It's not just about the hat...

On Monday 12th December 2011, I became a graduate of the Central School of Speech and Drama, with much gown-tweaking, hat-throwing, men in drag, enthusiastic clapping, and general Drama school, jazz-hands merriment.

It was actually a wonderful ceremony. With both a twin sister and an older sister (Dr. Rachel - who, we have joked, collects universities), my parental group have attended their fair share of university graduation ceremonies, and even they agreed that Central won hands down (it wasn't cold, there weren't long speeches in Latin, even though it was December it was sunny...). It was both a moving and entertaining event; it was so lovely to see so many of my MA cohort again (although sad that some of the international students weren't able to be there) and also to see all of the undergraduates celebrating.

The best thing about the ceremony was that it was a celebration of the arts, and the power of the arts. Both Prof. Gavin Henderson and Michael Grandage gave very powerful speeches, as did those introducing the very exciting Honorary Fellowships: Joseph Seelig and Helen Lannaghan introduced by William Burdett-Coutts; Bette Bourne ('honorary fella....ahem fellow' - what a legend!) introduced by Mark Ravenhill; and Carrie Fisher introduced by Debbie Reynolds.There was a great sense of fun and humour in all of the speeches, and I loved the fact that at least two male students receiving their qualifications were dressed in drag - the PhD student who went through a process which appeared not dissimilar to being knighted was wearing EPIC high heels! Some of the other students, however, could (in my humble opinion) have taken more careful consideration over their choice of footwear, as half my row held their breath as some of the female students tottered their way across the stage. Only at Central can the men walk in high heels more gracefully than the women...

My drama (with a small 'd') of the afternoon was that I temporarily lost my mortar board, and spent the whole of the slightly unusual dance piece at the start of the show desperately scouring the floor and passing notes reading: 'Have you seen my HAT????' Fortunately, we didn't have to wear them on stage, and - with a jubilant flash of realisation - there was a perfect moment to rectify my loss of hat: when all the other students threw theirs into the air with carefree abandon! Ha! Kate once more had a hat. I'm not a bad person; there will have been a spare one lying around somewhere (wherever the hell I left it). And really there's a life lesson there: never throw your hat too high....

On a serious note: the best thing about the ceremony was that it was a public celebration of new talent, a coming together of adults of all ages who are hopefully about to embark on exciting careers in the arts. Maybe even wearing a golden bikini one day and being the subject of a whole genre of male (and female) fantasy. Or just making a difference: entertaining, harnessing the power of the arts, using drama for social and political purposes. It is a sad fact that the arts do not always get the public and political recognition they deserve, but there we all were: all together, clapping til our hands were sore, for students who cared - really cared - about the arts.

I recently learnt from news from the Social Arts Network (SANe) that the Office of National Statistics (ONS) is currently consulting on the first set of national well-being measures, and SANe, Play's the Thing, ArtsProfessionals and the Happy Museum Project were exclaiming their dismay and shock that current proposals do not include specific measures related to Arts and Culture. They stated:

'If cultural activity is to be at the heart of future government agendas, it is vital now that the cultural sector starts to shout loudly about the contribution made by the arts to personal well-being.'

They are working on a co-ordinated response, about which you can read more here.

I take some hope from all that enthusiastic clapping (and some of the jazz hands) last Monday - there is a new generation of practitioners, and some of us are going to try bloody hard to make a difference. Michael Grandage told us to be bold. We will be bold. We need to be.

The People's Story

Yesterday, I attended a premiere screening at the BFI of a documentary of a project by Age Exchange, a charity which works in the field of reminiscence, running intergenerational projects to bring people and communities together.

I first came across Age Exchange and their work when I was in the second year of my undergraduate degree and David Savill, their current artistic director, came and ran a workshop with my Applied Theatre class. Many of the class hadn't really considered this area of work - 'nah, I'm not really interested in working with old people' - as Helen Nicholson once put it, it's not 'sexy' Applied Theatre: no prisoners or victims of torture, no exciting venue, just an old people's home down the road where you'll have to drink lots of tea and hear about old people's grandchildren. Such was the attitude of many of the class. But after hearing about Age Exchange's work it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that many students left the class fascinated and inspired.

