Save the arts, they may save you one day

The hashtags have ceased to trend, but there are passionate voices here in the UK to save the arts industry from the near collapse brought upon it by the pandemic (and the government, but that's another story for another time). There seems little mainstream appreciation for the fact that the arts are a channel through which education, emotional connection, stress relief, and spiritual uplift can all be achieved, sometimes all together.

Performing arts saved my life. I'm driven by a desire to return the favour.

I used to be a pub singer, festival poet, and what is known in health and social work as an Activities Coordinator - meaning, someone whose job it is to make sure people living in full time care institutions maintain hobbies and a social life. My wife was at the time, and still is now, a writer, a model and a Tarot card reader. We pooled our skills and, when we became a married couple, we also became a working partnership: His & Hers Theatre Company.

We have a multi layered way of working, and we make sure as many people benefit at every level as we can.

We live in a community that has a really strong sense of that word in a real sense - Community. There are children's charity fundraising events that take advantage of the colourful peforming arts scene here in our hometown, from face painting and flash mobs to catwalks and drag shows. We jump at the chance to get involved, because it helps lift up people's lives, gets our names and faces known, and provides us with priceless "on the job" training. We also have a huge New Age scene in our town, with community celebrations for Solstices & Equinoxes, May Day & Halloween, New Moons and Full Moons. Again, we jump at the chance to get involved, not only because we are believers in Magic ourselves, but because it brings people together & helps us remember to always add a bit of magic and meaning to the work we do. Through all these things we get to know people, not just personally but professionally too. I confess that, while charity fundraisers and spiritual celebrations are beautiful and priceless in themselves, they're also something that brings out my ulterior motive of networking.

Most people we've got to know in this way, run their own small businesses in town - our High Street is well known for having one-off shops from end to end, the only "names" or chains from out of town being the supermarket, the chemist and the post office. Having got to know who we are, what we do, and that we genuinely care, we come to friendly agreements with them: they advertise our events in their shops, and we advertise their support in our shows.

We take what we make from that, and we channel it into what has become our main bread winning day to day business - mini musical shows for care homes. We've designed a whole roster of two-handed, one-hour, jukebox musical theatre shows, specially designed to fit in the back of a car and go anywhere; but also, more importantly, specially designed so that anyone watching can take part and feel like they're in the show, whatever their level of mental or physical ability to engage with the outside world. Our audiences range from young teens with autism, to elderly people with dementia.

We work strongly with what's known as the Social Model of Disability: the belief that people are not "disabled" by their inner condition, but by the outside world's response to it. No matter what their condition or how serious it is - autism, dementia, cerebral palsy, or paraplegia - there's no reason why, if properly provided for in society, it should ever "disable" them from living their best life. Autism, especially, is not an inability to understand, but to BE UNDERSTOOD.

IF YOU CAN'T COME TO THE THEATRE, WE'LL BRING THE THEATRE TO YOU, our promotional posters proudly proclaim.

And research confirms that we are genuinely doing people good. I don't have citations to hand, but the numbers show that the more physical, emotional, mental and spiritual beneficial activity one gets - be it sport, music, church, art, craft, dance, competitions or comedy - the greater the measurable therapeutic effects. Happier equals healthier. The more activities like ours people are given, the less serious down turns there are in their conditions, and the less time they spend needing extra treatment from hospitals or doctors. Not to mention, nursing is a heroically stressful and selfless profession, and the more of a break we can give them by having their clients with us for an hour, the less stress they've gone through by the end of the day.

We take the money (and the joy) we get from that, and we invest it in our annual big project: an inclusive community Shakespeare production. We make sure our cast and crew are as wide a range of races, nationalities, ages, gender identities and sexualities as we ever possibly can, showing everyone that there is such a thing as a safe space to be absolutely their full expression of their true self. Just for one example, we gained the eternal gratitude of a transgender man by being the first people to consider him right for the part of male character. He repaid us by giving the best performance as Demetrius of Athens that we have ever seen. We know what it's like to lose out for having the "wrong" accent or not "pass" as your true gender, and we will have none of that in our cast and crew!

We then, as the next level up, use our successes and the expertise, experience and profit they grant us, to help other companies we consider allies to get off the ground, keep themselves from being run down into the ground, or take whatever next step up in their own five year plans we can, by hiring ourselves out to them to be involved in their work, or in promoting and publicising their work, in whatever ways our skills enable us to. We've already done so for an art school, a college theatre, a startup company of short film makers, and others in similar veins. And we know for a fact that the mental health of those involved was infinitely lifted by having the chance to live their passions just like we are finally living ours.

The great aim is to save enough money to buy a big, versatile property outright, and transform it into a thriving performing arts centre where people who've been held back because of physical health, mental health, class, nationality, colour, racial prejudice, religious prejudice, lack of educational opportunity, lack of funds, disability, neurodivergence, or bigotry against their sexuality or gender identity, will find a theatre and studio specially designed to make sure they are given every chance they deserve to achieve what they desire, and be their best selves as they perform the art that lives inside them.

We've survived the shutdown of the country and its arts industry, alongside other, even more vital, workforces - a shutdown which we absolutely did not object to, since it saved people's lives the world over - by hiring ourselves out for portrait modelling, music teaching, book editing, film extra work, and audio production. And as much as it has provided our clients with much needed services and ourselves with much needed funds, we are aching for the day when we can get back into the full daily swing of watching our work do real and lasting good for the people around us.