She Productions awarded Middle Child Match Fund

StorytEllas by She Productions

She Productions is the first Hull-based theatre company to receive match funding through Middle Child’s artist development programme, Reverb.

The company will receive £1,000 and support in-kind to fund their core running costs over three months as they develop their outreach work for communities in Hull and East Yorkshire.

Since forming in 2015, each of the company’s productions has been accompanied by a thematic, drama-based workshop programme.

These have included It’s Different For Girls consent and relationship workshops with vulnerable youth groups and ‘Man Up’ workshops, which focus on deconstructing the expectations of masculinity with a group of Pupil Premium male students.

She Productions’ outreach work comes at a time when nine out of 10 schools have cut back on lesson time, staff or facilities in at least one creative arts subject, according to a 2018 BBC survey.

This has seen teaching staff both locally and nationally teaching creative subjects that they are not trained in, including drama.

Ellie Claughton, She Productions producer, said: “She have been developing and producing workshops alongside each of our productions for the past four years.

“Outreach has always been at the core of our practice, so we are really excited to be supported by Middle Child in formalising this strand of our work.

“This funding will not only enable us to develop workshop programmes and build relationships with partner organisations, but to focus on identifying and reaching participants from across the area.”

Paul Smith, Middle Child artistic director, said: “We’re absolutely delighted to be able to support She Productions with both their organisational development and workshop programme, which will hugely benefit many young people in the city.

“We’re aware of how difficult it is to become sustainable in the first few years as a theatre company and hope our small cash injection can make a difference in what’s to come from She Productions in future.”

​The Reverb artist development programme is Middle Child’s commitment to ensuring that artists in Hull are given top-class development opportunities across disciplines without needing to leave the city.