If you would like to find out more about the project and the job opportunities available please click here.
A two-year theatre and spoken word project for Somerset entitled Word/Play, has been given the green light thanks to £75,000 support from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, one of the largest independent grant making foundations in England, and a further £17,000 from the Lloyds TSB Foundation for England and Wales.
"We are absolutely delighted with this news," says Mark Helyar, Co-Director of Theatre for Take Art. "The support from both the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and the Lloyds TSB Foundation is particularly significant in a financial climate and county where funding for the arts is at an absolute premium.”
Word/Play will be managed and delivered by Take Art, a pioneering arts charity, serving the towns, villages and rural communities of Somerset. Through Word/Play Take Art aims to improve the mental health and wellbeing of individuals, groups and communities through the powerful mediums of spoken word, forum theatre and community theatre. The project will also provide new training and vital employment opportunities for spoken word and theatre practitioners in the South West.
Mark went onto say, “Issues around mental health and well-being are still met with prejudice and fear in the UK. Over two years Word/Play will give more than 300 participants the skills and confidence to speak out about these issues and create positive change within themselves and their communities.”
Phase one of the three-phase initiative will focus on using spoken word to empower individual voices and build self esteem. Practitioners will work across Somerset with participants with learning disabilities and communication difficulties and people experiencing mental health issues.
Along with Take Art, the two other significant partners in the initiative are Literature Works (formerly Cyprus Well), the literature development charity for South West England and Apples and Snakes, England’s leading organisation for performance poetry and spoken word.
Take Art will also be working with South Somerset Mind, the largest Mental Health charity in South Somerset; OpenStoryTellers, a Somerset-based arts organisation that works with people with learning disabilities and communication difficulties; Somerset Skills & Learning, one of Somerset’s leading training providers; and Chard Intentional Peer Support, a group run by, and for, people with mental health issues.
Cindy Moxham the Director of OpenStoryTellers said, “OpenStoryTellers are proud to work with Take Art and the other partners in this exciting project. Word/Play will help people to be heard and understood in a creative way for a positive future.”
The first phase of Word/Play will start in January 2013. The second and third phases will take place in Autumn 2013 and Summer 2014. The whole two-year project will be available to follow online at www.takeart.org
Opportunities
If you would like to find out more about the project and the job opportunities available please click here.
ENDS
Note for Editors:
Press contact: Louise Monks 01460 249450, louise@takeart.org
To request a CD of images please contact Louise Monks. www.takeart.org
Take Art is a pioneering arts charity, serving the towns, villages and rural communities of Somerset. We do this by providing accessible opportunities for people of all ages to participate, experience and work within the arts.