The Welcome Project
Here at Northern Stage, we believe theatre should be accessible to everyone. Our Welcome Project helps us to reach groups unrepresented in the arts who may experience disadvantage and not otherwise have the opportunity to engage with theatre. Many of the individuals we work with as part of this project have never been to a theatre in the UK before, and so, we want everyone in our community to feel that Northern Stage is a space for them.
As part of our Welcome Project, we’ve worked closely with Newcastle College and adult learners in their English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) department. This has involved inviting learners and their families to see a performance and take part in a creative writing session to aid their development of English Language skills.
We caught up with Emily Low, local Writer, Teacher, and Facilitator who has been supporting us in delivering fun, educational workshops as part of The Welcome Project. We asked her some questions about her experience of the programme so far and what benefits she feels it brings to the community.
As a facilitator, how do you feel programmes like this support the ESOL communities grow in confidence and to enhance language skills and build community?
“I think it’s nice to have something specifically to encourage people to come to the theatre who don’t normally come. And when I’ve met people and I’ve asked, have you been to Northern Stage before? Usually they say, no, they haven’t. So, it really is some of their first times into the theatre here. That’s really important because often you go to the theatre as an audience member and you look around and it’s not really diverse.
It’s really nice to give them a free ticket and that they can bring their families. And that immediately gives a sense of community. And then Northern Stage also do a nice follow-up to the show where we might get together in the mezzanine and have snacks or an arts activity or storytelling. And that’s a chance for everyone to relax and talk to each other and connect. And I think that builds a really nice sense of community.
And then we do a writing workshop afterwards. So, we can create stories using the English language and talk about vocabulary and phrases in relation to characters. So that’s really nice.”
How do you feel this opportunity has impacted your career and what benefits have you sort of seen come from it?
“I think for my career it is really nice to be able to say I work with Northern Stage because that makes me feel really important and it’s great to be part of a lovely team of interesting people who dream big. The team at Northern Stage are like “we could do this, or we could do this!” and I love being part of something where you can dream about making a difference in a really fun and lovely and inclusive way.
In terms of how it’s impacted me, it’s nice to be trusted to create these workshops and to be asked to do it. I feel this really suits me and that I’m the right person to do this because I used to be a teacher and teach English as a foreign language abroad. So, it’s nice to use those skills and to feel like a valued person who you want to come back and do this.”
Photo credit: Guzelian Photograph
Do you feel like this opportunity to facilitate the groups has helped you to feel part of the creative community in Newcastle?
“I definitely feel part of something by doing this. Being part of a team and linked with Northern Stage is really nice as I feel that we’re doing something that will help people and it’s something which is creative. It does give a sense of community for sure. And it’s nice because I can get to know members of the team in other ways through different projects. I work with New Writing North and Seven Stories, and I’ve been able to chat to the people linked to projects there. It’s nice to have that crossover and sense of this is one community – everyone’s joined up and we’re all working towards making these nice creative things.”
What does it really mean to tap into your creativity and creative writing, particularly thinking about those learning to read, write and speak in English?
“With my experience at school when I was learning French, it was very practical. It’s like, How are you? What do you want to buy from the shop? Turn right, turn left. But with this, it’s creating stories, which I think is a whole different set of vocabulary. Even if it wasn’t just about language, even if it was creating a story, even that in itself is worthwhile. But this has the added side of learning the English language as well.
Using English creatively, it’s different to just learning the practical side of things and giving it that creative context, which you might use in life. A lot of the participants have young children, so they might want to tell stories, or their children might come home from school and tell stories in English. So, it’s learning about all the joy and nuances of language, not just practical stuff – we’re using language for expression.”
How do you envision as a facilitator that what we’ve been doing with the ESOL learners will help shape future work with communities?
“It’s an early stage of the programme where we’re working with the college to encourage people to join. Once it’s more established, we can start getting ambitious. In the past we’ve spoken about the group writing a short play and then performing it to each other on a stage. That would be amazing for building confidence and having a sense of purpose. I think a project that would be really worthwhile is for people to come to multiple sessions where they can continue to build on something and create. I think in the future you could do that, but you have to sow the seeds of establishing it, building that relationship with the college, making sure people know what it is, and then being able to have past students recommend it to new students. I think for individuals, if they then go away and write something individually that they really want to write about, that would be such an amazing thing to happen if they have a story within themselves that they want to express. That’s where the magic is.”
Did you notice transformation amongst participants as you led the sessions?
“When people walk in, and they haven’t done the workshop before, they’re not sure what to expect. And then we get to a point where we can make everyone feel really relaxed and it’s very informal. We like to play a little game at the beginning so people get to know each other and feel like they can speak and that they’re valued. And so, from there you can build on getting people to share ideas and then encouraging people to come up with any idea that they like – all ideas are valid and they all go into this story. Participants come up with really fun ideas and we incorporate them into a big story at the end. In the first group we worked with, participants performed their story with musical instruments, and everyone got really into it and were very expressive – everyone had a go. You see everyone getting more and more into it and more confident and I really loved seeing that and the teachers were there to see it too.”
How would you summarise the experience leading the workshops?
“It’s very heartwarming to be with people who don’t know what to expect and by the end they’ve created an amazing story as a group and performed it. It’s lovely.
Northern Stage have the real passion to do this. I’ve been really impressed when I’ve worked with people – we had a meeting a few weeks ago and just the passion from the team of wanting this to work and wanting it to be a great experience for the college and a wonderful experience for the participants – the passion is there and it’s real and that’s why it’s exciting. They want to do this because we believe art should be for everyone.”
Emily Low reading The Gruffalo to children as part of the Welcome Project
Get involved with The Welcome Project
Looking to connect your community group with Northern Stage? Pop us an email at welcome@northernstage.co.uk and a member of our friendly team will get back to you to discuss future opportunities where we can support your group.
Support The Welcome Project
Northern Stage is the region’s only mid-scale producing theatre, producing and co-producing plays; running talent development programmes; and delivering young people’s projects such as work experience. As a charity, we are able to carry out the important work we do in the North East with the kind support of individual donors & supporters, local businesses, and funders.
You can help make a difference by donating to our Pay it Forward appeal, joining us as a supporter, or by donating to our cause as a trust or foundation. To find out more about how you can support our work as a trust or foundation, please contact Alison Cleland at ACleland@northernstage.co.uk.
Special thanks
We were very fortunate to receive a significant grant from the Newcastle Fund to fund our work with Newcastle College’s ESOL department and would also like to thank the Hadrian Trust for their generosity in supporting our Welcome Project.
We would also like to say a huge thank you to our Supporters and individual donors who have helped us to make this project possible, aiding us in our mission to make the arts in the North East more accessible to all.