at the New Vic is definitely going to go hand in hand with the research and possible workshops for this project, so I will be able to use this as an opportunity not only for work experience but also to get an insight into more diverse groups in the community for this project. 

The next group Rob mentioned were  Rideout who I have previously found earlier in the week. The organisation is run by co-directors, firstly Saul Hewish who was also a founding member of Geese Theatre UK, and he has done extensive work with the probation services, and in Applied Theatre across the country, and in the USA where he worked exclusively with Geese USA, he has also produced projects with young people looked after by the local authorities, who have behavioural and educational needs and who are looked after by youth offending teams. He did these projects under the name of  the Acting Out Company. The second being Chris Johnston who again has produced extensive work with the criminal justice system. He was founder of the Insight Arts Trusts, which then became theatre company Insight Theatre, who produced work with ex-offenders to tour in prisons and arts centres. He is the author of several books on the subject of Applied Theatre. 


Rob also suggested I contact B-Arts who run projects in the local area and are based in Newcastle-under-Lyme. He has worked with them in the past and they do some interesting work not just in theatre but other areas of creative arts.


And finally he suggested the Creative Learning Department which is in association with the Regent Theatre, and runs out of the Victoria Hall in Hanley. This organisation regularly produces projects, events and workshops/activities for those interested in Creative Learning. In July they are running the Creative Minds Festival in which they are putting together a group of twelve professionals (project manager, drama facilitators, music and signing practitioners, visual artists and film makers) to work with community groups with an aim of allowing young people to express themselves through the arts, and at the end of the festival performances will showcase the work that has been undertaken. They are only looking for two drama facilitators and I imagine it is going to be very competitive so if I apply and am lucky enough to get chosen then that would obviously be a fantastic opportunity, if not I could always offer to volunteer for the event if they need any additional helpers. I have emailed the department and will wait for the response before deciding on the festival. 


This meeting was very helpful especially as Rob has done work with all the above groups. I have sent emails out today and will hope to get a response in the next week.