ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND LEARNING FROM PHASE ONE

The pilot allowed us to test this three way partnership, from which we have established that by joining forces we can create holistic approaches to the development of people with autism as practitioners, participants, artists and audiences.

We learned that there is a great hunger for these activities, not only from participants with autism, but their teachers and carers, who would like these activities to be a regular offer. There was also a great appetite from drama practitioners and artists to continue working in partnership with people with autism in the development of new projects and performance ideas.
 
The pilot has given everyone involved, from staff at the partner organisations, to the freelance artists and teachers, greater confidence in working with people with autism, and provided a theatre toolkit they can employ in future.
 
The partners continue to plan a further four years of joint artistic, creative and educational exploration.

'An environment where I can create and be free, it feels like home. This is definitely the place I want to be. I'm going to unleash my creativity. That's who I am, what I like to do.'
Calum Macritchie - Participant

​For autistic people, talking about their experiences and coping mechanisms is in itself hugely valuable, but to be able to present that as a creative piece is hugely important and powerful.
Dave Martin - Artist

'It's been quite surprising for me, to see some of the kids joining in with things I thought they would never join in with.'
Amy Coghlan - Session Worker and Volunteer, Hope for Autism

FEEDBACK

Andrew Comrie, Director of Academic Innovation, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
The Limitless project is an important part of the Conservatoire’s widening access work and has provided a fantastic opportunity for artists to work with and learn from autistic young people and explore ways in which physical theatre, music and other performing arts can be used to aid communication and represent different aspects of the autism experience.

ARTISTS' FEEDBACK

Frances Poet - artist
Emma set the tone for our thrilling week together on the Limitless project. As we all gathered, nervously greeting each other, she confessed how many hours early she had arrived that morning, before the RCS had even opened, hoping to find her feet in the environment that would host us for the week. We all followed her lead and honesty, humour and generosity defined our time together from that moment on.

The brilliantly pitched games we started the day with were the perfect warm up. These included one game, where seeking out the single lie each of us told in a list of three facts about ourselves, the group were happy to accept Graham’s lie that he had run a marathon but not mine, that I had come first in the mothers’ race at my son’s school Sports Day - I’m still smarting about that!

From there, we were on fire, pairing off and creating brave and stimulating responses to chapters of Naomi Higasuida’s wonderful book, The Reason I Jump. We achieved more in one day than I expected we could over the week.

Over the following days, our collaborative contributions began to feed into each other. Nicky and Zoe’s poignant mirror movement piece and the questions it asked about identity, Emma and Graham’s dynamic film with its evocative representation of an overwhelming emotional storm, the organic beauty of Callum and Dave’s music piece and Michael’s wonderfully engaging musings, full of wit - together these mini-pieces started to feel like a hugely resonant beginning of a larger creative endeavour, thrilling and full of possibilities.

On the last day, our initially nervous and seemingly disparate group had become a tremendously bonded creative team. It was a privilege to be part of it.

Graham Eatough - artist
One major significance of the Limitless Project has been its impact on building capacity for work with and for people with autism within the theatre sector. Even in their pilot form, the three workshops built key new skills for practitioners working with different age groups and in different contexts, and clearly demonstrated the effectiveness of this targeted and considered approach. There is now a fantastic opportunity to role out this learning across the sector and create many more and ongoing interactions of this kind.”
 
The workshop we carried out inspired by the book The Reason I Jump was a unique opportunity to bring together a diverse group of people on the spectrum, all with an interest in theatre, film and the creative arts generally, with a team of professional artists. This group explored the possibility of adapting the book, written by an autistic teenager, for a theatrical experience that would explore the different experiences of living with autism. The workshop was a success in two important ways: it generated some very exciting creative ideas that we will now hopefully be able to take forward to production, and it gave the participants a precious opportunity to share their experiences of living with autism in a way that can be of benefit to others on the spectrum as well as a general public.

Michael Dawson - artist
The association  of Theatre/ Drama and the use of, in the world of autism is not new. What is less well examined is theatre and drama as a profession for individuals with autism.

So far we have had two, three day workshops with people on the autistic spectrum, using the book, The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida as a starting point for creative expression and development.

The body of work that has resulted is frankly, “ myth busting.” and challenges many of the misconceptions about what autistic people think, feel, aspire to and how they deal with the world around them.The ease with which they engage with various media genres leaves you believing that this is their natural home.

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