Big Brum Theatre in Education Company

Statements of Support Regarding NPO Decision

As of Thursday 31st July 2014

As well as over 10,000 sympathetic messages, likes, tweets etc on Big Brum’s social media outlets (https://twitter.com/big_brum and https://www.facebook.com/pages/Big-Brum-Theatre-in-Education-Company/327795253923734) the Company has already received numerous letters of support from artists, educators, and academics all around the world, and mention in articles including:http://video.news.sky.com/video/h264/vod/700/2014/07/010714ARTSFUNDINGCOTTERVT17001404236934667700.mp4http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/12/theatre-grants-audiences-children-david-edgarhttp://www.thestage.co.uk/news/2014/07/edward-bond-hits-arts-council-cuts/We present a selection of the key messages below, addressed individually to Big Brum staff Chris Cooper, Dan Brown and Ceri Townsend.

Letters of Support from the UK

From Edward Bond, Playwright

ChrisIm writing this on learning that the NPO have removed their funding support to BB. Of course this has a particular significance for me. BB is my last contact with English professional theatre, If BB were to close I would truly be in exile. But more important to me is the loss of BB to young people. Seeing a professional performance when I was 13 or 14 changed the direction of my life. It made me understand the processes of my life. I was no longer – as most people now are in our culture – a foreigner to myself. I had seen a play by Shakespeare. I am not comparing my work to his – but I am likening BB’s work to the work of his Globe. I met myself and my times at his Globe. I was living in war time and in the post war of ruins and austerity. Shakespeare wrote in a time of equal distress but also of victory – and I lived in such a time. The fit was perfect. The capitalist market in all it does and in all its forms, destroys culture. In time we will see that it is at war with young people. Inevitably youngster shut their

eyes in shock – what else can they do? – just as I did at the shock of war – but BB’s work lets them open their minds in understanding and gives them the power to make victories. I am not exaggerating – this is the power of drama and it has accompanied human beings throughout their history. These cuts are a wound to all young people – and they are an immeasurable debt that society will have to pay. Let me know what happens next. We will talk when you are back home. In the mean time I send my best wishes to everyone at BB. --- Edward

From Jack Dromey MP, Shadow Minister for Policing

To whom it may concern,

A statement by Jack Dromey, MP for Erdington regarding the recent decision made by Arts Council England on funding for West Midlands arts organisations for the period 2015 to 2018, specifically the withdrawal of support from Big Brum Theatre in Education. Big Brum have been based in my Erdington constituency since the early 90s, most recently on the Castle Vale estate.I know many are aware of Big Brum's work, but to summarise:

Big Brum have been working for over 30 years with Birmingham’s young people and reach thousands of them every year: Big Brum specialises in reaching those young people who would otherwise have no access to art, and their work is widely hailed as having a profound and transformative impact on young people’s lives.

They are the only British theatre company to have a commissioning relationship with Edward Bond. It is remarkable that the works of one of the few living British playwrights with a truly global status often premiere in Erdington schools!

More widely, they are internationally renowned for their work, yet they remain completely committed to providing provision to support our local community.

Big Brum has made me aware that the company did not fail to reach any of the Arts Council's criteria for funding, but were instead rejected due to the Arts Council "balancing the portfolio". I would question the reasoning behind balancing arts funding in a manner that has left the city with Europe's youngest population without any Arts Council funded organisations working solely for young people.I urge that this decision is looked at again is given some thought, and that the Arts Council are able to continue to offer Big Brum support to ensure this vital provision is not lost.

From Laura Walker, Teacher

Dear Dan and all at Big Brum,

We were incredibly shocked to hear the recent devastating news regarding your Arts Council funding cut. It’s astonishing that this decision was even considered, let alone actioned. Big Brum successfully enrich young people’s lives through the powerful work they undertake; opening minds and encouraging debate. Our learners have been given many opportunities to develop their opinions about subjects that actually matter, reflecting on high quality theatre and being actively challenged to develop their thought processes on themes and issues that directly apply to them in our contemporary society.

At Wood Green Academy we have been involved in two of Big Brum’s projects, initially ‘The Edge’ and more recently ‘Touched’. Due to the success of the former, the latter became integral to whole school teaching and learning. The far-reaching impact of this programme integrated both the Drama and English departments and was also an essential aspect of our Year 9 PSHE curriculum. We are proud to share our perspectives on Big Brum’s work:

“Big Brum have been an excellent company to work with. They have provided superb performance work over the last two years and their plays have inspired the most disengaged of students. As well as performances they provided workshops for our students which improved their marks in coursework assessments and gave them the focus to carry them through to greater success in their external exam. Big Brum don't only impact on students socially and emotionally but they have an impact on their academic achievement as well. I cannot express strongly enough how shocked I am to hear their Arts Council funding has been completely withdrawn. They are a valuable asset to the West Midlands and should be enabled to continue to support our young people in achieving their potential.”Mrs Olivia Smith - Head of Drama and Performing Arts

“Working with Big Brum has provided valuable cross-curricular enrichment opportunities to enhance students’ learning journey. Through engaging in workshops, students were able to explore wider social issues and draw upon this in the English classroom. Focused workshops with Big Brum colleagues supported students in their academic studies, whilst sustaining a holistic understanding of their area of study. Such experiences have a

strong impact on the achievement of young people and their social and academic growth.”Miss Sarah Cannell - Associate Head of English

“Big Brum were excellent. My form were engaged by the play – one pupil, who had been absent, even asking for a copy of the play after other pupils told them about it. The delivery of the play was not only very thought provoking but for the majority of pupils in my form this was their first experience of a live ‘theatre’ performance. However the key strength of Big Brum wasn’t simply the performance but the workshops that they delivered during form time and then on a second SHAPE day. These follow up activities were challenging and engaging. Pupils in my form who are very disaffected from the education process came alive and volunteered ideas and engaged in the process. All the pupils in my form who I spoke to about Big Brum were very positive and continue to feel able to ask challenging questions – thank you Big Brum! I am very disappointed to hear that Arts Council funding has been withdrawn. The impact of this decision will have a very negative impact on young people’s learning experience. Big Brum are able to engage with pupils on a different level to that of teachers. Education needs to include organisations like Big Brum if pupils are to receive the best education available and to develop holistically as individuals.”Miss Rachel Hindle - Assistant Head of History

We whole-heartedly support Big Brum’s work and feel that this cut in funding is ludicrous. Young people need the projects Big Brum can provide in order to challenge, develop and explore their thinking. Big Brum allow all pupils to share a voice in a safe environment; they have successfully supported learners who have Special Educational Needs and have thoroughly captivated the disengaged. Your work must be valued and appreciated today for the changes it makes for tomorrow.

Hopefully, the unanimous response of support from all of those you have worked with will urge the Arts Council to rethink and change their decision.

We wish you all well in this challenging time,

Miss Laura Walker – Teacher of Drama

From Maria Wells, Arts Administrator

I first came into contact with Big Brum in 2009 when I joined Theatre Ark, the offshoot company development of Big Brum youth theatre. Although Theatre Ark is independent in its own right, and under its new name as The GAP Arts Project stands alone from Big Brum as a separate registered charity, there is no denying or argument that it could not have existed without the nurturing, continued support, valuable input and key principles Big Brum has given it over the years.I joined Theatre Ark aged 13 and at a pivotal point in my growing up. Originally having joined solely as an actor, taken by the apparent glitz and glamour of mainstream theatre, my journey began learning the true roots and ideas of drama. I was taught by Big Brum right from the beginning of the value and purpose of drama that makes you think, and therefore question. Having been to watch their productions I was drawn to the candid reflections of life, the true exposure of human nature and the stark reality that is society today/what it could become. Through my teenage years when I began to truly find myself I could not have asked for better hands to guide me, to teach me respect and enable me to explore the emotions I felt, all through the safe and reflective medium of drama. I can happily say I am the person today because of Big Brum and Theatre Ark and only through their honest and empowering upbringing would I have had the confidence to forgo the social norm of university and pursue my passions and dreams in the arts – now volunteering and project managing full time for The GAP Arts Project and aiming to create a long-term career for myself with them!I often wonder what life will be like in five years time, for myself, for society and for drama and theatre. This tends to come with a mix of excitement and nerves, of hopes and fears, plans and doubts. Since hearing about Big Brum no longer being part of the Arts Council National Portfolio the nerves, fears and doubts have moved to prime position and begun to fester. Without natural explorations of the world and the unique type of drama in education that Big Brum provides then I fear for the upcoming generation and the risk of being further seduced by society into solely consuming and blindly accepting. Big Brum teaches young people to think for themselves and the valuable difference between a need and a want, consuming and contributing. It provides you with a voice and opportunity to express yourself as your true self, no qualms, no preconceptions, no expectations. Big Brum is one of very few organisations that does this and their loss of ACE funding threatens to put this in jeopardy. It’s almost as if society doesn’t want young people to develop their own thoughts, identities and questions…I hope and pray we will wake up to the mess we are creating before it is too late and that some justification will be shown by a decision to support not hinder

valuable organisations like Big Brum and the vast amount of young people they benefit.

Maria-Angela Wells, Aged 18

From Ella Marshall, formally Big Brum Youth Theatre

Dear Big Brum,

I am extremely saddened to hear about the Arts Council's decision to cut funding to the company, and sincerely hope that they will rethink their decision after seriously taking into account the detrimental impact it will have. Whilst taking great efforts to re-brand itself as a culturally rich and diverse city, by cutting funding to a truly unique TIE company, Birmingham will have lost something that it ought to be incredibly proud of.

After many years of coming into contact with your work in various forms, I can say that it has never failed to have a profound impact upon my way of thinking about and engaging with the world. I have always found your performances captivating and the important issues that they raise very thought-provoking. As a young person myself, I can imagine that the workshops that followed your performances in schools only saw these merits enhanced. Your work allows young audiences the opportunity to engage in what I think are some of the most important lessons and skills for life - developing your own ideas and values, empathy and understanding with others, thinking about how problems can best and most fairly be solved, etc - but which they rarely, if ever, come into contact with through the school curriculum in any meaningful manner. These aspects were also a huge part of why my involvement in Big Brum Youth Theatre was such an invaluable and enriching experience. Taking part in both productions of the play 'One Hundred Thousand Whys' and the trip to Poland that the second initiated were what I would consider truly life-changing experiences. As most kids are, I have been taught about the Holocaust a many number of times throughout my time in school, but it was through Big Brum Youth Theatre that I really learnt to think about what it really means, to actively explore this meaning, to engage with it on an emotional level, and to try to impart this deeper understanding and the importance that it holds to others through our performance. The workshops that we did prior to beginning rehearsals and the important historical sites that we visited in our trip to Poland helped us to really understand what it was that we would be performing, and,

most importantly, meant that we would be performing something that we really cared about. This is just one example of the powerful impact that my many experiences with BBYT has had upon myself and others. My involvement with Big Brum Youth Theatre has played a considerable part in shaping who I am today, and I know that I am not alone in feeling this way.