Then in my second term at Central I chose to do a case study on the company for my module on Theatre and Social Exclusion, after attending a seminar on intergenerational practice, as part of 'Age to Age', the Lewisham Intergenerational Festival, and became further acquainted with the powerful impact of their work.

Yesterday, the documentary screened was of a project called The People's Story, a major intergenerational project working with the diverse communities of Enfield and Edmonton. This project spanned 18 months and was run in partnership with London and Quadrant Housing Trust, who manage lots of the social housing in the area and were keen to work on a project which promoted community cohesion. It was a fascinating documentary, by film maker Ivan Riches, and the event was made even more poignant by many participants from the project sitting in the audience, sharing in the enjoyment and excitement of the occasion, and the following Q&A with the directors, funders and participants.

The project had produced a great many products: a theatre piece, film, recorded interviews and visual art; however it felt important to hear at the end David Savill emphasising that the process (which had no doubt been a challenging, yet rewarding one) was far, far more important than the many products. Malcolm Jones, their arts and education co-ordinator, reiterated that their work was never a "smash and grab raid on older people's stories to make a product", but rather a process of mutual respect, trust and generosity.

I know I personally left feeling moved, inspired and full of ideas (hmmm...does anyone know of a secret pot of money I can tap into? Or do I need to consider the soul destroying process of funding app.s?). AND there was a free lunch with amazing brownies! What more could you ask for?

What is a 'cragrat' anyway?

So, the most recent edition to my 'freelance portfolio' (gosh, I do sound grown up, don't I? Well, I did turn 24 this week) is with Cragrats, who offered me a job last week.

Cragrats 'specialises in the design and delivery of high-impact experiential learning programmes', and I will be working as one of their tutors, going into schools to deliver Enterprise Education days. I had my training session this afternoon, and am now really looking forward to my first booking in a school.

And I discovered that a cragrat is someone who climbs mountains. So I've developed my vocabulary as well; I do like learning new words. Like 'apodyopsis' - the act of mentally undressing someone. Which I neither did nor learnt at my training today, but do think it is a rather lovely word.

You learn something new...

Tweet tweet

I have finally joined Twitter.

I probably could have been more creative with my choice of name:

https://twitter.com/#!/KateMasseyChase

Followers welcome!

I shall now learn to communicate in 140 characters, with @s, #s and everything.

I am a great fan of the occasional haiku, so perhaps I will warm to it...

Creative Approaches to Well-Being - continuing my education in the big wide world

Last week was a bit of a mile-stone for me, as I went to collect my MA results. Although being very pleased with my fancy bit of paper which said I had got a distinction - and being amused that the woman on reception who made my alumni card put that my qualification was in 'MA Applied Theatre (Drama in the cumminty)' [fail!] - it was also a slightly sad moment, as I realised that (for now) I had reached the end of my full-time education. Moping about this to the beautiful Miss Fox, she helpfully reminded me that it marked the end of my formal education, but that I would always keep learning, keep the curiosity burning,* and continue to educate myself, out in the big wide world....

Now, a week has passed and I have been fortunate enough to have already had the opportunity to immerse myself in new ideas and information, new debates, and exciting new practice, as I was able to attend a two-day conference on 'Creative Approaches to Well-Being' entitled: Play's the Thing. Hosted by Escape Artists, this was a stimulating and creative couple of days of workshops, talks and panel debates, all exploring the topic of well-being and the contribution of creative practice and research.

I was able to attend this conference (despite my relative poverty) because I won a free pass after coming second in their 'Speed talk' competition, where they offered the opportunity to pitch an idea for a 5 minute talk, and those voted as most popular would be able to both deliver their short presentation and attend the rest of the conference. My talk was, quite predictably, on the topic of my MA thesis: the use of Drama to build the personal and social skills of young people in the transition between child & adolescent and adult mental health services. Definitely fitted the theme of creativity and well-being, but I think I under-estimated the challenge of condensing my 12,000-odd word thesis into a coherent 5 minute speech...

