Odd Arts ANNUAL REPORT 2022 - 2023

Annual Report 2022-2023

Using theatre to address inequalities & increase opportunities for people facing the greatest level of discrimination & disadvantage

“This year we have continued to build on the themes that matter so deeply to us: Overcoming hate, discrimination & racism; reducing violence (in its many forms); celebrating unheard stories; and mental health.

We have seen an increased demand for our work and the complexity that can come with it. In the ‘post covid’ era we see increased inequalities, a cost of living crisis and a huge strain on funding across the sector. Thanks to our most dedicated, talented and compassionate staff and freelance team, we have continued to find creative solutions to ensure we maintain the most meaningful and high quality experience for the people we serve.

We continue to learn, be challenged and inspired by our beneficiaries - who have played a key part in all our projects, focusing on subjects from air pollution, to the injustice of IPP sentences.

We are at a hugely exciting time for Odd Arts and are incredibly grateful for new confirmed investment over the next three years. We are

launching a new ‘artistic excellence’ standard; formalising our training, development & cultural partnerships; and increasing our team and support for staff. This year we also celebrated becoming formal partners of the Royal Exchange Theatre. Our motivation to continually adapt, develop and improve is inspired by the need to offer the most transformative theatre and cultural experiences for people facing the greatest level of disadvantage and discrimination.

With huge thanks to new funders this year Innox Foundation, Foyle Foundation and Pilgrim Trust as well as so many long term supporters and partners of our work, including The National Lottery. Please enjoy a small snapshot of our impact from April 2022 - March 2023.

8,400

40,000

YouTube views workshops / performances beneficiaries

1200

Rebecca Friel MBE CEO Odd Arts

12

work experience placements partners

32 volunteers

185

Flagship Projects

How we belong

How we belong explored themes of identity, community and belonging through theatre, art & creative writing with a focus on Jewish and Muslim community groups. We also delivered work at Longsight Library, where participants joined from multiple and diverse backgrounds, from some born and bred Mancunians, to people who have settled in the city from Syria and Nigeria, to recent refugee and asylum seekers from Iran, Palestine and Kuwait.

We explored the diversity within different identities through a cultural, religious and political lens and participants responded creatively. The aim of this work as a whole has been to provide a platform for story-telling about personal experiences, to enable people to celebrate not only the similarities but also the differences in their identities, by acknowledging and accepting everyone for who they are, and celebrating all the nuances.

This work culminated in two parallel art exhibitions at The Manchester Jewish Museum and Longsight Library coinciding with International Human Rights Day on the 10th December 2022. This project was funded by Manchester City Council’s RADEQUAL.

The writing and self-discovery I have found through your workshops is something I have spoken to my therapist about, as I feel it has helped me find my voice - something that has been missing my whole life

Your workshops reduce depression and anxiety amongst refugee and asylum seekers, because of the energy and passion and creativity you bring to it

It was wonderfully done, I have enjoyed the chance to meet others and have thought-provoking conversations

Community Concept

Community Concept (a US Embassy funded project) was designed to bring together men from across Greater Manchester from different faiths, ethnicities and backgrounds, to explore the context, process, triggers and vulnerabilities leading to radicalisation, as well as exploring creative ways to overcome these. This innovative programme also upskilled the men in the specialist techniques (non-violent communication; restorative approaches; trauma informed; engagement skills) and supported them to design, devise and create their own radicalisation prevention workshop tailored to the needs of their own community. This project was delivered across: Rochdale and Oldham; Salford and Manchester; Wigan and Bolton.

All cohorts came together to share their work with one another, as a day of learning and development, relationship building, and community connections. This celebration event enabled the participants to fully evaluate and positively critique one another’s work, in order to achieve the best result and prepare them for future community delivery and a lasting legacy.

Youth barriers

Youth barriers was a theatre performance developed in partnership with young people attending an alternative education provision in Middlesbrough. They worked towards a performance based on their own lived experience to ensure that varied service leaders in the region better understood the challenges they faced and how to support overcoming them. The young people performed to a large conference audience and engaged delegates in forum theatre to find solutions. All the young people achieved an accreditation.

