National Drama's Empowering Teachers Conference was held at Royal Holloway University of London (RHUL) from 15-17 April.
Delegates came from across the UK, Ireland, Turkey, New York and New Delhi, and participants were welcomed into RHUL's drama department. The event launched in the beautiful Caryl Churchill Theatre, where the conference aims were established:
- To empower drama teachers to value their work and recognise their authentic qualities as artists, teachers and facilitators (teacher-artist)
- To explore how drama and theatre strategies empower children, teachers and schools (drama curriculum)
- To establish how conference delegates define the priorities for drama and theatre empowerment, both now and in the future.
The Paper Birds started the sessions with a workshop encouraging physicality and using images as inspiration. Delegates quickly got to know each other while playing games and creating layered movements inspired by visual stimuli.
In the evening of day 1, RHUL presented a panel discussion with staff, alumni and current students. It was fascinating to trace a line between primary and secondary drama experiences through university and beyond. Hearing more about the RHUL research and the range of opportunities taken by their graduates was inspiring. It made me reflect upon my own former drama students who are RHUL graduates.
The focus of day 2 was exploring the teacher-artist model. Chair of National Drama, Dr. Geoff Readman, explored the intersectionality between teacher and artist. Empowering the teacher to explore their artistic side, Pilot Theatre workshops, which focused on text and movement, were the focus of the morning, followed by a keynote by Katie Mitchell.
In the afternoon, delegates were split into groups with time to reflect upon the experience so far, and to experiment and share. We travelled from one space to another, being welcomed into a dark theatre with song – an embodiment of the challenges of drama as well as the inner-child hook that drew us to our passion in the first place.
The evening concluded with an immersive piece by Year 12 students from Coombe Boys School. Performed in RHUL's incredible Boilerhouse Theatre, the students led the audience through an immersive performance. ‘It was fantastic to see this young group – and for them to deliver such an excellent piece of immersive theatre with a strong message. It brought the conference to life,’ commented a fellow delegate Dr Sharon Coyne.
The Beat Goes On workshop brought energy and fun to the final day. Sharon Coyne's beautiful keynote, Empowering Disadvantaged Learners, detailing her journey with school-excluded students, reminded us of the potential drama has to bring hope, camaraderie and self-worth to all involved.
Sharon talked about her projects with a charity that works through theatre and community to support those who are recovering from drug or alcohol addiction. Her talk embodied Vita Nova's values of positive action and compassion to better understand addiction through education.
The conference concluded with time for delegates to discuss, collaborate and plan for the application of the many ideas generated by the conference.
A final treat: we were invited into RHUL's amazing Futures Studio, their new virtual production facility; we experienced the state-of-the-art audio and visual equipment and heard about how it is being used to explore and enhance acting.
It was a great pleasure to be all together in such an exciting location for this inspiring conference.