Engaging Children in Disadvantaged Areas with The Arts

tutti frutti use imaginative theatre and do tours to small scale theatres, schools and community settings, often in areas of challenging social economics and low arts engagement.

Through the Mohn Westlake Arts Engagement Fund, they were able to create a digital story exploring identity and inequality, to be delivered for primary schools across Leeds and via social media.

 

• Can you describe your organisation and the people/communities you support?

We are a children’s touring theatre company that creates professional theatre productions of new plays and modern adaptations of fairy tales for children aged 3+ and their families and carers. We are based in Harehills in Leeds and tour locally, nationally and internationally.

 

Our aim is to delight audiences with meaningful story based plays which are very physical and often include live music. We reach audiences and communities by taking our small scale productions to studio theatres, community centres and village halls across the country. We also tour our work directly into primary schools thereby giving the whole school the opportunity to experience theatre, many for the first time.

 

• How have you been supported by Leeds Community Foundation and what has this funding enabled you to do?

We were fortunate enough to receive funding from the Mohn Westlake Arts Engagement Fund to support the creation of an online digital story for children and their families. During the pandemic we shifted our work online presenting a variety of digital stories for audiences to keep them engaged, entertained and connected. With this funding we created a delightful digital story of the book Nimesh the Explorer written by Ranjit Singh illustrated by Mehrdokht Amini followed by a simple craft activity.

 

The digital story was particularly impactful for children during the period when schools were closed and they were at home and feeling isolated, for children of key workers who were at school in small groups and indeed for children when they returned to school and creativity and the arts remained a challenge for teachers to incorporate into a school day.

 

Over 9,000 children and their families engaged with the series of stories, since the first one was launched in April 2021. Offering a story online has meant a lot of children, who would possibly never consider going to the theatre, have been able to experience and enjoy a cultural experience made specifically for them.

 

Adapting a book by an Asian author and illustrator has also been really important in terms of representation in the arts and in society. The story provided much needed cultural engagement during this very difficult time when the arts are still making tentative steps towards live performances, giving much needed continuity in accessing the arts for young people both in school and at home.

 

• Can you give us an example of an individual and or group and how they have responded to this work?

A learning disabled school in Liverpool, Sandfield Park School, engaged with all of the stories we created and shared pictures of their craft activities with us which we in turn shared on social media. They thoroughly enjoyed the stories and the sense of a treat every time a new one came out that they could watch and do the craft.

 

• What challenges and opportunities do you face as an organisation in the current climate?

The most immediate challenge is the plan to return to live performances and touring this autumn. We go into rehearsals with a new production of The Princess and The Pea mid-September. The uncertainty created by Covid is challenging in terms of the risks posed by: positive Covid testing amongst the creative team in rehearsals and/or on tour; venues closing due to infection; confidence of audiences to return to the theatre in person; keeping the touring team safe and well.

 

Opportunities include a new 5 year funded post of Arts Engagement Co-ordinator for Harehills working for us on a hyper local level focussing on children aged 3+ and increasing our activity and engagement with the community in which we reside.

 

• How is your organisation preparing for the future, and what kind of funding is needed?

We are currently in a planning phase for 2022-23 and beyond with a focus of our work very much on local engagement, diversity and inclusion and sustainability. The pandemic has shown many of us that collaboration not competition is the way forward and we are building connections and relationships with individuals and organisations across the city and specifically in our own location of Harehills.

Funding for creative projects in disadvantaged areas is always a challenge and we are continue to fundraise for our Arts Engagement Co-ordinator to deliver meaningful projects locally and to meet the shortfall on the tutti frutti club project.