For me, highlights of the conference were:
 - Prof. Felicia Huppert's erudite keynote speech on well-being on an international and personal scale, including where the UK sits in the levels of well-being across Europe (not so good, we should definitely start looking to Denmark for tips! If nothing else they produced lego, The Killing and Sandi Toksvig...) and how positive mental states broaden and build cognitive processes
 - Ansuman Biswas' fantastic physical, vocal and mental warm-up (and for providing some amazing hugs) at the start of the conference, and Briony Greenhill's gorgeous group singing session to end it
 - Alex Fradera's improvisation workshop - stole some exercises I've already used with one of my Drama groups
 - Hearing more about international prison theatre
- And, of course, the opportunity to meet so many interesting, creative people who give a shit.

And here is me and my friend Natasha laughing....an honest example of creativity spawning well-being.
(Photograph by Christine Cellier)

So, I can safely say the well-being agenda is on my agenda. For anyone interested, I would certainly recommend Pat Kane's article in the Guardian, arguing that 'a real diversity of input is essential to thinking and feeling our way beyond the cyclical hysterics of capitalism' (although it would be even better if you could hear it in his lovely Scottish accent...).

My education can and shall continue beyond the university walls; it is a life-long process - and I'm prepared to approach it creatively...

*a couple of years ago my inebriated housemate identified 'curiosity', along with empathy and one particular aspect of my physical appearance, as one of my top qualities:

Explaining Applied Theatre at the Job Centre....

Advisor: So, you're a Drama teacher?

Me: No, not exactly. I'm not a qualified teacher.

Advisor: Have you thought about any further education or training? A PGCE is just one year.

Me: I know. But I just finished my Masters about a month ago. I don't really want to do a PGCE just now. I mean, maybe in the future, or in a few years I'd perhaps like to go into lecturing... I don't know.

Advisor: So are you looking for university lecturing jobs?

Me: No. No, certainly not right now.

Advisor: And you're not a Drama teacher?

Me: No, it's more like...entering into a dialogue with different community groups, not exactly teaching them... Using Drama to build personal and social skills, or for social change.... or.......[tails off, over compensating with arm gestures]

Advisor: Right [sounding either dubious or confused - or both].
So it's quite specific then...

Me: Yes.

Advisor: OK. Well, I'll do a job search for you [turns to computer....a minute later]. So, we've got a senior lecturing job at UCL, in Philosophy.

Me: On £45k? I don't think I'm really trained for that...

Advisor: Or something to do with programming systems at LSE.

Me: Economics? That's not really my field...

Advisor: Or you could be a Youth Worker?

Inter-faith facilitation

So, I haven’t quite managed to enter the world of Twitter since my last post, but I have done something else or the first time, which is facilitate for the Three Faiths Forum’s education programme.  I’ve worked for the 3FF a few times over the last year, running Drama workshops for their School Linking ‘Shared Futures’ projects, where they pair up two schools (they work with both faith and non-denominational schools), and the students get to know each other through joint activities throughout the year, giving pupils from different cultural and faith backgrounds opportunities to learn more about student who have beliefs and backgrounds different to their own.  The first workshop I ran for students on this programme (I had previously worked with their teachers) was for ten 15 year old girls, five from a Muslim school and five from a Christian school.  I remember vividly that when I arrived they were all sitting in a circle in painfully shy silence, in two distinct groups, and that by the time I left after lunch they were all sitting eating as one group, talking and laughing.  It was amazing to see such a difference in such a small amount of time.  I remember being struck by it, as although I have often seen how working together in the performing arts has broken down barriers, built confidence and inspired many different groups in a variety of projects – most notably working in HMP Winchester with Playing for Time Theatre Company, staging plays in the prison on nine week projects – it was the short amount of time this change in atmosphere had taken place in, and how dramatic the difference was in the girls' interactions with each other which was striking.  My most recent workshop for young people taking part in a Shared Futures programme had a very different atmosphere; however this was because it was with 43 Yr.2s (6-7 year ols)!  This time I was taken aback by how much they wanted to contribute (a lot!), and also how when I asked them to get into a circle they all held hands and walked backwards – which I can’t see happening with any of the other groups I work with!