I want to take the opportunity to thank each of you individually and as a company for the wonderful opportunities and insights that you opened up for me and others, and I hope that you can find a way to continue making a difference to young people's lives.

Best wishes,Ella Marshall

From Nikki Thorpe, Education and Outreach Officer

Dear Matt,

Thanks very much for inviting Nicola and I to watch the Home Front, Front Line workshop and performance at Highbury Hall for young people. It was very interesting for us to see the performance in that setting as there is so much strong connection with Highbury Hall to the First World War, evidenced in our archive collections. I really enjoyed the whole workshop and was tremendously impressed by the engagement of the young people throughout the session. The way in which the actors set up the scenario as a question for the young people to help with, with youthfulness at the heart of it was very powerful and empowering, drawing them in immediately and giving them a sense of responsibility to help the characters with their ideas and reflections. When we moved to the room where the main drama was set, you could sense the excitement and interest of the young people as they saw the set and the props and as they were reminded that they had a role in trying to discover what the letter they had seen before meant. The feedback from the young people, after that first scene, was quite astonishing with them making some amazing connections and insights that were powerful and moving. The actors were highly skilled in reflecting back to them what they were saying and in making them feel comfortable to share their ideas and

thoughts. They were also very skilled at switching roles as actor or facilitator. The many quiet moments in the performance and the tension created at lots of points was extremely effective in allowing the young people time to think and focus and empathise. It was very impressive to see how that tension worked so well as a way of giving the young people space to reflect on what was happening and I think it was instrumental in them being able to think back to earlier scenes and draw on those memories to come up with ideas. It encouraged them to draw on their own experiences to think through problems and explore universal themes such as loss, youth, ambition and fulfilment. It also gave them an opportunity to think about the value of memory, history and heritage and to uncover personal meaning in that which made the subject of world war one suddenly meaningful and interesting. The use of props and acting with the young people was at just the right moment when enough time had passed for them to feel comfortable for them to try that out and act out what might have happened. At this point in the session the young people had been given a lot of control over how the drama unfolded and were given space to try out their ideas which worked well, was fun as well as engaging. The sense of ownership that the young people had over the drama and how it played out was very strong in keeping their attention and drew a lot on the initial scenario as them as the keys to the puzzle of what had happened by virtue of their youth. I found it a very moving and powerful experience to see young people engage so strongly with the drama and to share their feelings and reflections so willingly and confidently and feel that this was entirely down to the skill of the actors in the calm trusting, respectful atmosphere they created and in the strength of the script in putting youth and young people’s experiences at the heart of it. Although I have known of Big Brum Theatre for a long time, that was my first experience of seeing a workshop/performance and it made a very strong impression on me. I would like to work more with the company, creatively using archive collections. I know you are facing a difficult time with your recent cut to funding and I find it very sad to think that this will jeopardise the continuation of your excellent work and deprive young people of a meaningful experience about first world war history and how they understand their connection to this heritage. Please let us know if there is any way we can support you going forward. Kind regards Nikki Thorpe

From Anthony Haddon, Director

Hi DanI am so sorry to hear your news about NPO funding. I have travelled a long way with Chris through the SCYPT years and seen him and the Company emerge as vital advocates for a TIE which has a theoretical underpinning to the practice. One of the most difficult factors facing us in working in the field of TIE is the lack of quality which is accepted by practitioners and the schools and it is has always been incumbent on us to raise the bar on behalf of everyone. I feel like we are connected in this mission and I hope that the NPO does not prevent you continuing to operate. TIE would be all the poorer for Big Brum disappearing off the map.Best wishes,Anthony HaddonFormer Artistic Director of Theatre Co Blah Blah Blah

From Professor Tony Howard

Big Brum is one of the most important and most groundbreaking theatre groups in Britain. Big Brum's dedication to working with young people - introducing them to issues of personal growth and social responsibility, to the beauty of language and the challenge of decision-making, to compassion and to hope - has made them a model for theatre practitioners and educationalists all over Europe. Big Brum has a history of innovation and a vibrant programme for the future. Their continuing collaboration with Edward Bond, Britain's greatest living dramatist, proves that young people can be addressed in the most challenging and sophisticated ways and that distinctions between 'art' and 'learning' have no meaning. Big Brum nutures citizens. Their funding needs protection. Professor Tony Howard University of Warwick

From Lin Reilly, ex-Headteacher

Dear Dan,

I was saddened to hear that you have recently had your funding withdrawn. As the recently retired Head teacher at Kings Norton Primary School our children and teachers gained so much from the work you did with us over the years. It was so wonderful to see our pupils become deeply involved in the issues that were raised through the drama and the resulting impact on their oral language and quality of writing. This, because they had "lived" the experiences and felt that they had something to say as a result. Just as important however is the exposure that these children had to live theatre, indeed for many from the poorest backgrounds, it was their first experience of theatre. It seems absolutely crazy that through this funding decision your theatre group is now in some jeopardy as to its future. As the saying goes "man does not live by bread alone" so to take away something that nourishes and enhances the cultural and artistic lives of children seems to be incredibly spiteful and short sighted.

I wish you all the very best for the futureKindest regardsLin Reilly

From Mike Cooper, Consultant

Hi Ceri,

I'm very sorry to hear the news about Big Brum's funding being cut by Arts Council England. It is very difficult to see how the enormously valuable work you do with young people, much of it in Birmingham's most deprived communities, can be sustained without your core funding.

The Arts Council may be in a tough place given the general cuts to public funding that seem to be decimating community arts organisations, but even so, it is difficult to see how they have backed their own priorities in this latest funding round and theatre provision for young people in Birmingham seems to have taken a particularly hard hit.

A quick glance at the figures show that of £73m allocated for theatre in the Midlands region (of which £47m goes to RSC), only just over £6m goes to Birmingham, including £5.5m to Birmingham Rep, leaving less than £600K for the whole period 2015-2018 for what might be termed more community-based provision in England's second city.

I hope you will be able to find alternative sources of funding in order to carry on, but from what I know, that will be far from easy for a company that is already cut to the bone.

Best wishes and good luck,

Mike Cooper

Pete Wynne-Wilson, Director and Founder of Big Brum

In 1982 there was no Theatre-in-Education Company in Birmingham, and we set up Big Brum to fill that gap. Initially it worked only in the 100 secondary schools that the city had in those days, and occasionally in the other metropolitan areas around Birmingham. All the work was new. All of it. Every employee of the company was recruited locally. The full and entire focus of the company was on creating new significant serious work for the young people of the city. Initially the work was funded through the Community Programme, then through LEA funding and some arts funding. The first Arts Council backing for the company came in 1983. The young people who watched the first performance by the company are now 50 years old, and across that time the impact the organisation has had on the young people of Birmingham has been immeasurable, and perhaps because of the steely focus on the purpose its work that has characterised the company, that impact has been deeply underappreciated in many quarters. The work spread across the age range to include younger children, and specific focus on excluded groups was added to the remit. No arts organisation in the city has created more new theatre work for any audience, and none of that work has ever been watered down by the passing needs of the fashions of education – it has always aimed squarely at what is and should and will be important in the lives of our young people. And it has changed lives.

The Arts Council decision to remove the company from its National Portfolio is unjust and short-sighted. We all appreciate that the overall funding is diminished, but ACE Midlands received an increase of £3million, and there was no bigger picture that made this inevitable. No-one has any automatic right to public subsidy, but the value of this particular relatively small subsidy and its impact are as great as they have ever been, and the case has surely been strongly made many times. Many other recipients of NPO status are being backed on much less certain evidence. In a round where there have actually not been wholesale cuts Big Brum has been

singled out for reasons which are unclear. There is no indication that the company would not be continuing with exactly the same level of single-mindedness its programme of thought-through, uncompromising and high quality theatre-in-education. So, what has changed? The Arts Council has publicly stated its desire to spread more support to the regions. It has announced its main priority is Children and Young People. But the sole theatre group that it has cut from NPO status in the region is the most firmly and obviously committed to that sector. It has left the second city with no core-funded theatre for young audiences of any kind. With many underpaid and deeply committed artists still remarkably working in this field and continuing their work hand to mouth, we have just attracted the world’s major Theatre for Young Audiences event to Birmingham in 2016. It will be a shame if this huge opportunity to support, celebrate and develop this area of work becomes instead just a focus for protest about what has been vandalised and lost.

I am no longer involved in any structural way with Big Brum, but I am and always will be emotionally and politically with them, and will be doing whatever I personally can to help them get past this act of sabotage. I regard this cut as an ill-considered attack on all those extraordinarily dedicated, skilled and passionate people who have worked for Big Brum over 32 years, and a kick in the teeth to those of us who have stayed in the city and remained resolute in our work pumping the cultural lifeblood of its young people. If the Arts Council is in any way genuine in its commitment to the young people of the regions it needs to reverse this decision quickly, or make sure that through whatever means Big Brum is enabled to survive and continue its essential work.

Peter Wynne-WillsonBig Brum Director 1982-1992

From Richard Burden MP, Shadow Transport Minister

Andy Marshall, Director

Dear Big Brum

I am saddened and angered by the Arts Councils decision to exclude the company from its portfolio for 2015 – saddened that my friends and colleagues will be put under even more stress and angered that the young people of Birmingham will be less likely to benefit from your invaluable work.

I have worked alongside you over many years and I know how truly remarkable Big Brum’s work is. You have stood out more and more clearly as a rare beacon when it comes to arts provision for the most marginalised young people. Challenging and engaging, your work has continued to do what much of the education system has forgotten how to do – empower children and young people to learn how to think for themselves!

I pledge to support you in any way that I can in finding ways to overcome this disastrous Art Council decision.

Best wishes for the future!

