Full Body and The Voice (FBATV) theatre company based at the Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield is celebrating as it has received a grant worth £45,000. The two year grant towards salaries and overhead costs at the charity has been made by the Lloyds TSB Foundation for England and Wales through its Community programme. The funding will allow the charity to deliver a new actor training programme and develop community outreach facilities.
Operating since 1998, FBATV works with and develops the talents of actors with learning disabilities. The theatre company delivers bespoke productions for its cast of ten to twelve actors and tours mainstream theatres around Britain. Last years collaborative production of Pinocchio premiered at York Theatre Royal before touring to the Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield and then on to the West Midlands. Alongside the adult company, over sixty young people with learning disabilities take part in Full Body and the Voice youth theatre sessions held in Kirklees every week.
FBATV also deliver high level training contracts to corporate organisations including South Yorkshire Police. The company have trained more than 300 South Yorkshire police officers in communications techniques which have assisted officers in interviewing vulnerable witnesses. Through role play and discussion, the company’s actors encourage a greater understanding by police of requirements when dealing with people with learning disabilities.
The Lloyds TSB Foundation grant will allow the charity to expand its capacity and meet demand for its successful projects, creating more opportunities for people with learning disabilities in Yorkshire. Full Body and The Voice is currently advertising to recruit an acting tutor and outreach worker, with the ambition of training fifteen new actors.
Maggie McEwan, managing director at FBATV commented, “We are very proud of what the company have achieved in the past decade. Our actors successfully tour mainstream theatre venues in the UK and abroad as well as picking up some television work. A BBC Inside Out documentary on one of the company actresses was broadcast in February 2008. The Lloyds TSB Foundation funding means we can be even more ambitious in the years ahead and provide further opportunities for young people with learning disabilities in the theatrical profession.”
A parent of one participant in the youth theatre described the value of the FBATV projects, “Young people with learning disabilities don’t have many prospects after schools and what FBATV has achieved with these kids money can’t buy.”
Lloyds TSB Foundation head of grant making North, Anne Dawson, added “This organisation is doing really innovative work and we are delighted to support them as they expand and reach out to new communities in Yorkshire.”
Ian McMillan, patron of Full Body and the Voice, will be launching his autobiography on stage at the Lawrence Batley Theatre on November 17th, with all proceeds from the evening donated to the charity. If you would like to find out more about this event, or the company’s next production please contact Maggie McEwan on 01484 484 441 or visit their website www.fullbody.org.uk . FBATV is currently looking for new volunteers to help with future projects.
