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Creative ID: 324

Art form(s): Community arts, Dance, Theatre
Language(s): English
Based in: Southland
Where I'm available:
Auckland, Canterbury, Nelson – Tasman, Otago, Southland, Wellington, West coast
Southland and Otago regions preferred, but prepared to travel to other regions in the South and North Island.
When I'm available: I should be available Monday to Friday during school hours, and if preferred after school hours and weekends.

My arts or creative practice (including details about my specific focus within that art form/practice and my strengths)

I am a professionally trained community arts practitioner with over thirty years post-training experience. My professional portfolio includes projects in educational settings (school summer programmes and colleges), a prison, and a recovering drug users’ arts programme. I also have many years’ experience as a performer, teacher, lecturer, dancer, and writer. From February to April 2021, I worked with 22 young people aged between 7 and 17 on my latest play,written for school/college children. The play revolved around a community of creatures living together in harmony until a gang of stoats, ferrets, and weasels arrived to create havoc on the community. The play considers community spirit in the face of adversity. The three local performances gave an opportunity for young people, many with no previous experience and from diverse backgrounds, to come together through the creative process. Bonds were formed and individuals’ confidence levels blossomed. I collaborated with the local Kung Fu, gymnastic, and trampoline clubs to bring together a range of skills and talents. I am a strong advocate of the profound contribution that community arts make to an individual and community’s collective well-being.

My track record of experience and success - or the track record of experience and success of the creative or artist that I will partner with

Please request my complete profile. In brief, I was professionally trained in the UK as a performer and worked in professional theatre from 1982 until 1994. I then trained as a mental health practitioner and was involved in community arts projects, while working full-time. I left my full-time position as a life coach at a university and moved to Te Anau at the end of 2017. I worked with the Fiordland Players, involving over sixty members of our Te Anau community. I was choreographer and second director.

Describe the experience you have had working with children or young people, teaching or facilitating creative processes

Please request my complete profile. I have worked with children in a variety of settings – schools and colleges. I was the voice production lecturer for 1st, 2nd and 3rd year theatre arts students (aged 17–20) at a college in Scotland. I was a community arts teacher for two years with Glasgow City Council's Summer School Arts programme. I have worked with individuals and groups from a wide range of backgrounds, cultures, and age groups (youngest five, oldest eighty-eight). In 2020 I worked with college-age young people to create a play. The young people had input into the development of the play and two community public readings were given in which the community had an opportunity to give feedback on the merits of the play. The play was given a full-scale production in April 2021.

Why I want to be part of the Creatives in Schools programme and how my involvement will link to my creative practice

I am passionate about encouraging young people to become involved in the arts. When I was very young, I learned ballroom and Latin American dance. As a teenager I became involved in my local amateur theatre group. This gave me fantastic confidence, not only as a performer, but in partnering and collaborating with others. I gained tremendous communication and team building skills. Community arts have an essential role to play in a young person's development, and I wish to continue to play my part in making that happen for our young people.

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