Andy Marshall – Director of Cognition.

From Geoff Heaps, Education Consultant

Dear Dan and CompanyI was saddened and most disappointed to hear that Big Brum have been cut from the Arts Council England's National Portfolio Funding as of April 2015. The decision comes as a huge shock and surprise to me for I understood that the Arts Council had prioritised young people in this funding round and yet they have now decided to remove their support for Big Brum, an internationally recognised and highly valued company, that delivers the highest quality theatre to some of the most deprived young people in Birmingham and beyond.This extraordinary and somewhat contradictory decision by the Arts Council will not only impact on the thousands of young people that benefit each year from Big Brum's programmes and activities but on the future of Theatre in Education in this country.I trust that this decision will be now be reviewed.Wishing you all at Big Brum well for the future and thinking about you all in this most difficult of circumstances.

Geoff HeapsGeoff Heaps Consultancy Limited

From Deborah Pakkar-Hull, Director

Dear Dan and the Big Brum team

I want to add my voice in support of Big Brum in the light of the loss of the company's NPO status.

Working within TiE, formerly as the AD of The Play House and as the soon to be AD of Theatre Company Blah Blah Blah, it is a real blow to learn of the cut to your funding.

Depth and diversity of quality practice across those working to create theatre with and for young people only benefits the sector as a whole, providing the opportunity to engage and re-engage with underpinning principles of the form as a part of a wider community committed to young people. Any threat to you is felt by us all and undermines the rich relationships we seek to build with children and young people.

I hope that despite recent decisions you find a way not just to survive but thrive, continuing with the essential work that you do.

Best wishes

Deborah Pakkar-Hull

From Gil Carr, Parent

Dear CeriMy message of support;I was very sad to hear the news of the Arts Council cut in funding to Big Brum TIE. This is such a valuable resource, not only to the young people in Birmingham but throughout parts of the UK where they toured. My children experienced their plays and workshops in Barnsley. These were both moving and thought-provoking. Encouraging children to probe and question is an imperative at a time when the school curriculum is becoming more narrow and predetermined than ever before. This company must not be allowed to fold and I would urge the Arts Council to seriously review this decision.

Gill Carr (parent)

From Steve Harrison, Teacher

Dear Chris, We are both dismayed to hear news of the cut announced by the Arts Council. My experience of ‘Stitched Up’ when I taught in Pontefract was a memorable one, providing our students with the rare opportunity to explore questions posed by our society through powerful use of their imagination. I remember all too clearly the cutting of Theatre Van and The Duke’s- dressed up in similar rhetoric about ‘economic priorities’ from local councils- that the Arts Council acknowledges the value of Big Brum’s work whilst slashing away the means by which the work can continue almost beggars belief..almost. We offer our love and support for whatever course of action you choose to take and please keep us informed of anything at all we can do to help protect this ground breaking company.love Steve Harrison

From James Yarker, Director

Dear all,

I was upset to hear of ACE's decision to cut your funding.

Clearly Big Brum is a company I admire. Your principles and integrity, history and vision, commitment and energy are all admirable. I know you deliver a great deal of work and carry an international influence, it is sad that this is not valued more highly in the circles where the budgets are allocated.

I know that working as an ensemble is key to Big Brum's ethos and success. I hope that there is a resolution to this crisis which will allow you to continue your good works.

Give us a shout if there is something we can do to help.

With best wishes in these troubled times.

James YarkerArtistic DirectorStan's Cafe

From Miranda Ballin, Clore Fellow Wales

Dear Big Brum 

I feel so angry and upset upon hearing that you have been cut from the Arts Council of England National Portfolio as of April 15th and know that this could have a devastating affect on the Company. Big Brum has been like sister organisation for ArtWorks since our inception in 1998. As Valleys Kids youth arts project we have repeatedly looked to the company for insights, and inspiration and we have never been disappointed. The breadth of our involvement with Big Brum is really hard to quantify in this letter, in fact it took up a sizeable part of my Masters by Research project.

Ceri Townsend from Big Brum generously acted as a Critical Friend when I was researching, offering focus and support throughout.  What was clear from the research was that when young people from the Rhondda interacted with Big Brum Theatre it had a life changing effect. We worked on International theatre projects and the young people have seen Big Brum's work over the last 15 years. They attended workshops and seminars; they worked on One Hundred Thousand Whys written by Ceri Townsend, which they performed for the Holocaust Memorial Trust.  A memorable occasion was attending Big Brum's 25th anniversary event where our young people listened riveted to Edward Bond giving his keynote address. Why did we come to Big Brum? We knew that our young people would be accepted and supported, they would be taken seriously and they would develop theatre and drama practice of the highest possible caliber — we looked to you for guidance and support as youth arts practitioners and we learnt from you every time we encountered your work.  

Some of the young people who began in the Youth Theatre are now full time workers and they sight their involvement in visiting Birmingham and working with the company as seminal in their development. They say in the research that without such experiences they would not have had the courage to go to University, or continue with their education. The young people from the South Wales Valleys have little or no access to working with young people from different cultural backgrounds and rarely experience professional theatre first hand, the kind of joint work we have developed over the last 15 years enabled them to gain a sense of who they were and what they wanted from life. 

I know such experiences will be replicated in the schools of Birmingham wherever the Company has been enabled to practice. The ethos and practice of the Company is so important to young people and I really fear for their future when everything that is of importance to them is stripped away. How can the Arts Council of England justify this cut when they specifically state that that they want to strengthen the regions and support working with young people, it feels like such a cynical response? They cannot know the true implication of such a disastrous decision and how the arts will be viewed increasingly as only accessible to those who can afford the luxury of them, what an awful return to the elitism of old!    

In February of this year Big Brum brought ‘Touched’, Chris Coopers latest play to the Soar Centre in the heart of the Rhondda, in the South Wales Valleys. It was typical of the Company that they embraced the whole ethos of the project, not only delivering an excellent, thought provoking workshop, a play that left us teeming with questions and tangling with contradictions but that you also insisted on taking time individually with the young people answering questions and interacting with them despite the long journey home. It is difficult to get high quality theatre to the Valleys and even on this night there were young people who had never seen theatre before, they talked about it for weeks after and we were able to build on the rich work you offered in our workshops.

 One of my young team who originally came to us as a student on placement focused his Masters dissertation on the kind of methodologies of Big Brum Theatre and it continues to influence his practice, again he would have had little or no access to the methodology without the Company so your work continues to ripple out in unexpected and important ways.

When Companies get cut, what is most difficult to maintain is continuity of practice and a core team, these are critical in a Company such as Big Brum who have developed such sophisticated ways of working with Edward Bond and Chris Cooper.  These practices have fed the work of artists and theatre in education practitioners around the World. Big Brum has rightly gained an International reputation for their work; their ripples are felt in refugee camps in Palestine, in poor communities in Hungary and the poorest schools in Birmingham. How can we lose this practice in the places where art is needed most? What kind of decision-making is this that has led to ensuring that the young and disenfranchised in this country and around the world remain at the bottom of the pile? 

Please let us know if there is anything more we can do to support you —

given the love, care and support that you have offered us so generously throughout your history we want to offer whatever help we can. With all respect to you 

Miranda and all at Valleys Kids. 

From Nicola Gauld, Heritage Co-Ordinator

Dear all,

I attended a performance of Big Brum's Home Front Front Line, part one of a series about the First World War. I was extremely impressed with the entire production. The session was delivered to a group of young people who have been sent to a PRU. From start to finish the performance was pitched at exactly the right level and the engagemeent of the young people did not waiver throughout. I was especially impressed with the teacher-actors. They encouraged the young people to be part of the session and a high level of trust was evident throughout, which was remarkable given that the group and teachers had only met for that session. The performance itself involved segments of acting interspersed with segments where the group could discuss what they had just seen and express their own opinions about what they were witnessing in a calm, supportive and non-judgmental atmosphere. The play tackled some difficult issues around conflict and helped the young people explore issues around this along with the loss and trauma that is part of conflict. The performance I attended took place at Highbury Hall, which is itself very atmospheric and evocative of the early 20th century. The set and props used by Big Brum added to this and they were able to transport the viewers through time and space, from Birmingham just before the outbreak of war to the trenches on the Western Front.

I am currently Coordinator of 'Voices of War & Peace', a First World Engagement Centre, funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council in partnership with the Heritage Lottery Fund. The Centre is about supporting a wide range of community engagement activities, connecting academic and public histories of the First World War as part of the commemoration of the War’s centenary. I was shocked and really sorry to hear about the funding cut to Big Brum especially in light of our WW1 Centre being set up. Big Brum's First World War series strikes me as being hugely important and valuable in terms of engaging young people with very difficult issues and exploring the impact and legacy of the First World War and I am very sorry that this excellent series, along with their other

work, is now in jeopardy.

Best, Nicola

From Dr. Kate Katafiasz, Lecturer

Dear Dan,

This is very sad news indeed. Big Brum is a vital part of several of our applied drama modules and work placement strand. More than that of course, you are an incredibly advanced specialist educational resource for people who want to know about Theatre in Education worldwide. I have just presented a workshop referencing your work at the Performance Philosophy Conference at the Sorbonne in Paris, attended by Harvard Professor Martin Puchner and renowned writer on gender and performance, Professor Judith Butler. Our third year student Sam Hunt has asked me to send you her First Class dissertation, evidence of the impact of your fine work in the field, in support of your request for messages of support.

Let me know what else we can do.

Best,Dr. Kate Katafiasz

From Tony Coult, Author

This is shocking news. While the press have largely trumpeted the ENO cut (which turns out to be manageable with an annual musical at the Colisseum), this cut slips under the radar. There is only one question that needs to be asked and that is “On what (if any) grounds has this company’s work been found wanting?” This cut is a disgrace,

Tony Coulthttp://www.tony3ts.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/http://www.flickr.com/photos/tony3ts/http://www.tomcoult.com

From Lizzie Eldridge, Artist

Hi

This is to add my voice of support to Big Brum Theatre-in-Education Company.

It was with great sadness and disbelief that I discovered the Arts Council England's decision to cut its funding. I hope that this decision can be reversed.

