2024 in Review: DIY Theatre’s 30th Birthday and Beyond
As we look back on 2024 and move toward our winter break, what a year it has been! We began with preparations for our 30th birthday celebrations, bringing to life three special projects that used film, textiles and photography to creatively tell our stories.
Celebrating DIY’s 30th Birthday Projects
Thirty Profiles – This photography exhibition was created by photographer Audrey Albert, working with DIY Artists and Leaders. Audrey held a photoshoot with each member to capture individual portraits that represented their unique personalities and passions.
Close Knit – Led by visual artist Clare Hignett, this textile project involved members of DIY’s core company and visual arts groups. Together, they created a unique and original textile piece celebrating DIY’s history and identity.
Exploring Our Past, Shaping Our Futures – In this film project, led by filmmaker Hilary Easter-Jones, DIY artists and leaders from the Core Company and DIY Gamechangers programme came together to create a film showcasing DIY Theatre’s history and legacy over the past 30 years.
Unveiling the Projects: Celebrating 30 Years of DIY Theatre
We then celebrated our 30th anniversary with two wonderful events in the summertime:
‘Exploring Our Past, Shaping Our Futures’ Event – 18th June 2024
Held at the New Adelphi, University of Salford, this event began with a welcome song from DIY company members and then Jenny Sealey OBE officially opened the event with a speech – Jenny is Artistic Director of Graeae Theatre Company as well as a DIY Patron. We premiered our “Exploring our Past, Shaping our Futures” film, which highlighted our outstanding work in performance, leadership, cultural education and advocacy. The afternoon featured more films, songs, performances and even sensory activities from our multi-sensory shows for the audience to enjoy.
The pace was very engaging and everyone was so welcoming. It’s been a pleasure to see all of the fantastic work that DIY does and I can’t wait to see more! – Audience member
The performances were really encouraging. You’ve involved the audience and we could feel the meaning of each performance. – Audience member
‘Close Knit’ Event – 21st June 2024
At The Angel Centre in Salford, we invited our friends, families and networks to view an exhibition of past and present DIY work in the Ballroom. The exhibition unveiled two special pieces: the “Close Knit” textile project led by Clare Hignett and “Thirty Profiles,” the photography collection created with Audrey Albert. The audience was in awe of these creative works!
Very impacted and emotional and happy for the DIY members and crew well done! Hope its functions and goes on for many years into the future with such grace and dignity to its lovely participants. – Audience member
It was good to learn the history of DIY Theatre and learn that it has been going for so long. And it was interesting to see some of the work that DIY Theatre members have created. – Audience member
As Seen on the BBC!
Before we wrap up our birthday highlights, we’re still thinking about how proud we felt to have been featured on BBC News!
Just before Learning Disability Week, reporter Molly Brewer and her camera crew came to visit us during rehearsals for our birthday celebrations. Molly talked to our core company members about their experiences with DIY Theatre and what makes our work special. She even joined in as we sang our astronaut song!
On the day of our first 30th birthday event, our story was shown three times on BBC News: during North West Today, North West Tonight, and the Late News. It was also shared online on the BBC North West website, helping even more people learn about DIY Theatre and the creativity of our members.
Celebrations and So Much More
This year wasn’t only about celebrating our 30th! Here are some highlights from 2024:
Touring “Hanging by a Thread”
Our Core Company toured our multi-sensory show, Hanging by a Thread, at lots of venues across the North West, including the University of Salford, Manchester’s Piper Hill School, Bolton’s Firwood School, Salford’s Springwood School, Aspire-Waterside, Aspire – St George’s, We Invented the Weekend at Salford Quays, Darnhill Festival in Rochdale, Cartwheel Arts at Peoples History Museum and Bury College. Phew!
Creative Leadership
DIY Gamechangers took part in training sessions on Safeguarding, Anti-Racism training with Contact, British Sign Language, and Deaf Lived Experience which was led by Manchester Deaf Centre.
DIY leaders had lots of opportunities to use their leadership skills through co-leading sessions in schools, colleges, and community settings across the Northwest, as well as with Occupational Therapy students at the University of Salford and Medical students at the University of Manchester.
Creative Community Education
Throughout the year, we offered adult education and creative sessions, including Backstage courses at Pendleton College, weekly visual arts sessions and DIY BUDS sessions at Langworthy Cornerstone. Our strong partnerships with Aspire St George’s and Chatsworth Futures have continued across the year to ensure that adults and young people with learning disabilities from across Salford have been offered opportunities to take part in high quality creative activities.
Transforming Leadership Programme
Through this programme, DIY Gamechangers Charlotte and Amy continued their national paid training, Amy in governance and Charlotte in directing. They both undertook 12-week placements at The Lowry. Charlotte worked with YES Drama to co-direct the opening scene of their performance. Amy worked with Emma Underwood, The Lowry’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Manager, to advise The Lowry about developing accessible formats for their policies.
You can read previous news items about Charlotte’s leadership journey here and about Amy’s leadership journey here.
DIY Theatre brought ‘Hanging by a Thread’ to IMPACT: Reflect + Respond Conference by Cartwheel Arts
Looking Ahead to 2025
As you can see, it’s been a busy and rewarding year. We’re so happy to have reached 30 years and have no plans to slow down! We’re looking forward to a well-earned Winter Break, but we’re also looking forward to lots of exciting new projects and opportunities in 2025 – although there probably won’t be quite as much celebration cake!
One thing we’ll always have to remind us of this milestone is our incredible DIY masterpiece. Live Illustrator Beka Haigh joined us at our summer birthday events and created something truly special: a beautiful illustration capturing our members and what DIY means to them. Isn’t Beka incredibly talented? We absolutely love it and have loved sharing it far and wide. Take a look below – we think you’ll love it too.