Yesterday, however, I was not working for the Shared Futures programme, but for another section of the education department at the 3FF, and this time without my Drama hat on, but as one of their interfaith facilitators.  I’d had a training day for this in September and observed a couple of sessions in different schools in the last few weeks in preparation, but these were the first 2 classes I had facilitated myself.  The sessions I ran yesterday were called ‘Encountering Faiths and Beliefs’, and the format was that there were a panel of speakers – this time a Catholic, a Jewish, and a Humanist speaker – and they each spoke briefly about their own beliefs, and then I chaired a discussion with the audience.  Although they were a bit Monday morning-y (that well-known adjective) at the start of the day, I think most of the students were really engaged, and they asked some really interesting and thoughtful questions.  For me, the best thing was that I was learning lots too.  I come from a non-religious background and, although I did do Religious Studies GCSE (although my over-riding memory of that was that in the exam they asked questions to which the answers could mostly be found in Christmas carols, like ‘Where was Jesus born?’, and that to ‘Who baptised Jesus?’ one of my very intelligent friends wrote Moses, another wrote Abraham, and another just wrote The Baptist) and learnt quite a lot about different religions at primary school, my knowledge of religion is very patchy.  I was particularly interested to learn more about Humanism, and will definitely go away and read some more about it.

On another note, I also had my first Krispy Kreme doughnut, erected my first shower rail (once we’d been back to Homebase and asked the man there to show us how – stupid, vague instructions), did a yoga DVD with my housemate, and watched my first London firework display which wasn’t on Jools Holland.   

First things first

This week I started two new jobs, running my first workshops for both Outside Edge Theatre Company and Attic Theatre Company.

Outside Edge Theatre Company work with diverse groups affected by substance misuse, and the group I run is a ‘drop-in’ group, held once a month at Munster Road Substance Misuse Day Programme. I had been once before, last month, for a ‘hand-over’ session with the existing facilitator (the wonderful Jamie Wilcox, who has sadly returned to the US), and again found everyone very welcoming and willing to participate; we had (I hope) a really positive session – both thoughtful and fun. In fact, there were some really insightful contributions, and we worked at quite a reflective pace. I’m looking forward to next month, and only sad I won’t be seeing them more often.

Then yesterday I had my first session working for Attic Theatre Company on their ‘Many Voices – The Refugee Project’.  I am co-running (with the wonderful John Morales) a drama group at The Link Centre at Bishopsford School in Merton for young migrants, mostly unaccompanied minors.  The first session yesterday went really well, with just a small group of 13-15 year old boys (we’ll hopefully have more next week, perhaps including some girls), who are from a mix of ethnic backgrounds and nationalities and mostly have very low levels of English.  I’m really looking forward to these workshops, and was particularly heartened by one of the boys at the end of the session (who had initially been very reserved) saying he didn’t want to go to lunch as he wanted to keep doing Drama!

With both of those under my belt, I wonder what else I can do for the first time this week… Perhaps I'll join the masses and lose my Twitter virginity...      

A fortnight of fun

All in all it’s been a busy couple of weeks, attending some really exciting community arts events.

Firstly, I attended a poetry workshop with Leah Thorn at the Southbank Centre, as part of a series of prison arts events run by the Arts Alliance, the national body for the promotion of arts in the Criminal Justice sector.  Leah’s workshop, Beautiful Sentence, was practical, enlightening and moving, and as well as demonstrating activities she used during her time as writer-in-residence at HMP Bronzefield.  I’m quite an avid note-taker and it’s hard to select what to say in summary of this workshop, as so much was covered.  One thing I did note was a quote from Anne Frank, which I thought carried an important sentiment: ‘Paper is more patient than people’.  The documentary she showed us (also titled Beautiful Sentence) really expressed the ‘liberating and healing effect of creativity'.