Developing Anti-Racist Teaching Practise with Show Racism The Red Card

Everyone involved received an ASDAN in leadership. You can see some of the campaigns created here:

am beautiful exploring ADHD)

‘L’ was quiet for the first session, initially struggling to understand instructions and initially resistant; gradually L joined in the games or activities and became highly enthusiastic. L commented at least twice that he ‘wasn’t any good at drama’ and ‘can’t act’ but became enthusiastic and forthcoming when given the freedom to create a character and added the most input into this character, saying afterwards “It’s a bit like me that”. L performed skillfully as the lead role within the performance at the conference. L was really proud of himself and told us that he couldn’t believe he did it. Feedback from the audience was fantastic and added to L’s sense of pride and achievement.

We delivered an interactive, theatre based training, including a live performance for teachers across Greater Manchester. The session provided teachers with skills for healthy debate and holding challenging conversations around race and racism. We continue to deliver anti-racism training across the North West using theatre as a tool for learning.

We also delivered a schools conference of our anti-racism play Going Home in partnership with The National Football Museum. A phenomenal conference

I’m so grateful to have found your project, more personally than anything. You’ve helped change my life

What I will take away from the session is meeting new people and sharing in-depth conversations about our commonalities, our faith and belief systems. It has been great to have a space to discuss our identity in this way, in a way we don’t normally get the opportunity to do so.

I feel like I have learnt, that you can’t run away from yourself, but you can find yourself

Creative Community Resettlement

I think doing these sessions brings out the best in me and shows me what I can achieve

Creative Community Resettlement is a flexible, needs based creative project that meets people where they are to create work tailored to their needs and interests. For the past 2 years CCR has been working across Greater Manchester delivering small group or individual creative sessions to increase confidence, improve well being and explore the specific creative aims of our participants.

This year the project was generously supported by the Innox Foundation.

Since starting the project in Feb 2021 we have worked with over 350 participants in a variety of different settings, doing anything from film making, comedy, theatre or dance.

Case Study

In working with us ‘L’ initially felt unable to come into the same room as delivery, but was happy to chat to us outside the space and watch what was going on. By session 3 L started to come into the room and join in. L began some creative writing focused on her own identity and commented ‘I feel better after that, feel calmer’. Since this L has encouraged other women to join the creative drop in sessions. Recently L asked for more opportunities and will take part in more cultural activities and visit more venues.

person performing his own comedy set at The Frog and Bucket and regular theatre trips for participants to theatres such as HOME & Royal Exchange.

Over 90 % of respondents told us that they left their sessions feeling that their mood had improved as a result of taking part.

At the start of April 2022 CCR secured funding from The Pilgrim Trust for a 3 year young women’s strand of the project. The project included work within high schools, prisons, care-leaver groups, PRUs, and Women’s Aid to name a few. We took part in cultural trips, theatre workshops, 1-2-1 sessions, creating films and showcases!

There have been so many projects and outcomes of the programme, including a film directed and written by a young person engaged with Salford Youth Justice exploring issues that have impacted his own life; a young

Q was reluctant to take part on arrival at the first session. Staff involved with Q commented that on the drive to sessions Q was very quiet compared to on the drive home when he was much more open and able to express himself more. Through the sessions Q took part in designing and creating a podcast about the youth justice system and the challenges staff and young people can face in this system. He then went on to complete the Prince’s Trust business course after some planning and discussion in sessions with our project.

I loved every minute, it was so inspirational

91% of respondents said they would return to another session, 84% saying they would now find it easy or very easy to do so.

95% of respondents said they felt more creative.

88% said that they felt more confident.

I’ve found this really calming. I just focused on what I had to do and forgot about all the things I was worried about.

It’s been good to get creative and stop thinking about the heavy day I’ve had

Please can we do more of this? It’s been so helpful for me

IN OUR WORDS

Is a three organisation strong partnership working with young people and the local community members alongside Hideaway Youth and 84YOUTH to support the exploration of themes such as injustices and inequalities. We work with young people to develop skills, opportunities and experiences, provide informal educational, and personal and social development of participants.

This year in Our Words delved into an intergenerational project exploring Colourism within society and the ways in which it divides already marginalised communities. The project rebelling against the forced standards of beauty that colourism thrusts upon society and instead celebrated diversity in skin tone, cultures and nationality. We held a bring a dish lunch and screening of a film created by our young people from Hideaway Youth Project. The film entitled NO SHADE depicted the perspective of our young people from Black and South Asian heritage. They discussed the ways in which domestic and educational institutions perpetuated colourist beliefs or failed to challenge their existence, causing detrimental effects on self esteem, and conflict with other members of the community who are often fetishised rather than ‘prefered’.