YoursLizzie Eldridge(Freelance Artist)

From Matthew Day, Lecturer

Dear Dan, Chris and involved at Big Brum

Although I am away from Newman at the moment, I just wanted to write in a personal capacity to express my disappointment at this news. My experience of Big Brum is that it does extra-ordinarily valuable, high quality work and is an organisation which makes a profound contribution to arts in the region. The work that you do with schools and educational establishments at all levels is of outstanding value and we can testify from the work you have done in partnership with us at Newman to its empowering, confidence building and inspirational effect on students.

I very much hope you will find a way to overcome this latest challenge and to continue the outstanding work that you do.

With best wishes

Dr Matthew DayInterim Associate Dean: Student Experience and Curriculum School of Human Sciences Newman University, Genners Lane, Bartley Green, Birmingham B32 3NT Tel 0121

From Linda Rogers, Director

Dear Dan and Big Brum T.I.E.,

I write as a former practitioner of T.I.E. and I work currently with young people with special needs, with those excluded from school and also as an A Level drama teacher.

It comes as a massive blow that the excellent and crucial work of Big Brum has been seen as unnecessary by the Arts Council England. One look, for those who have not seen or experienced the process of the work itself, at the programme offered by the company to young people, will reveal that it is steeped in all that is important to young people today: an understanding of the world around them and an exploration of a place in that world. This comes at a time when the world for the young is increasingly one of struggle and conflict. It could be seen by the Arts Council England that the work, apart from carefully and successfully fulfilling the support for schools and teachers desperately needed in these difficult times, provides for young people a safe space in which to explore the most vital and difficult of issues, in a conscious and positive way, allowing a social response to the events unfolding around them. This is about forging connections and creating hope and light. The process is such, that the young people are enabled to do this for themselves, in their own way.

The biggest blow of this particular cut is to the pupils of the schools in Birmingham, who now, more than ever, need a voice and a safe place to have that voice.

I know that those pupils, who have worked with Big Brum, will be supporting the company, as I do now.

With best wishes,

Linda Rogers

From Chris Bolton, Lecturer

Dear Dan,

It is with huge disappointment and sadness that I write this letter in light of the Arts Council’s decision to remove funding for Big Brum Theatre in Education Company. Furthermore I am angered that my colleagues in the company and the young people of Birmingham could potentially lose the important and valuable work that is done.

Having worked with the company for the last eight years I have witnessed the impact of Big Brum’s work on the learning of my students both in a secondary school context and with Initial Teacher Training here at Birmingham City University. The learning created is unfailingly powerful, valuable, engaging and challenging, which is what authentic learning needs to be especially during the instability of the current educational climate.

Therefore, as a strong supporter of the company and its work in education, I pledge my support to the company and realise the

importance of the ground-breaking work provided by Big Brum. The importance of your specialist work in the field of theatre in education is second to none and the loss of it would be incredibly damaging.

Should there be anything I can do to support you and the company further, then please do not hesitate to ask.

Yours Sincerely,

Chris Bolton, Senior Lecturer in Drama Education, Birmingham City University

From Philip Steele, Publisher

Dear Dan,

I wish to express my concern and my support for Big Brum following the cut of your grant by Arts Council England.

Some years back I was privileged to witness the way in which Big Brum develops ideas and techniques for theatre in education and was most impressed.

My own interests over several decades have been in writing, editing and publishing information/non-fiction books for children, for school, library and the general trade, both for the home market and internationally. There is obviously common ground with performance media in terms of structuring content, providing context, communicating and inspiring young people. In my field too, the creative energy that was the order of the day when I started has been sapped by a change in the political climate, a narrowing of curricula worldwide, dwindling budgets and loss of direction, and all at a time of great technological change.

The media which are being reduced and impoverished in this way are often the very ones which offer young people the tools to change society for the better, and surely it is no accident that these are the very ones being targetted in times such as these.

Good luck with any campaigns and appeals that you make against this harsh decision.

Best wishes,

Phil Steele

From Jean Gibbs, Teacher

To whom this may concern,

As a newly qualified teacher I have to say that the inspiration I got from working with Big Brum has been invaluable. I am about to start work in my first school and I will be teaching an enterprise curriculum whose methodologies and impacts on learning are greatly fostered by Big Brum. They have showed me innovative ways of exploring issues, both social and personal ones, in a way that allows the students to be inspired, inquisitive, engaged and insightful in matters that almost seem far beyond their ‘age ability’ grasp. Their work has had a huge impact on my ethos as a teacher and has supported my development as a teacher, and I can say has filtered through into planning and lessons, seeing positive attitudes to learning rising. To stop this establishment from reaching out to educators is detrimental to the continuation of drama led education. Professionals like Big Brum enhance the arts curriculum through creating meaningful, relevant, topical and EDUCATIONAL drama made with the needs of students always at the forefront.

I will continue to use Big Brum in my teaching as I feel their company has a huge amount to offer to young people and would be greatly disappointed if a lack of funding meant that this company, with such high standards of themselves and the importance of educating young people in a meaningful way, were to be denied the opportunity to continue to practice.

Kind regards,

Jean Gibbs

From Michael Supple, Lecturer

Last year I had the opportunity to observe Big Brum’s Actor -Teachers working with young people in a secondary school.

The work started with a ripped dictionary, its pages torn and scattered on the floor, being presented to young people, together with the following question from the Actor-Teachers:

“We are trying to understand why a young boy has done this?”

A girl replied that she would like to do the same to all books; a large number of the group was in agreement with her. For myself, a lover of books and former teacher of literature, this was a statement that shocked me. For the Actor -Teachers it was an opportunity for that girl and the group to explore that statement and their stated position.

The exploration was one of the most fascinating pieces of work I have ever seen in a school. The Actor-Teachers did not attempt to silence the

young people, they delved further into what they were saying; they did not judge the young people, they gave them space to judge their own statements; they did not encourage them to take a particular position but asked them to genuinely explore their own in relation to books, language and words. To facilitate such exploration with young people requires skills of the highest order and this was what I witnessed.

By the end of this session the girl, together with her classmates, had reached a position diametrically opposed to her own initial statement. She no longer wanted to tear the dictionary; books and language were now to be protected because they were the things that made us human. The young girl, who had stated with glee at the start that she wanted to rip every dictionary and book, was now, together with her classmates, carefully picking up the pieces of the torn dictionary and placing them back in order.

As Edward Bond has stated recently in his Note: “Big Brum's work lets them (young people) open their minds in understanding and gives them the power to make victories.” It was a privilege to see the Actor-Teachers empower these young people to make their victory that day. I hope Arts Council realise that in ceasing to fund Big Brum fewer young people will have the opportunity to experience art that speaks to them, that opens their minds and allows them, often the least powerful members of our society, to make their own victories.

From Ian Yeoman, Director

Statement of Support from Ian Yeoman

I wish to register my profound opposition to the Arts Council of England’s stated intention to remove Big Brum Theatre from its portfolio of revenue funded organisations for 2015 – 2018.

Despite its stated commitment to young people:

- ACE is clear that the implementation of this decision will fundamentally threaten the future existence of Big Brum, a company that specifically works to engineer democratic, public spaces within and without the school environment in which young people, (drawn from enormously diverse communities and often excluded from mainstream arts provision), can engage artistically.

- ACE is clear that the Company’s practice is founded on the most theoretically developed and coherent artistic and educational policy articulated in the UK today.

- Ace is clear that (artistic director) Chris Cooper is a profoundly important writer for young people and that the theatre in education programmes developed by the core company have had enormous impact on the lives of young people and have influenced and inspired numerous company’s across the UK and internationally.

- ACE is clear that for almost twenty years the collaboration between Big Brum and playwright Edward Bond has developed the company’s theory of drama and the imagination to a hugely significant level; has allowed the “publication” of these understandings in many forms and professional contexts - and has produced a body of plays for young audiences of historical significance.

I wish to join with the many other artists and educators demanding that ACE make public a clear statement of its reasons for decreeing that Big Brum is no longer judged worthy of investment and why it is that despite the defining features of the company and the inherent, endlessly transferrable skills and understandings of company members, ACE intends no place for Big Brum in the future strategic development of the arts in Birmingham, the west midlands, UK wide and internationally.

It is incumbent on the ArtsCouncil of England to answer these questions; first in discussion with Big Brum and subsequently to all who are asking them. If the answers are incoherent, then we are left to assume that in the context of a three million pound uplift to the region, the total cutting of funding to Big Brum is driven by a rationale lacking professional judgement and driven only by the dictates of the market so perniciously corrupting of our culture. It will prove the lie in ACE stated commitment to the human and healthy development of young people and will be forever and irretrievably an act of mind-less destruction, devoid of values and vision.

From Tim Prentki, Lecturer

The decision of Arts Council England to cease the portfolio revenue funding of Big Brum effectively marks the end of national, public support for Theatre in Education in England. TIE has been a gift from England to the world and young people across the globe have experienced the freedom and joy which comes uniquely from the possibilities for learning which it opens. TIE, rather than being pushed to extinction, should occupy a place at the centre of any curriculum concerned with the education of the next generation. Sadly, government policies for formal education are directed, not to the education of its citizens, but to training a workforce as low-paid wage slaves of neoliberalism. In such a climate Big Brum with its unshakeable belief in the imaginative and critical powers of young people looks like an anomaly; an irritant under the skin of the policymakers of Whitehall and ACE.

Whilst expressing my outrage at this absurd and cruel decision, I am also overwhelmed by sadness at the trashing of yet another institution of social democracy. As handmaiden to a government bent on the destruction of the public sector, ACE will presumably be presiding over its own demise in the near future. Let there be few tears shed in that moment but rather expend them all today at the removal of Big Brum from England's cultural landscape.

Tim Prentki,Professor of Theatre for DevelopmentUniversity of Winchester

From Bobby Colville, Teaching Assistant

Dear Big Brum,I can’t tell you how profoundly shocked I am at the news of your funding cut by the Arts council. I joined the company in 1992 and was privileged to work for the company for ten years or so. During that time, I was involved in creating the most exciting and significant Theatre in Education in my life. It was innovative and cutting edge simply because we set our self the task of creating the most imaginative space possible for the young people to tussle with the problems of living and the meaning of being human. Since I left the company, I know you have gone on to develop that task to even greater more artistic ends.

Obviously, having been a company member, I will be supportive of the company’s existence. However, I am not writing this simply out of loyalty, fondness or nostalgia. [...] Whatever, the reasoning for the innovation, and there is no funding without ‘innovation’, what it distracts from is the absence of the young peoples voices, unless you count the ‘innovative equivalent of ‘Oh no it isn’t, oh, yes it is’ as the authentic expression of young peoples concerns.