Next up, the following night, was another Arts Alliance event: The Argument Room.  This is a project by Ride Out, and is a live, interactive debate, discussing key concerns in arts and social justice.  These are held monthly, and on 20^th October debated the question: ‘Who tells the truth about crime and punishment – the Politician, the Artist, the Prisoner or the Press?’  I watched the debate online at my friend Madelaine’s house, with a few glasses of wine and some unhealthy snacks.

The following night (see, I said I’d done a lot!) I went to another Arts Alliance event at the Southbank, this time in association with Synergy Theatre Project, where they presented a number of plays written by offenders and secure patients for the 2011 Koestler Awards, ART BY OFFENDERS, SECURE PATIENTS AND DETAINEES.  I also looked round the exhibition of art work, of which the quality was astounding (go and see for yourself – it’s a fantastic exhibition! We also had a peek at GOTOJAIL: THE CELL PROJECT (still at the Southbank Centre), a replica prison cell, inhabited by a couple of ‘in role’ ex-prisoners, who we had a really good chat with.

On Saturday (22^nd) I went and saw Marat/Sade in Stratford, by the RSC – not a Social Theatre project, but definitely a play which confronts both many social and political issues, and the power of theatre.  A theatrical interrogation of Marxism versus Freudian individualism, reflecting on the French Revolution, performed by psychiatric patients. With LOTS of sex toys (and the occasional bit of on-stage masturbation and anal rape).

Next up, the Anne Peaker Debate on Tues. 25^th, again ran by the Arts Alliance, which predominately discussed their recent report: ‘Unlocking Value: The economic benefit of the arts in criminal justice’.  It was very positive to hear that their research reported that there is £3-5 economic value for every £1 spent in this area – and that’s before you even begin to reflect on the human costs, not something so easy to measure with numbers.  As good old Einstein says: 'Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted'.  Anyway, they did some video interviews after the event, and I therefore had the joy of seeing my face from an unnecessarily close-up view point on youtube the following morning:

Last but not least, I attended the ‘Get Up, Stand Up’ conference, where I witnessed some fascinating lectures and met some really lovely and interesting people; I won’t list them all now, or link to all the organisations that presented, but check out the conference programme and have a little peruse through the different organisations that attended – there’s so much fantastic work being done, across the country.

I'm ready to get up and stand up.  I might even have a little dance, if the mood takes me....

A very good place to start...

It's hard to know where to begin, not being particularly au fait with blog etiquette or style... Searching for inspiration, I remembered that The Sound of Music suggests we begin at 'the very beginnning', and my first memory was that Lewis Carroll agreed, saying: 'Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop'.  However, on further investigation (looking on 'the google'), I discovered that the tale of Alice in Wonderland gives conflicting advice, i.e.

'I could tell you my adventures - beginning from this morning,' said Alice a little timidly: 'but it's no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.'

'Explain all that,' said the Mock Turtle.

'No, no! The adventures first,' said the Gryphon in an impatient tone: 'explanations take such a dreadful time.'

Aware that this opening musing has already taken a dreadfully long time, I'm tempted to follow the Gryphon's advice (the truth: I am sitting in my pyjamas trying to learn how to use a blog doesn't really count as an adventure).

In summary: I am currently in the liminal state between education and employment (hopefully soon I'll be far enough from education not to feel the need to use words like liminal), and thought it would be a logical step to have a sort-of website that I could put on business cards.  If you are a potential employer you are probably better off looking at my Linked In page (I'm the only Kate Massey-Chase, surprise, surprise), as this blog will probably only go a small way to documenting my experience.

Now, I can already hear the Gryphon tutting into his talons.... On with the adventures!