In Our Words delivered a week-long street art session during the summer break where we worked with young people to create graffiti murals and skateboards. The project aimed to reclaim the discriminative narrative of criminal art that is often deemed inferior and linked to delinquency. Instead we celebrated the art seen around the community and explored the stories that were told within these pieces of art.

On Shrove Tuesday In Our Words celebrated International Mother Language Day in partnership with Moss Side Powerhouse and Library; and were able to host a sing along with Women Asylum Seekers Together; creating art with their children. We are currently working on our latest project that tackles the politics of hair mainly within the Black diaspora, in addition to the ways gender is attacked through hair. We have conducted photoshoots placing Black hair in the centre and amplifying the message that all hair types are beautiful, professional and accepted.

Clean Air Project

Odd Arts worked with the community campaign ‘Let’s Talk Clean Air Whalley Range’ (TCAWR, @talkcleanairWR) to develop an education film about air pollution and the barriers to cleaning-up air. This involved workshops with multiple Whalley Range community groups, including parents at a local primary school, school students at a local secondary, a mental health support group at a local GP surgery, a local Church group, a group at the Muslim Heritage Centre and business owners at the Carlton Club. Using Theatre of the Oppressed techniques to elicit reflections on what prevents people in Whalley Range from taking action to clean up the local air quality. Our Associate Writer, Curtis, brought together this huge range

of material to script and, with the help of Split the Atom productions, directed a short film about the obstacles to local residents in taking decisive action on air pollution. This film, which we made with community actors and the school group from a previous workshop, was first screened at a showcase with over 50 attendees, including local MP Afzal Khan, and it is now part of a bespoke workshop delivered by the campaign, LTCAWR, to a whole range of community groups across Whalley Range and beyond. Alongside this, Odd Arts delivered training on key facilitation skills, including our core practices of restorative approaches and nonviolent communication.

In Our Words partnered with Walk the Plank to take part in the Manchester Day Parade based on the theme ‘energy of the future’. The majority of participants in this project had additional needs, ranging from Downs Syndrome to being autistic, and yet we saw them all participate fully and joyfully in the parade, with several of them even removing their sound muffling headphones, indicating a comfort level in the environment that went well beyond what we had anticipated.

You can watch the film here

Scratching the Surface Better Steps

Scratching the Surface was a film by Neville Thompson, made by adults local to Moss Side, that addresses community trauma and violence. Scratching the Surface was made with 84YOUTH, Hideaway support, Split The Atom and participants who came up through our other projects. We used it as an opportunity to host a panel discussion, also at The Whitworth. Neville has gone on to work with Odd Arts and HOME Manchester, developing his own professional practise and supporting young people to create their own short films.

Youth provision at Moss Side Powerhouse

Better Steps is a film created in partnership with Merosworld, GM VRU and Street Doctors. The community led film was driven by Kelly Brown, the mother who tragically lost her son Rhamero West to knife crime. The film focuses on sharing the basic but vital information needed to stop bleeding in a knife crime victim.

We are proud to continue our young people’s drama and creative offer in our base. This year we have grown our juniors youth drama club on Mondays, and developed excellent partnerships with large theatre and performing arts organisations in Manchester. We have seen regular attendance at capacity for our juniors group. We have formally partnered for 2023 with the Royal Exchange, leading to workshops for our young people, a young person getting onto their youth advisory board, free theatre tickets, free tours and the potential to collaborate on their autumn shows. We partnered with HOME over August 2022, leading to HOME delivering a workshop on bannermaking with a group at our Holiday Activity Fund creative play scheme, and providing the group with a full day of joyful, interactive fun at their building, where the young people got to explore the theatre, costumes, cinema and art gallery. We also took part in Manchester Day Parade!

Additionally we have started a regular theatre drop-in in partnership with City in the Community and Wythenshawe Forum, which takes place every Saturday evening.

You can watch his film (which was shortlisted for the National Criminal Justice Alliance Best Documentary Award) here

Prison and secure unit work

We have worked within more prison projects this year than ever before (across the country, delivering spoken word, theatre projects, and taking in professional plays to adult men’s and women’s prisons, often in partnership with NOVUS education. We also continue to support young people in partnership with Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS in local secure care homes. The young people in some of these care homes have seen incredible projects, where the young people have scripted, directed (professional actors), acted, and produced their own plays (even with accompanying showreels).

