Participation & Workshops
I have a strong belief in the capacity of creativity to change people’s lives for the better. I’ve spent the last decade working with a diverse range of people and facilitating projects which offer a platform for them to express themselves: through theatrical performance, group film-making workshops and one-to-one mentoring.
Bring Me Laughter
Film Artist, The Dukes (2018-21)
From 2018-21, I collaborated with a number of other artists on Bring Me Laughter, a project run by the Dukes in Lancaster, in which we ran regular participatory multi-arts sessions with people living with dementia and their carers. Together, we made a short animated film, co-created by our participants and artists and inspired by ideas explored during remote lockdown Bring Me Laughter sessions. The film is a loving celebration of Morecambe's coastal front and cultural heritage.
‘A Grand Day’ was premiered online at the Bring Me Laughter festival in February 2021, and features an introduction by me in which I talk about the process of making it.
You can read more about the project and watch all of the other online events from the festival here.
State of Flux 2.0
Lead Film Artist, Ludus Dance (2020-2021)
I’ve recently finished co-facilitating State of Flux, which is an incredibly special project with Ludus Dance which has enabled myself and other artists to connect with many young people who have been experiencing mental health difficulties. We ran a programme of weekly creative sessions at The Cove in Heysham, a mental health unit for young people.
Alongside a musician, Luke Moore, and a dance artist, Amber Calland, I also delivered 1:1 community sessions with young people who were referred to us through Lancashire's Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).
During our sessions we met young people who would arrive at the session disengaged and withdrawn, who then left the session having choreographed a dance, created a film trailer, written a song or engaged in debate and conversation. However, State of Flux is also about the small successes, whether that be smiles and laughter, or even a participant remaining for the duration of a session. State of Flux has been a clear example of how the arts can release tension and act as a medium to create positive change.
The project culminated in Summer 2021 with our Celebration Event, a digital space to platform the work of our State of Flux participants; this includes song lyrics, an online book and a short dance film that was the result of a three day creative intensive which enabled a State of Flux participant to become a Young Choreographer and to work with a filmmaker and five young dancers.
To experience the full celebration event, including a number of short films, please visit here.
You can also read more about the project here.
A short film documenting the final week of rehearsals leading up to performing at the Bristol Old Vic.
Acts of Resistance
Associate Director, Headlong Theatre & Brewery Arts Centre (2017-19)
In the not so distant future, England finds itself in the middle of yet another political earthquake. In our sitting rooms, on our streets, just off our shores, something is shifting under our feet and all across the nation communities are cracking.
But what would happen if people stopped keeping calm and carrying on. What if hope came from the most unexpected place…?
This brand-new play, created by four communities across England and award-winning writer Stef Smith, is a playful and passionate new production that looks at what we have inherited and what, for the sake of all our futures, we are willing to leave behind.
Acts of Resistance has been created through a bold and ambitious project called Headlong Futures. Bringing together four distinctive communities across England to create four unique stories, which have now been combined into one play, uncovering the fractures within our country.
Headlong Futures is collaborating with Bristol Old Vic, New Perspectives, Theatre Royal Plymouth and Brewery Arts Centre.
Reviews of Acts of Resistance
““A passionate community play about the shifting sands of today’s society… Director Rob Watt has done a sterling job in uniting the four threads…”
— The Stage ★ ★ ★ ★
“I had any preconceptions of what community theatre might look like shattered by seeing Acts of Resistance”
— Weston Super Mum
“This piece couldn’t be more timely, as communities all over this island buckle down in hope. But as we were reminded at the end of the piece, hope alone isn’t enough.”
— Bristol 24/7
“The play is an outstanding tale of how a divided nation can come together across generations.”
— Lifestyle Direct
Still Me
Film Artist & Theatre Practitioner, The Dukes (2015-17)
Still Me was a person-centred, participative multi-arts group for people living with dementia and their caregivers. It was one strand of A Life More Ordinary, a dementia arts programme at The Dukes, which aimed to offer greater choice, and accessibility to the creative arts for people living with dementia, not only those diagnosed with the condition but also their friends, family members and carers.
I was one of four artists involved in in the delivery of Still Me and a multitude of positive outcomes arose from this unique collaborative process-led project. As a team, we aimed to craft each session whilst always intending to remain responsive by offering an experience that is co-created by the people in the room.
I wrote an article on the project for A Younger Theatre, which you can read here.
You can access a resource pack on our creative approach to the sessions here.
“Renga goes beyond poetry: it is the art of communalism.”
“Having only dabbled in the odd few lines of poetry, I was unsure how I’d get on collaborating with others to come up with a poem - a substantial 21 verse one one at that!
But guided by a gifted renga leader, Jon clearly introduced us to Renga and nurtured our offerings, I was surprised how enjoyable creative writing can be. And it was the collaboration and the camaraderie engendered that was a big part of the fun. We made good use of the woodland setting at this seasonal turning point, to draw on for our word images. And sitting together in the yurt with the warmth and scents of tea and wood burner our senses were enlivened to the elemental world that we are so often to busy to experience.”
Dark Renga
Collaborative Poetry Facilitator, Outrider Anthems (2017)
I have a deep love of language and try to incorporate the written and spoken word into my participatory practice wherever possible, using forms of collaborative creative writing to encourage self-expression among people.
In 2017, I was inspired by Lucy Neal’s magnificent book Playing For Time: making art as if the world mattered to facilitate renga: an ancient Japanese poetic form which invites collaborative composition of a series of linked verses which celebrate the natural world and human relationships. The form is a wonderfully inclusive, participatory and communal way of using creative writing as a tool for exploring the present moment.
I ran a series of renga days throughout 2017 as part of Reading's Festival of the Dark with Outrider Anthems.
Other theatre and collaborative projects include:
After the Floods (2016)
An immersive performance devised with Lancaster’s homeless community in response to experiences of Storm Desmond.
County Lines (Film Artist for Applied Theatre in Cumbria, Brewery Arts, 2019)
Lancashire Sagas (Live Visuals Filmmaker - Lancashire Music Service, 2019)
The Jamboree - (Film & Theatre Practitioner - A Life More Ordinary: Creative Adventures in Dementia, The Dukes, 2018)
Port Stories - (Film Artist - The Dukes, 2017)
After the Floods (Lead Artist - Alternative Outcomes for the Dukes Theatre, 2016)
Grimm Tales (Director - Brewery Arts Centre, Junior Drama & Young Filmmakers, 2016)
Second Person Narrative (Co-Director - Dukes Senior Youth Theatre, 2016)
Beauty and the Beast (Filmmaker - Dukes Theatre, 2015)
Cinderfella (Director - Alternative Outcomes for Dukes Theatre & LDHAS, 2015)
Twisted (Assistant Director - Alternative Outcomes for Dukes Theatre & LDHAS, 2015)
Point to Point (Filmmaker - Louie Ingham & Mark Melville for Lakes Culture, 2015)
Ebenezer Dealer (Assistant Director & Filmmaker - Alternative Outcomes for Dukes Theatre & LDHAS, 2015)
DYNAMITE: Walton-Le-Dale Boys Cyber-Bullying Dance Tour (Filmmaker - LUDUS Dance, 2014)
Your Country Needs You! (Assistant Director - Dukes Young Actors, 2014)
Primary Futures (Filmmaker - Church Walk Primary School - Ulverston, 2013)
Hamlet (Assistant Director - Dukes Young Actors, 2013)