Unfortunately, as far as imagination and creativity goes, it is even bleaker in schools. Young people are forced to study, day after day, from the age of seven or less, on the technicalities of literacy. Of story mountains, of adverbs, of drop clauses, I have yet to witness a child being given the time and space to write their own stories, they are always re-writing existing stories, which they have previously deconstructed. Yes, at eight years old, our children deconstruct a text, they do not discuss what the story is about; content has been banished.

Where then, is the space for young people to explore their concerns; concerns of love and friendship, of justice and mortality, of beginnings and endings, of value and cost? With an increasing pressure to grow up and decreasing public space to play, where will young people create their values, their selves?

Big Brum TIE offered the Young people a space to be truly involved in a dramatic dialogue about their lives, a space to creatively face life in all its colour and contradictions, a space to meet the other, to be the other.

What truly depresses me most about this decision, and it really is depressing, is its irreversibility its irreversibility down the line. When, in five or ten years it is realised what damage has been done, what cultural vandalism has been committed, we wont be able to go, oh lets bring Big Brum back, it will have gone, all that expertise, skill, and understanding will have dispersed, without a practice it will have faded. Big Brum has developed its practice since its inception in the 1980’s, it’s first TIE programmes are very different than today’s, although I’m sure you could trace the thread linking them together. This development has come through the day to day, theoretical and artistic practice of its members, through mistakes, frustrations and moments of insight. Without, a practice there is no need for a theory, it’s an organic living process, once it stops it stops, it cannot be picked up at some later point as if it were a paused movie.

The financial cost of keeping Big Brum is peanuts, actually it’s not even the cost of a peanut, yet the damage its loss will cause is beyond calculation, lets just hope that the consequences come back to haunt us, in a way we can not find the words to understand.

Bobby

From David Lane, Playwright

Dear Dan

I was shocked to hear about the removal of funding from Big Brum. I came to interview Chris Cooper in 2009 about his work with Edward Bond for an academic publication, and was completely overwhelmed by the artistic and political depth of work being offered to children by the company, the company’s commitment to pursuing complex methodology and real, true innovation in the arts to explore vital concepts such as justice and morality and what it means to be human. As far as I’m concerned I’ve still yet to meet a company that demonstrates a similar level of purpose, artistic quality and desire to reflect and develop its overall practice. It is totally erroneous to remove funding from a company that is not only providing engagement to thousands of children but is also one of the country’s most artistically forward-thinking – adult and children’s companies included – in the field of new writing and the use of drama as a tool for investigating the problems of being human. I love and respect your/their work and hold it in very high regard. They have influenced my practice from afar and they need to stay funded.

With best wishes

David LanePlaywright and DramaturgAssociate Artist, the egg

From Professor David Rabey, Lecturer

I would like to express my condemnation of the Arts Council of England's decision to withdraw funding from Big Brum Theatre Company. This company has consistently produced unique, important and innovative work, at the forefront of British theatre for young people. It is impossible to maintain faith in an Arts Council and government who are demonstrating themselves to be apologists and agents for a systematic application of irrevocable cultural vandalism. The one opportunity to amend this impression would be a reconsideration and reversal of their decision. David Ian Rabey MA MA PhDProfessor of Drama and Theatre StudiesResearch Co-ordinator, Department of Theatre, Film and Television StudiesAberystwyth University

From Arron Gill, Student

Dear Big Brum,

For me, and for countless others, Big Brum was my first encounter in which I realised how powerful theatre could be when used in an intelligent and honest way for the means of education. For many decades Big Brum's commitment to the empowerment of young people like me, in the face of media and education fashions which have so often labelled youth as 'disengaged' and other similar terms, has been unrivalled, and it is with the proudest honour that I declare myself a nurtured being of its education.The news of the cuts to Big Brum truly saddens me. The cut has come during a time in which Arts Council England have declared a primary interest in young peoples theatre, so how is it justifiable that in one of Europe's youngest populations that the template of a young peoples theatre, the epitome of Theatre-In-Education has been axed with seemingly no regards for its community and the values which it has so willingly enriched our lives with?Although Big Brum may cease to be, its teachings live long in the minds and practices of many.

Arron Gill

From Gavin Bolton, Lecturer

To the Arts Council of England I am appalled to learn of your decision to cut the funds of Big Brum, a Theatre in Education team that has been making such successful direct educational contact with young people in Birmingham. You will be aware of the company’s high standard of achievement. Big Brum has been a model over many years for other teams of players in the U.K. To turn your back on such an example of educational enterprise makes me wonder what the Arts Council’s priorities can be. Dr. Gavin Bolton Reader Emeritus in Drama Education University of Durham Visiting Professor, Universities of New York and Victoria B.C.

From Naomi Doyle, Actress

Dear Chris, Ceri and all at Big Brum,I was shocked, saddened and angered at the news that the Arts Council of England has decided to cut all funding to Big Brum from 2015. I wanted to lend my voice and my support at this hard time for you all. How short sighted it is of the Arts Council to cut support to this extraordinary provision for young people in Birmingham. Though it is not only Birmingham’s young people who will lose out. Big Brum’s work has a far wider reach, and this decision will have a far wider impact. As so many of your other letters of support have shown, your work is important, and needed on an international level. I have experienced your work both as a performer and a participant/audience member and am always moved and astounded at the depth and honesty of the productions and programmes. We must not let this company go. Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to lend my support. My thoughts are with you all. Naomi Doyle

From Gemma Grubb, Teacher

Dear Dan and Big Brum,

Having known about Big Brum for years through their work that they have generously shared at the National Association for Teachers of Drama conferences, I have always been so delighted not only with the quality of their work, but their focus on creating work that is child-centred and deals with the very real issues that our young people struggle with in the modern world. In a climate where more and more children in our supposed developed country are living below the poverty line, it is vital that now, more than ever, young people have access to powerful, culturally enriching and creative outlets to enable them to make sense of the broken world they are living in and find ways to fix it. To discover that

your Arts Council funding has been cut is shocking news that saddens me deeply. It is a turn in completely the wrong direction; where we should be ploughing more funds into the creative work of companies like Big Brum, those funds are being taken away – instead of Robin Hood stealing from the poor to give to the rich, it is as though the Sheriff of Nottingham is in power and taking from the poor to line the pockets of the rich.

We are pleased to be able to support Big Brum by bringing them to our school to run a workshop with our Y10 classes and wish we could do more to support.

With huge respect and good wishes,

Gemma GrubbSubject Leader for DramaHazelwick SchoolFrom Anne March, Assistant Head of School

Thank you for your kind words with regard to Oakdale and Millpool pupils who attended the Home Front Frontline activity/performance on Friday 4 July 2014. Your praise of the pupils' behaviour is very gratefully received but it is important to stress that I feel that you all at Big Brum need to take a great deal of the credit also. Through your spectacular planning and attention to detail with regard to the content of the performance, our pupils were fully engaged throughout. Through Richard and Danny's skill in engagement, they created an environment of trust in which our pupils felt confident to participate fully in. I cannot praise your ability to do this enough. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience and the three pupils I transported back to Millpool were "buzzing" with excitement about the content of the play and continued their discussions all the way back to Millpool with us. A strong testimony of how brilliant you all were.

I look forward to continuing to strengthen our relationship with you for many years to come and cannot stress the importance of including our pupils in such activities as for many they would not have been "allowed" to access such opportunities in their mainstream schools due to perceived behaviours.

We are really sorry to hear about the Arts Council funding decision which will threaten the ongoing partnership with City of Birmingham School. As you can see from my email, the benefit to our children of all ages of being included in such initiatives is immensely supportive in ensuring better outcomes for the development of their social skills, as well as knowledge. Our children are always at their best when they are accessing education in a "hands on", interactive environment.

Many thanks to you all and I really hope that we can work together again very soon.

Best wishes,

Ann MarshAssistant Head of School for South & South WestCity of Birmingham Schools

From Malcolm Jennings, Actor Teacher

Theatre is part of the democratic process. Companies like Big Brum engage young people in complex debates about the nature of being a human being. If people are able to debate, argue, reason and deduce they are better able to contribute to the shaping of the world in which we live. This is real democracy not sound bite, popularity contests that we are usually offered, (is it any wonder we are disenchanted and electoral turn out is falling?). The ability to problem solve and wrangle with complex moral dilemmas is being driven from the curriculum in schools in favour of concrete, linear delivered closed packets of knowledge the dominant paradigm's are child as empty vessel needing to be filled and teacher as police officer/postman. It would be easy to imagine why this might be desirable for some people. We need companies like Big Brum to keep the pot of learning simmering, with the addition of new ingredients occasionally, for our young people.

From Janet Davies, Teacher

Dear Big Brum, Our school has a longstanding relationship with Big Brum and over the years hundreds of our students have seen a Big Brum production or participated in a workshop or follow up work. We are an inner city school with a one person Drama department and it is often the case that the only formal drama our students experience in their time with us is a performance and workshop by Big Brum. It seems to me that this in itself would justify funding by the Arts Council but their work is of such depth and quality and represents such value for money that any cut in funding large or small seems extremely short sighted. I have seen Big Brum challenge students with higher order questions, explore difficult themes and present work that is engaging and relevant to young people adding value for all participants, inspiring high level discussions, high quality drama work and enriching both the arts and the PSHE curriculum. Their work has a huge impact, on students and on staff - my own teaching has been enhanced and developed through watching them work and observing their interactions with our students. A cut in funding for Big Brum wipes these experiences from the educational landscape - there are

no other companies doing what Big Brum does and not just in Birmingham but anywhere in the UK, without them the arts experience for the students at our school shrinks still further so on behalf of those students I would urge the Arts Council to reconsider their decision. Janet Davies

From Sarah Allen, Deputy Head Teacher

Abbeywood First School was devastated to hear about the lack of funds for Big Brum. We a school with great social economic deprivation that needs to provide children the kind of experiences that Big Brum provide. We rely on the talents from groups like this to give the children the vision to think big! Please reconsider your decision re funding to enable children like ours to open their eyes to the world. Sarah AllenDeputy Head Abbeywood

From Chris Batten, Chair, Equity Wales

Dear all I was angered and sorry to hear of ACE’s decision to cut your funding but, depressingly, not shocked. We know the barbarians have been at the gate for some time but it seems now they are marching through with impunity. Like so many wreckers, they have little or no comprehension of the harm they unleash through their actions, for now and the future. At a time of fracture and uncertainty, it is precisely organisations such as Big Brum, champions of the young, proponents of social inclusion and social cohesion, that are critically important and more relevant now than at any time. Big Brum’s reputation internationally as well as closer to home speaks for itself. Even a brief look at the list of people who have written to support Big Brum shows the respect and esteem in which the Company is held. It also demonstrates the recognition of the importance of the Company and the impact for good its work has had over the last thirty years. Without such people doing such work, one can only fear for the future. It is vital that ACE revisits this brutal and misguided decision. Chris Batten,Chair, Welsh National Committee, Equity.

