Live Theatre
Changing lives in North Solihull
From April 2023, with the support of Arts Council England and other strategic partners, Big Brum has been focusing the majority of its activities on North Solihull.
We are placing live theatre at the heart of a plan that seeks to build the culture and creativity our young people want and deserve. The plan will bring about constructive change across this socio-economically deprived community, changing hundreds of lives.
In 2024, our work in North Solihull has included a successful tour of ‘Hansel and Gretel’ to almost every child in the area’s primary and special schools: a short film tells the story.
This was followed up by arts workshops in schools and the formation of a youth theatre, to feed children’s growing hunger for story and drama.
Spring 2025 brought our production of ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ to hundreds of young people in the area’s secondary and special schools. From Summer 2025, adaptations of the ‘Red Riding Hood’ story will start going into the primary and special schools, with a further adaptation for secondary schools in Spring 2026.
Our work in North Solihull is based around three intertwined programmes: creating Schools of Recovery, creating a Community of Recovery and creating Artists for Recovery.
Schools of Recovery
Schools of Recovery (SoR) places a strong emphasis on young people’s creative and personal agency and in doing so is bringing about a cultural change in schools.
Every North Solihull child aged between 5 and 15 will experience a live performance at least once each year (primary schools) and at least once over the course of the project (secondary schools), while our ambition is that each school will receive multiple copies of a Company-produced picture book or graphic novel, based on the plays performed.
Rather than a one-off or short-term engagement in schools, this model involves close collaboration with teachers, supporting their use of drama, to improve the creative and cultural education for children and young people. This programme builds on what we have learned in an earlier project, ‘Creating Schools of Recovery.’
Community of Recovery
While SoR offers the initial incentive to become involved in the arts, the plan for a Community of Recovery (CoR) ensures that the provision of these artistic opportunities for the young also happens outside of school. These opportunities include a ‘Theatre Makers Group’ (which has started), a ‘Film Makers Group’ and a ‘Visual & Digital Art Makers Group.’ We are also planning to establish ‘Environmental Change-makers’ groups.
These groups come together, working alongside industry professionals and students from Big Brum’s partners, such as Birmingham City University, Birmingham Film School and Worcester University, in order to work collaboratively on their project and production.
Our team will ensure that the young people’s creative and cultural education is deepened and enriched by organising opportunities to experience high-quality culture beyond the work of Big Brum, such as visits to galleries, exhibitions and theatres. It is also enhanced through special projects, such as the 2024 ‘Trains of Thought’ project with Reception children at Marston Green Infant Academy.
Artists for Recovery
The plan of work to build Schools and a Community of Recovery leads to an expansion of opportunities for participatory artists, hence the third aspect of our Plan: creating Artists for Recovery.
Artists for Recovery will mentor and develop a new generation of artists and practitioners for both Big Brum and for the wider arts and education community, offering placements and pathways into employment, training and freelance work opportunities. So far, this has included work on ‘Minotaur’ as part of a graduate scheme with Birmingham City University and the employment of three freelance artists for the ‘Moments of Wow’ project with Solihull CEP.
