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New performing arts degree for students with learning difficulties

12/06/2003

"NESTA is dedicated to supporting pioneering education projects like Razor Edge's innovative project."

The Razor Edge Theatre Initiative is an independent organisation that aims to secure an entitlement to training in the performing arts for people with learning difficulties. It was developed by Mike Ormerod and Irene Kappes: theatre and education practitioners with more than twenty years experience of working with people with learning difficulties in the performing arts.

The course will be run at Rose Bruford College, a university sector college offering a unique range of degree courses in Theatre and related arts. It will equip students with the skills, understanding and confidence required to take up employment in theatre and related professions through the creation of a new model of supported learning using a multi-disciplinary, multi-sensory approach. This will enable the students to progress beyond usual expectations and make a valuable contribution to a profession where people with learning difficulties are under represented. Professor Len Barton at the Institute of Education, University of London, will be undertaking the evaluation study of the degree programme.

There are approximately 145,000 adults with learning difficulties in England and only about 5-6000 of those are in some sort of paid employment. Up to 30,000 have no daytime occupation. Around 60% of adults with severe learning difficulties still live with their families.

NESTA support, through its Learning Programme and over 36 months, will go towards employing a team of lecturers with learning difficulties, acting as mentors, providing leadership, support and role models for the students.

Gareth Binns, NESTA Learning Director, said:

"NESTA is dedicated to supporting pioneering education projects like Razor Edge innovative project for the first degree programme in Theatre Performance and Workshop Practice for students with severe learning disabilities. With the obvious demand for such a programme, as well as the demand from the cultural industries for professionally trained performers with learning disabilities, this could provide a valuable template for others to follow and develop."

In 1995 Mike and Irene established Theatre Arts Course Greenwich, a three-year accredited professional training in performing arts for students with learning difficulties. The majority of the 12 students had in the past attended special schools for young people with learning difficulties. The course ended in July 1998 but Mike and Irene continued to work with a number of graduates, notably on a piece for the Blitz Dance Festivalin 1998. This production explored men at work and at leisure and was performed at the Royal Festival Hall in August 1998 and saw the birth of Razor Edge.

Razor Edge is made up of a fully trained team of professional performers and workshop leaders who have learning difficulties. It aims to provide challenging performance and employment opportunities for artists with learning difficulties and challenge audiences' perceptions of what performers with learning difficulties can accomplish, through both form and content. The company is based in London and tours to audiences in the UK.