Creating Routes

'Creating Routes' is a programme designed for training London’s young participatory Arts Practitioners of the Future.

Gail Babb (Talawa Theatre Company) and Chloe Osborne (EEA), lead the programme and mentor the young people along with Sue Mayo (Goldsmith's University). We are currently in year 2 of Creating Routes in this second year we have also been funded by Creativeworks to carry out research into the efficiency and outcomes of the programme.

The programme supports the young participatory arts practitioners through a mix of workshops and placements, with additional learning both facilitated by and alongside the MA Applied Theatre students at the Goldsmith’s University of London.

The primary aim of the research is to investigate:

• What impact does the project have on trainees’ and students’ career-readiness (including the acquisition of specialist skills/knowledge, development of key skills and understanding of employment practices)?
• Can the peer support created within the project be sustained and developed into a valuable professional network as trainees progress into increasingly hectic and often solitary freelance careers?
• What can SMEs/HEIs learn from providing this form of training and what is the practice of these organisations?

Creating Routes and the research of it rhizomatically stems as a living example of Sue Mayo and Dr. Katharine Low’s (RCSSD) 2013 AHRC funded research: ‘How do we teach socially engaged theatre practice?’ By incorporating a blend of organisations (EEA, Talawa), each with their own respective industry and creative networks, mixed with an academic institution (Goldsmith’s) and the presence and influence of other trainee practitioners in the form of the MA Applied Theatre students; will the young trainees flourish and succeed or become overwhelmed and despondent about participatory practices?

Through a filmed documentary ‘style’ report that aims to evaluate and expand upon findings, we want to both investigate and address the primary research questions and demonstrate the practical ‘essence’ of the programme. Furthermore, we also recognise that Creating Routes is part of a much wider series of apprenticeships and training programmes on offer in London and the UK to early-career practitioners. How does Creating Routes sit in relation to that wider offering?