From Marianne Walker, former Big Brum Youth Theatre member

Dear Big Brum.

I am genuinely saddened and quite frankly confused as to the Arts council’s decision to cut funding for Big Brum. With the council declaring the importance and prioritisation of arts provision for young people, it seems absurd that young people will be restricted from accessing such a unique and vital company.

As a previous member of Big Brum Youth theatre, I can speak from personal experience just how much my life has, and continues to be enriched by my time spent with Big Brum. A space was provided for me to be able to think independently, to question and to ultimately discover what made me, me. As a young person at the time, this was truly exciting- never before had I been encouraged to address what values I held and encouraged to creatively express these. It is unquestionable how important this is for young people, and the profound effect it can have on confidence and self-understanding. With Big Brum actively reaching out to young people of diverse backgrounds, the importance of the company becomes even clearer. It has provided access for youths who may not have a chance to engage with theatre or arts, a space to not only access them but truly used theatre to enhance the lives of so many.

The experiences Big Brum provided me with are still just as profound today and they initially were. Through the chance to gain profound understanding of the Holocaust through the performance of ‘100,000 whys’ and visit to Poland, through the chance to engage with different cultures in a trip to a young people’s theatre festival in Hungary, and through every session, performance and discussion I took part in - Big Brum has built within me a deep desire to express myself and a realisation of the importance of community and human relations. I will forever be grateful for all they have done for me, and would like to give my sincere thanks for shaping the person I am today. I only hope that I will not be one of the last few to have benefited from the company’s work, and instead will be one of many to come.Marianne Walker.

From David Allen, Artistic Director

From Jack Trow, Actor

Dear Big Brum

I just wanted to add my support to the collection of messages you have been getting from across the city, the country and the world.

Despite the inevitable and anticipated changes to the Arts Council's National Portfolio I was nevertheless shocked to find that Big Brum would not remain as an NPO. You are, I am sure, preparing to put forward a strong argument with particular reference to the Arts Council's own claims to be prioritising provision for young people and "developing arts opportunities for people where engagement is least". If these are part of the Arts Council's priorities then it seems that the cutting of Big Brum has no strategic correlation to that vision - I know of no other company in this region who tick those boxes more emphatically than Big Brum.

It is not helpful to compare Big Brum's suitability as an NPO versus that of any other specific organisation in the region. Who am I to decide whether participants in a Birmingham Opera Company production would be more or less engaged by a Big Brum workshop for example? Or, whether the Fierce Festival audience discover more about what it is to be human than a Big Brum audience? But it cannot be overstated that the level of sophistication that Big Brum bring to young audiences is unparalleled in this region as far as I am aware. It is rare to find work of such quality. It is rare to find work that expresses a real understanding of the diverse ways by which young people learn - moreover how people learn - how people think, feel, develop, live. And all this with a scrutiny and respect that most other companies who claim to do similar things can only look up to in admiration.

If this cut spells the end for Big Brum it is not just the end of a theatre company, it is the end of a 30+ years continuity of work. Work and expertise that will be very difficult to start again from scratch. Also, it's difficult to see where work of this kind, and catering to this audience will be made within either the current collection of NPOs or any burgeoning candidates for future NPO status.

I support any appeal Big Brum make to this funding decision.

Jack Trow

Actor and Theatre Maker.

From Olwen Medi, Actress

In 2011 Big Brum’s partnership with Theatr Powys came to an abrupt end as the latter lost not only its grant from ACW but Powys County Council too. The partnership between both companies was not a matter of legislation: more a brothers-in-arms between BB’s AD, Chris Cooper and

TP’s AD, Ian Yeoman nurtured by Coventry’s Belgrade and Lancaster’s Dukes.

I recall the clearing of a school hall after the morning session of a Welsh Language TIE in Rhydaman when the austere dinner lady remarked “Don’t rush, I used to love it when Theatr Powys came to school, it was always special and I knew that something important had happened”.

Such practice gave the key to young people to challenge, give testimony – I shall never forget a participant’s testimonial in Llanbrynmair during Minamata – and to be valued. That, in our today where the Manic Street Preachers’ Everything Must Go is the continuing song of our time. Heno, heno, hen blant bach. Olwen Medi. Freelance actress

From Aimee Corbett, Actress

To whom it may concern,

I’m writing in regards to the recent Arts Council England decision to withdraw NPO funding from Big Brum Theatre Company.

I'm a theatre practitioner working in the arts and education sector. I was recently fortunate enough to work for Big Brum as an Actor Teacher touring their play Touched to young people in secondary schools. This was an exciting opportunity for me as Big Brum is one of a kind; rather than enforcing a moral message on young people it creates an important space lacking in our exam driven education system, for young people to explore and articulate their ideas about themselves and the world around them. This evokes a sense of cohesion, confidence and empowerment. In a society where there are so many disaffected young people, this work is essential. I have seen the positive and transformative effects that Big Brum's work has and know that there are many testaments to this.

Big Brum is a dedicated and earnest company, and it has been going for 30 years and strive to make a difference to those living in some of the poorest regions in Birmingham and beyond. Over the years they have developed a unique pedagogy from their experience of working directly with young people and artists, that makes a lasting and positive impact.

When I worked for Big Brum we toured secondary schools across Birmingham and further. We worked with young people who'd never even entered a theatre to university students studying degrees in education and theatre. The company provides both an invaluable provision for the young people of today whilst sharing their expertise and training the teachers/educators/artists of tomorrow. Surely this is a vision ACE should be supporting and pioneering when they state ‘Our goal is for every child

and young person to have the opportunity to experience the richness of the arts’. I find their recent decision astonishing, if ACE is committed to this policy as a nationwide vision – why cut such a company?

As well as being an actor teacher one of my responsibilities was to collect evaluation forms from schools of their experience from working with us. During my time at Big Brum not one of the evaluations received spoke of poor quality or lack of interest. It was the opposite - teachers were amazed by the impact the company created on its students and it was clear that they wanted more of such a provision.

It seems that such a small company which provides high quality artistic and educational work in a time of cuts is good value for money. It is the young people which ACE claims as a public body it wants to serve – those with a lack of opportunity, voice, experience and finance that are being cut. Therefore I urge ACE’s decision to be challenged, investigated and re-thought to prevent such provision being lost.

Yours Sincerely, Aimee Corbett

From Tyler Keevil, Lecturer

Dear Chris and Co.,

Like so many other artists and audience members, I was shocked, saddened, and dismayed to learn that Big Brum have been cut from the Arts Council of England’s portfolio for 2015. I’ve seen the work the company does first hand, and know how crucial and vital it is to the young people of Birmingham and beyond. I’ve also seen TIE programmes and workshops based on the work of Big Brum, developed and taken up by its sister companies – something that demonstrates just how influential and wide-reaching Big Brum’s work has been. One of the most moving drama productions I’ve seen was a TIE programme of The Giant’s Embrace, originally conceived by Big Brum, performed in a rural Welsh school. The effect on the children was nothing short of extraordinary.

As so many others have pointed out, the decision of the Arts Council is backwards, has no real justification, and seems contrary to their own agenda. The work Big Brum does is not just necessary but essential, and has an enormous impact on the students and young people who take part in the programmes and workshops. I just hope the Arts Council comes to see how misguided and erroneous this decision is. If there’s anything I can do to help or contribute to the cause, just ask.

With best wishes, and my fullest sympathies,

Tyler KeevilNovelist, Lecturer, and Course Leader in Creative Writing, University of Gloucestershire

From Geoff Readman, Lecturer

Dear Dan,

I was so disappointed to hear of the Arts Council’s decision re Big Brum Funding.

In my view it is totally unacceptable for the following reasons;

1. The Arts Council are failing Birmingham young people by denying them access to theatre that is age-specific, school-based and devised in response to social and community learning needs.

2. They are also preventing the development of one of the most innovative forms of theatre in this country; participatory theatre in which young people make decisions, speculate upon events and become authentic artists in the theatre-making event.

I would urge the Arts Council to re-consider and review their decision on the basis of these two points alone. I could identify many other qualities that Big Brum have to offer to support their case.

Best wishes,

Dr Geoff Readman

From Steve Nolan and Margaret Nolan

Statement of Support from Steve Nolan and Margaret Nolan

We wish to register our profound opposition to the Arts Council of England’s stated intention to remove Big Brum from its portfolio of revenue funded organisations for 2015 -2018.As Edward Bond says: “The mind is a dramatizing structure.” Nothing is more important than Drama for young people who are developing a self and the eyes with which to see the world and which will form the values by which they will respond to it.Nobody does this work better with young people than Big Brum. The company’s unique relationship with one of our leading playwrights is testimony to this.When much of “culture” today feeds only the senses, Big Brum have forged a practice which gets to the heart, soul and mind in profound ways when others barely scratch the surface.

To think of destroying this or at least denying it the means to survive, would be a crime. It would make more sense to raze a leading hospital to the ground and tell its surgeons and doctors that the world would be a better place without their services.For the sake of the young people whom they serve and for the sake of art in our impoverished national community, the Arts Council of England, on our behalf must ensure that Big Brum not only survives but continues to flourish.

From Vanessa Hammick, Writer and Performer

To Whom It May Concern,

I was saddened to hear that Big Brum Theatre Company are facing severe funding cuts. I saw ‘Touched’ at the MAC earlier this year, and I thought it was intelligent, hugely engaging and brilliantly performed- I was genuinely delighted to see that work of this quality was being taken into schools where it can have such a positive influence.