A Place to Stay

A Place to Stay is a film and toolkit developed in partnership with Carmarthenshire Council and Aberystwyth University, alongside many other local partners. We delivered a series of community workshops to explore the local context relating to the vulnerabilities that lead to extreme far right ideologies and radicalisation in the area. We were proud to partner local Welsh actors and volunteers to make the project possible, which will go on to be trained to staff, teachers, educators and youth workers and used as a tool to hold challenging conversations and prevent hateful extremism amongst 1000s of young people.

Let’s Face Change

Let’s Face Change is a campaign led by mental health practitioners and psychologists, aiming to reduce discrimination and lack of diversity in the mental health system. Odd Arts is a key partner of the project, this year supporting a conference at Whitworth Art which brought together over 100 people from across the sector to connect and take time to address the issues further. We have secured further funding to develop the work through further seminars, workshops and conferences.

To find out more about the project watch this video: Lets face change

The best bit has been working as a team

Really powerful stuff! I enjoyed listening to the heartfelt lyrics, the honesty and courageous truth. It’s really good that the prison recognises the value of giving prisoners a voice through art

It’s been a really positive experience to share so emotionally with other men on the wing, people I never spoke to before. We now acknowledge each other. I trust and know that what we’ve shared in the room will stay in the room, it’s broken down barriers and built trust

Touring theatre workshops and forum theatre plays

A Spiralling Mind

A Spiralling Mind has continued to reach 1000s of young people, particularly in partnership with Salford City Council, as well as an adult training conference addressing suicide. It is a forum theatre play that explores self harm, anxiety, depression & suicidal thoughts amongst young people. We were particularly proud this year to further develop our wellbeing and mental health delivery within parts of the Orthodox Jewish School in Salford. Written by Barney Thompson.

‘Here & Now’ and ‘Mixed Up’

We have continued to deliver theatre performances (this year with new and updated scripts) and workshops addressing hateful extremism across nine local authorities. The work addresses Far Right, Mixed/Unstable/ Unclear ideologies and International extremism; as well as exploring the impact of such dangerous acts of hate on the community. Following the play, participants step into the performance to test out solutions or offer support to people before it’s too late.

Written by Curtis Cole.

‘Going Home’ and ‘Knock Out Blow’

We continue to tour these community led and inspired plays addressing racism to schools, and also a growing number of adult professionals, where most recently an anonymous survey showed 94% felt more equipped to deal with racism. Written by Curtis Cole

Other plays we continue to tour, include:

Just One Favour (working in partnership with Tameside Community Safety Team to address child criminal exploitation);

Grey Area (addressing sexual assault and consent, developed with survivors of rape);

Checking Behaviours (addressing unhealthy relationships);

and Emergency Room (exploring knife crime).

We commissioned international applied theatre expert Geo Britto (Brazil) who was Augusto Boal’s longest standing facilitator, to deliver 3 days training. One day also led to local young people performing a ‘Theatre of the oppressed’ at HOME Manchester

Odd Arts has also been commissioned to develop four bespoke plays this year for partner training & education purposes.

Touring theatre workshops and forum theatre plays

And in other news…

Corporate packages

Corporate packages including ‘off the shelf’ training and bespoke plays and workshops to address business and staff needs have been commissioned throughout the year. Examples include a number of theatre based interactive training designed for Sodexo including work addressing trust, communication and neurodivergency. We host a corporate development committee we need to express our gratitude to for their time and wisdom given in order to help raise unrestricted income streams for our charity.

We lost our dear friend, mentor and trustee Wyllie Longmore, who sadly died in January this year. Wyliie will remain an inspiration for Odd Arts for many years to come

Our CEO Rebecca was awarded an MBE for ‘Services to Education and Communities in Manchester’ in 2022

We welcomed three new trustees Aleena Ali, Amber Calland and Katie Swift. Aleena is our first ever U18 trustee. We also saw Dominic Bruce step down from the Board after a huge impact on our organisation

We were thrilled to receive news that we were awarded core funding for the first time in our history from GM Culture Fund, Manchester Culture Fund and Our Manchester VCS fund which will hugely support Odd Arts and the communities we serve for the next three years

2022/23 was the first year Odd Arts managed to track it’s carbon footprint, which for the year stands at 18.4 tonnes c02

Our team

We have an outstanding team of dedicated, passionate and talented people which we are excited will grow in 2023:

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