Ignite Me Workshop Theatre is an Inclusive Theatre company specialising in making plays that are based on lived experience. It was set up in 2017 by Bryony Meteyard, a Disabled Theatre for Development Practitioner. We work in partnership with local charities to involve marginalised people in creating theatre that tells the true stories of people who are often excluded, demonised and ignored. Our partners include Ruils, Safety Net People First, Merton Centre for Independent Living and Multi-Cultural Richmond. We are an organisation that is run by and for Disabled and disadvantaged people and our leaders have lived experience of Disability. Our Director and a member of our team were delegates in Inclusion London's Deaf and Disabled Leaders of the Future programme which allowed us to develop our leadership practise. We believe that Disabled People are under-repersented in leadership roles and that's why over 80% of our Facilitators are Disabled People. We support and listen to creative ideas from participants, some of whom have become Facilitators, taking on leadership roles. We have previously been funded by The Mayor of London's Culture Seeds and we received an Arts Council Emergency Response grant but we are now looking for funding to continue our valuable work which is vital for our participants' mental health, well-being, connection and to maintain social contact in these devastating times. We hope to run 6 courses of workshops in the new year, both online and in person when restrictions allow. These will be weekly meetings over four weeks where participants can meet new people, learn new skills and express themselves. Disabled people have been largely overlooked during COVID-19, many of them are shielding and have access difficulties so we will continue our online presence even after all tiers have been phased out. We have been offered sites such as Marble Hill Park, Twickenham Wellbeing Centre and The Exchange where we can continue in person. So far participants have all expressed a desire to continue the workshops and have rated them highly. We would like to roll this out to as many Richmond residents as we can. In the latest poll for our workshops, all participants said they met new people and enjoyed the sessions. The majority also indicated that they learned something new and were given a chance to express themselves in a safe space. Our work is essential in Richmond where the few participatory arts activities that do exist are exclusive.