I work in theatre and had heard of Big Brum long before I saw ‘Touched’. They really do have a strong reputation for delivering excellent work, and as a performer and teacher, I have seen and been involved in a number of TIE performances, so I know how hard it is to achieve quality of this standard in this area. It takes a high level of commitment and experience. Above all; success can’t be faked. Teenagers are very frank about things they do not like, so for Big Brum to be rebooked at schools year after year for such a long time is a true testament to their value; teachers would simply not rebook them if the performances did not work.

I urge this decision to be reconsidered, particularly in the light of recent concerns about Birmingham schools- an experienced theatre company is an ideal vehicle to keep communication and fair debate alive in schools, and this is the time to invest in that, now more than ever.

Yours Sincerely, Vanessa Hammick.

International Letters of Support

From Adam Dilworth, Director, Canada

I am astonished that core funding has been cut from Big Brum Theatre: an essential theatre company in the English and WORLD theatre ecology. This is extremely short sighted. This decision threatens England’s standing as a leader in youth theatre throughout the world.

Sincerely, Alan Dilworth Toronto, Canada

From Cao Xi, Director, China

Dear Dan

In 2015 there will be a celebration of 50 years practice of theatre in education and it will not be a celebration without Big Brum. Being one of the most innovative, specialist and sustained TIE company in England, Big Brum has developed an unique culture in developing Chinese drama/theatre in education through Drama Rainbow for the past five years. The company's internationalist spirit for developing qualitative art and education for young people in China has built an enormous impact on our children, teachers, researchers, institutions and overall the arts education in Beijing particularly. Losing the funding support for Big Brum is a loss for all these children, teachers researchers and institutions and therefore a loss for Chinese arts education too.

Best wishes

Cao Xi

From Roy Dib, Artist, Lebanon

We have been informed recently with great sadness and genuine astonishment that Big Brum TIE Company has been cut from Arts Council’s National Portfolio. We understand that first of all this decision puts the company into great financial trouble and moreover that the company will face the possibility of ending its existence. This means of course that those thousands of young people who benefited from Big

Brum’s work all these years are essentially excluded from quality education and theatre. To us Big Brum and the work it is producing is not only inspirational but groundbreaking. It is a leading company in the field of drama and theatre in education internationally. It is a great surprise that there is even a slight possibility to lose such a valuable source of theoretical and practical knowledge and that their work and offer to young people could go profoundly unrecognised and unappreciated by the Arts Counsil.

Together with other international artists and educators we would like to support Big Brum by asking the Arts Council of England to reconsider their decision.

Roy DibArtist from Lebanon

From Andja Jocic, Director, Serbia

Dear Dan, Dear Big Brum friends,

I read the news regarding the Arts Council decision to cut funds for Big Brum with great fear and disappointment. If the country where the magic of humanistic education through drama and theatre started decides to cut down the funds of those who go where arts, theatre and humanism are most needed, and are not afraid to tackle difficult issues, always striving to create great art while advocating for humanism and humanity, is there any hope for working with marginalised and underpriviledged and giving them voice through drama and theatre for the rest of us? Is there hope for those we work with?I first encountered Big Brum while paritcipating in the DICE project, which proved the powerful impact of DiE/TiE on developing and improving competencies of young people. My last encounter with Big Brumers was in March this year, on Ljubljana Conference. Being drama teacher since 1984, I still feel that  I had a true privilege to attend a workshop training by Mr. Cooper during this conference, and, regardless of my long and extensive experience, it was a true learning experience, moving and touching. If this work had such impact on us, adults and experienced pedagogues, I feel it is so important that you get all the support you can in order to reach as many young people as possible, and give them voice on their burning issues in a creative, positive, artistic way and offering strategies for searching for solutions. I am therefore very worried on how you will be able to continue the precious work you do, and offer light to

those young people who already feel that society doesn't really care for them, has given up on them; I am positive that you do make a difference in the lives and future of these young people, and I think it would be a real shame, should such an appalling decision prevent you from carrying out your mission, doing wonderful art and touching the lives and dreams of those who need your presence and your work the most. I hope there is a way to change the current situation and to make continuing Big Brum magic of theatre and drama work with deprived young people possible.My heart, my hope and my prayers are with you, stay strong, do wonderful theatre magic.Go, Big Brumes, Go.Love and hugs,

Andja JocicCEDEUM, TOK, BAZAART, NEA PANGEA (civil society organisations involved in drama, theatre, culture, interculture and education)

From Wei Wang, Manager, China

From Adrian Buckle, Director, Malta

Dear friends at Big Brum,

It is with intense sadness that I read the news that funding to Big Brum has been withdrawn as of April 2015.  I have attended performances by

Big Brum on the Broken Bowl Project as well as during the Bond @ 50 celebration.

The work was top notch and I could not help but thinking how lucky Birmingham youths are to have such a company giving them quality theatre in their schools.

Moreover, Big Brum has helped us in Malta professionalize Drama Education through workshops.

I hope you can overcome this setback as it would be a pity if this work were to be stopped.

Adrian Buckle

From Susan Nicolas, Lecturer, Spain

Dear allI cannot believe the news from Arts Council. This is a very sad day really. I would like to show my support to your valuable work and express my profound rejection to this decision. Do not hesitate to ask for anything I could do.

Theatre is the only way.

Best wishesSusana NicolasEnglish lecturerUniversity of AlmeriaSPAIN

From Twenty Four Practitioners, Greece

Letter of support for Big Brum TIE Company from teachers and artists in GreeceWe have been informed recently with great sadness and genuine astonishment that Big Brum TIE Company has been cut from Arts Council’s National Portfolio. We understand that first of all this decision puts the company into great financial trouble and moreover that the company will face the possibility of ending its existence. This means of course that those thousands of young people who benefited from Big Brum’s work all these years are essentially excluded from quality education and theatre.

To us Big Brum and the work it is producing is not only inspirational but groundbreaking. It is a leading company in the field of drama and theatre in education internationally. It is a great surprise that there is even a slight possibility to lose such a valuable source of theoretical and practical knowledge and that their work and offer to young people could go profoundly unrecognised and unappreciated by the Arts Council. Together with other international artists and educators we would like to support Big Brum by asking the Arts Council of England to reconsider their decision.

1. Kostas Amoiropoulos, primary school teacher, drama teacher2. Aristomenis Dimakis, director of drama studio ‘diadromes’,

Athens, Greece3. Niki Kavaka, health educator/researcher 4. Lia Damianaki, secondary school teacher, drama teacher5. Emilia Fakou, primary school teacher, drama teacher6. Panogiotis Bilidis, secondary school teacher7. Melina Hatzhigeorgiou, drama teacher8. Maria Barbatsalou, drama teacher, director of drama studio

‘Roda’, Karditsa, Greece9. Olga Mitsopoulou, secondary school teacher, drama teacher10. Dimitra Giovani, artist11. Ioanna Kampouri, primary school teacher12. Chrysoula - Chrysovalantou Papastathi, primary school

teacher, drama teacher13. Katerina Kanelopoulou, school accountant 14. Vaso Zarkinou, primary school teacher15. Evi FIlea, primary school teacher, drama teacher16. Eleni Lazaraki, actress, drama teacher 17. Chrisa Kapatsoulia, primary school teacher18. Katerina Anastasopoulou, secondary school teacher 19. Efi Vlahogianni, actress, drama teacher20. Spiros Petritis, theatre studies 21. Emanouela Papasotiriou, drama teacher 22. Evi Papadopoulou, primary school teacher23. Polixeni Mastora, primary school teacher24. Fotini Dimitriou, actress, educator

From Peggy Stefanidou, Director, Greece

Porta studio (portaergastiri.blogspot.gr) is a non-profit organization of cultural education that headquarters in Athens. Each year we accept almost 120 children in drama workshops and almost 70 adults in educational seminars. The basic theme and philosophy of both seminars

and workshops is Drama and Theatre in Education. In addition, we organize TIE programs in schools all over Greece. For the past 7 years, in an annual basis, the main organization responsible for renewal of theoretical, philosophical and practical training is Big Brum and its art director Chris Cooper. Big brum is our main collaborator for both childrens workshops and adults and teacher training. Despite the financial difficulties we experience, it is our goal to have Big Brum with us, since their work is a guarantee of quality, high ethical standards and pioneering work. The work and the philosophy of this group has activated mechanisms of empathy, deeper understanding and the use of creative imagination so that our students could reach a high level of self-consciousness, exploration of the world and a positive view on an active participation in real life.The greatest achievement of this collaboration is that we, the people working at Porta Studio and the teachers who attended the master class, had the chance to give back this kind of social, moral and cultural education to the educational community and to the schools at all levels of education. By keeping pure the work of Edward Bond, Big Brum has transfer it beyond the United Kingdom with consistency and precision, so that the writer becomes known not only through ought his work, but through his philosophical and theoretical power. Currently, there is an ongoing attempt to organize and decode the work of Edward Bond at the University of Athens, as a result of the collaboration of Big Brum and Chris Cooper with the adults of the master class of Porta Studio.

For us at Porta Studio, the continuation of Big Brum's work and the maintenance of their high quality at all levels is an essential need, which aims to advance pedagogy worldwide at a philosophical and societal level.Looking forward to the new production of Big Brum and their next visit in Athens.

Best regards,

Peggy Stefanidou

Director of Porta Studio00 30 210 32 49 829portastudio@gmail.com

From Stig Eriksson, Lecturer, Norway

On behalf of myself and colleagues associated with the Centre of the Arts, Communication and Culture – Bergen University College (BUC) – I hereby want to express our support to Big Brum TIE Company and its continued work for the benefit for young people and innovation in the sector of arts and education.

We have learned to appreciate Big Brum as a company that keeps a work of high artistic and educational quality, not only for its primary target group audiences but for research and teacher education as well. The Drama Department of Bergen University College has, for example, collaborated with Big Brum over a period of more than 20 years; the first encounter started in 1993, with a study trip to Birmingham for TIE-students, and professional relations have been kept with Big Brum ever since. When Big Brum celebrated their 25 years anniversary in 2007, the Drama Department celebrated them through an article about the company’s work, in DRAMA – Nordic Drama Education Journal, No. 4. Since 2006 the artistic director of Big Brum, Chris Cooper, has been a regular guest lecturer and tutor for Bergen University College’s TIE course for Norwegian and international students (20 ECTS credit points). In 2008-2010 representatives of the BUC applied theatre programme cooperated closely with Cooper in the development of an applied theatre teachers’ manual - as one of the end products of a major international research project, comprising 12 EU countries: DICE (Drama Improves Lisbon Key Competences in Education).

