Arts as a bridge to education and inclusion

Thanks to your donations, Somebody’s Daughter Theatre are improving the educational outcomes for young people through a fulltime arts-led education program of school refusers.

Somebody’s Daughter Theatre Company is a unique company of artists whose mission is to work with the most marginalised in our community, empower them and give them a voice.  Somebody’s Daughter Theatre delivers social change in the community, providing opportunities for marginalised young people including those in out of home care and secure welfare, to break cycles of abuse, addiction and disengagement.

A $30,000 grant from the Give Where You Live Foundation supports the Somebody Daughter Theatre’s program ‘Arts as the bridge to education and inclusion’. Working in partnership with Courthouse Youth Arts, Newcomb Secondary College and Barwon Child, Youth & Family, the aim is to conduct a series of arts-based workshops, targeting disconnected and marginalised young people referred by schools and agencies.

Every week a core group of 10 young people attended the alternative school set up in the fabulous Courthouse space to study English, maths, art and VCE drama, music as well as other subjects. These formerly disengaged young people maintained an 86% overall attendance rate.

The Company concluded the year with a hugely successful regional tour of, “Anchoring the Wind… Because I Matter” in Wodonga, Benalla and in home town Geelong!  It was seen by over 2,000 people, including secondary schools and the wider community:

“It was SO real. There is so much work to be done to ‘fix’ issues surrounding disengaged youth”.  (GOTAFE) 

“So very powerful! Blown away”. (Member of Parliament)

 “It was the best. My favourite performance ever”. (Female 13 student)

 “Beautiful and inspiring! Congratulations on showing us how to handle adversity, being resilient and breaking the cycle”. (Female 36 teacher)

 “I’ll have more empathy for people”. (Male student 15)

The program continues in 2017 with the current intake of young people proudly naming  themselves, “Nobody’s Fool Theatre” after a songline in the play, ‘I’m a teenage recidivist, (but) I’m nobody’s fool.’