We hope the company will receive necessary funding to enable them to continue their significant work in bridging art and education, which is such an innovative venture, much needed in a contemporary society.

Yours,Stig A. Eriksson, Professor, Ph.D.Leader of the Centre of Arts, Communication and Culture

From Association of Independent Performing Artists, Contrast Workshop, Forum Company Hungarian Drama/Theatre in Education Association, InSite Drama, Káva Drama/Theatre in Education Association, Krétakör Foundation, Montázs Association, Open Circle Association, Open Courses Foundation, Round Table Theatre in Education Company, Theatre 21 Association for Education, all in Hungary

What is the Art Council’s agenda?

The news of the Arts Council England’s decision to cut Big Brum from its National Portfolio from 2015 onwards has shocked many specialists working in the field of theatre and education in Hungary.

Big Brum’s work has had a huge impact in Hungary as well. The undersigned differ in the extent in which they follow Big Brum’s artistic and educational path, but the company has always been a reference point for all of us and many other artists and companies around the world.

We don’t understand how the fourth richest country in the world, the birthplace of theatre-in-education, the home of many experimental ventures in theatre cannot afford a small independent TIE company that provides extremely engaging contemporary theatre to young people.

We are startled because the company has been cut while it offers high quality theatre experiences exclusively to young people, and does that mostly in the most deprived wards of Birmingham. Aren’t young people a priority for the Arts Council? Hasn’t the Midlands region received a rise of 3 million pounds? Then what is real reason behind the cut?

Is it because they are working with challenging contemporary plays?Is it because they are taking these to kids who have very little other access to culture? Is it because they open up performances and offer the possibility to create to young people? Is it because their high quality work is based on coherent artistic and pedagogical grounds? Is it because they strive to connect internationally and build networks?

Or is this some ironic way of celebrating the 50th anniversary of the birth of theatre-in-education, a unique British artistic form that has spread around the world?

We do not understand the Arts Council England! What is your agenda?

Even in a country like Hungary, which offer a fair share of challenges to independent artists we find it hard to grasp this decision. We seek answers.

On behalf of the following Hungarian theatres and organisations:

Association of Independent Performing ArtistsContrast WorkshopForum CompanyHungarian Drama/Theatre in Education AssociationInSite DramaKáva Drama/Theatre in Education AssociationKrétakör FoundationMontázs AssociationOpen Circle AssociationOpen Courses FoundationRound Table Theatre in Education CompanyTheatre 21 Association for EducationFrom Adam Czilboy, Director, Hungary

From Tara Power, Facilitator, China

To all at Big Brum,

I am very disappointed by the news of the funding withdrawal. I know that the work of Big Brum has been so important, not only for the young people of Birmingham but further a field. I have personally learnt so much from working with Chris Cooper from the beginning of my studies in Drama in Education to my work here as a facilitator in China. Many of Big Brum's play's and approaches to working with children of varied ages have been influential to my own practice. It would be a great blow to the

future of Theatre in Education if Big Brum were unable to come through this major challenge.

Kind Regards,

Tara Power

From Christian Benedetti, Luz Mando, Elsa Granat, Directors, France

Mon cher Chris

« La classe propriétaire de la richesse / Parvenue à une telle familiarité avec la richesse / Qu’elle confond la nature et la richesse », disait Pasolini.C’est ainsi que le pouvoir actuel, en déni de son programme, trouve naturel that Big Brum have been cut from the Arts Council England's National Portfolio.Avec Edward Bond et tant d’autres je m’en indigne.Ainsi la vie politique se corrompt sous la contrainte ultralibérale faisant triompher sans pudeur le mal de la vie sur le bien de la vie. Cette aberrante « castration mentale », ce grand divorce d’avec la culture et la création , avec les jeunes et la société doivent et peuvent être stoppés.L’histoire est pleine d’enceintes préfixées mais aussi pleine de tentatives pour forcer, pour rompre ce qu’on appelle hypocritement les règles du jeu.« Le meilleur témoignage que nous puissions donner de notre dignité, c’est la culture », disait Charles Baudelaire.Si vous voulez en finir avec les prisons ouvrez des écoles ! disait Victor Hugo, Il n’est pas tolérable que l’esprit des affaires et son chiffrage l’emporte sur les affaires de l’esprit et leur déchiffrage.Vous devez refuser d’être traités comme si vous étiez en trop dans la société.Avec d’autres qui renoncent à renoncer, vous utilisez votre pouvoir d’agir à l’étage voulu, avec votre sensibilité, votre imagination, votre intelligence, votre disponibilité. Vous êtes souffleurs de conscience et transmettez une compréhension, une énergie, un état d’expansion, un élan. Surtout que le fil ne soit pas perdu avec eux.« L’homme est un être à imaginer », disait Bachelard. A fortiori les artistes que vous êtes.

Solidarité, frères et sœurs de combat et d’espérance. Avec vous, comme disent beaucoup de personnages de Molière : ¬« J’enrage ».

Christian Benedetti / directeur du Théâtre-Studio à AlfortvilleLuz Mando / directrice adjointe du Théâtre-Studio à AlfortvilleElsa Granat / metteur en scène associée au Théâtre-Studio à Alfortville

From Warwick Dobson, Lecturer, Canada

I am writing to express my dismay at the decision to cut funding to Big Brum Theatre Company. The quality of their work for and with young people is recognized all over the world. I frequently use the texts that the company have developed with undergraduate and graduate theatre students here in Canada.

The decision is all the more surprising given that the Arts Council has supposedly prioritized young people in the current funding round. The big losers in all of this are the young people in Birmingham's diverse and deprived communities. This decision will have a major impact upon the company's ability to continue to develop high quality theatre for young people. I, and my colleagues in the Theatre Department at the University of Victoria, urge you to reconsider this decision

Sincerely.

Dr Warwick DobsonChair, Theatre DepartmentUniversity Scholar in Applied TheatreUniversity of VictoriaVictoriaBCCanada

From David Lynn, Teacher, Australia

Message of support for the company.The Arts Council has no business doing this. Unsurprising and outrageous in equal measure. Big Brum is compelling and bold in its collective nature and composed of the best of individuals. Through my association with them throughout the existence of SCYPT and ICTIE I believe that part of the company travels with me in Australia and part of me exists with them.

Big Brum needs to be!Good luck and please let me know how I can help.RegardsDavid LynnPrimary TeacherQueenslandAustralia

From Chris Vine, Lecturer, USA

Dear Company,This is appalling news! For many years Big Brum has been a beacon of excellence in the field of theatre provision for young people, and has, specifically, continued to be an innovator within the field of TIE, consistently combining educational effectiveness with artistic integrity. In the face of regressive, outcomes-driven school curricula, and the on-going demands for 'economies of scale' within an increasingly restricted and restrictive cultural environment, the Company has continued to offer its under-served and marginalized young audiences rare opportunities to make meaning of their lives through active engagement in the theatrical experience. It has insisted on placing the young people at the centre of their own learning as participants and co-creators in the great adventure of re-imagining our world in the face of orthodoxies that would have us believe in a fixed order of things that relegates most of us to the role of observers. It has steadfastly resisted the pressures to turn art into yet another commodity to be passively consumed as an entertaining distraction from the realities that confront us daily.

It was primarily for these reasons that last year I and my co-editor, Anthony Jackson, approached Big Brum's Director, Chris Cooper, to contribute to the book Learning Through Theatre: The Changing Face of Theatre in Education. Contrary to what many so-called authorities would have us believe, the aesthetic and educational values of the best TIE are not a quaint relic of the past. In many parts of the world there is a hunger for the kinds of practice Big Brum embodies. The sad irony is that as the arbiters of artistic excellence in the UK once again turn their backs on home-grown innovation, others elsewhere turn towards it for renewed inspiration. Since the book appeared in 2013, my graduate students here in New York have discovered new dimensions in their emerging applied theatre practices thanks to the theory and practice, illuminated by Chris, that emanates from the tradition that Big Brum so ably represents. And they are not the only ones. Big Brum's work is known, discussed and

emulated from China to the Middle East, from New Zealand to Norway. If the Company is allowed to die it will be a tragic loss for progressive theatre communities far beyond the environs of Birmingham, but above all it will be an act of barbarism against the local young people who so badly need - indeed have a right to - the creativity and imaginative hope it embodies.

I very much hope that on the eve of TIE's 50th birthday, sense and sensibility will prevail amongst those who have the power to keep Big Brum's light shining!

In solidarity -

Chris Vine

Academic Program DirectorMA in Applied TheatreSchool of Professional StudiesCity University of New York

From Veronika Gaber-Korbar, Company Director, Slovenia

From Li Yingning, Director, China

Dear who this may concern

I am sorry to hear that you cut Big Brum's life saving funding and I want to share what I think about this move if I may.

My acquaintanceship with Big Brum started in 1996 but since 2008, because of the continued support from British Council China, I had the chance to exchange my visits more frequently to Birmingham and watched Big Brum work. I've leant practically and philosophically about their unique artistic view towards DIE/TIE and also their operational skills on managing a TIE company. Mr. Cooper many times selflessly touring around China through Drama Rainbow in Beijing and Shanghai Theatre Academy to teach our teachers, children and students has made a profound impact on us.

I am glad that you've supported Big Brum to achieve what they have achieved in the past, taking serious, deep and well prepared play into schools benefits children from their childhood, which is what we've shared in China particularly through our NGO group. I know how difficult it is for an NGO to lose funding from yours, and how sad for children to lose a brilliant TIE company.

Therefore I urge you to reconsider your decision. Please dont stop a sustained fantastic practice when it's already in its most difficult.

Best Li YingningShanghai Li Yingning DIE Centre Artistic DirectorShanghai Theatre Academy professor Shanghai Theatre Academy Qingdao Art school professor Drama Rainbow Education Centre Drama Consultant Shanghai Theatre Art Centre Playwright

From Kifah Fanni, Poet, Palestine

Dear All,

As someone who worked so closely with Big Brum as they attempted to represent an alleviated aspect of humanism of the British culture in a place and a culture that still suffers the impact of the British colonial

history. I think the decision the Art council made is a huge mistake and leaves me as well as many only with the bitter taste of the British history.Kifah Fanni, Poet, Animator, Researcher and Translator