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On the Road with the Community Education Network

30 Jun 2022
The AONTAS Community Education Network (CEN) “On the Road” Tour is a brand new feature of Community Education work at AONTAS. Amy Gibney, our Community Education Officer, is visiting CEN members across the country to develop our relationships and to continue to learn why Community Education is so important in our communities and how we can best support our members to continue this great work.

The first stop on the CEN On the Road tour is to the wonderful Blue Teapot Theatre Company, a multi-award-winning theatre company, performing arts school and community theatre programme in Galway City for people with intellectual disabilities. Blue Teapot provide much needed paths and programmes for their learners to be able to unleash their creative side through the medium of performing arts. This often leads to Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI) awards at Levels Two and Three.

Theatre actors from Blue Teapot on stage
Since their foundation in 1996, Blue Teapot Theatre Company have been at the forefront of arts and disability work, performing at the highest level on the main stages of Ireland’s major arts festivals and cultural events.

During my visit, I have the opportunity to meet with learners and find out what it is about Blue Teapot that makes it so special. This becomes quickly and abundantly clear to me. Their learners are at the very core of everything they do and programmes are designed to bring out the very best in the learner, honing in on their creative and diverse talents in acting, costume design, prop design and art work.

The learners speak with such enthusiasm and joy about their upcoming productions and the work they are doing.  They show such passion when speaking about their upcoming production ‘Into the Dark Woods’, a play written by Charlene Kelly, a former student and current actor at the Blue Teapot Theatre Company. Hearing about Charlene’s journey, from student to actor to writer, really shows how she has been empowered to grow and shine within the organisation.

Looking at the Charter for Community Education, Blue Teapot are living these principles and values with inclusion, equality and empowerment at the very heart of what they do. The Performing Arts School three-year training programme is entirely free for learners. The learners are more than just colleagues to each other, they are friends and this was clear in how they supported and included each other. They are empowered through personal development courses that provide them with skills they can use in the classroom and also outside of the classroom, in all aspects of their lives. There is a feeling of ease between the learners and the tutors and staff that contributes to an atmosphere of openness and fun while also getting the very best from the students. This shows through their wonderful creations that are displayed throughout the classrooms.

But Community Education is not just education for education’s sake, it goes beyond that and ‘creates a voice for those who are furthest from the education system’ (Community Education Charter, 2021). Blue Teapot are using their creative voice to build awareness of the human rights issues experienced by people with intellectual disabilities. Their award-winning play and feature film Sanctuary by Christian O’Reilly explores themes around sex and disability, and demonstrates awareness of discriminatory legislation in Ireland that prevented people with intellectual disabilities from having sex before marriage. This law has since been repealed but films like Sanctuary educate people about such inequalities in a very real and human way.

As an advocacy organisation, AONTAS’s role is to identify the challenges facing Community Education providers. For Blue Teapot Performing Arts School, one of the main challenges is funding. Galway Roscommon Education and Training Board funds the QQI training programme, tutors and teaching materials, but all other costs have to come from other sources.

Another challenge is the fact that there are limited opportunities for learners with intellectual disabilities to progress to further education due to barriers such as course requirements and a lack of one-on-one support.

AONTAS will continue to advocate for greater funding for Community Education, and to support people from some of the most marginalised backgrounds in Ireland. We will continue to look at ways in which learners can be supported through inclusive practices in Community and Further Education. It is essential that organisations like Blue Teapot can carry on doing the incredible work they do in making education a reality for everyone.

 

For more information on Blue Teapot Theatre Company, visit www.blueteapot.ie or email training@blueteapot.ie

If you are an independent community education provider and would like to join the CEN please get in touch with Amy Gibney, Community Education Officer via email at agibney@aontas.ie or phone 087 406 9608.

Photography credit Anita Murphy and Hillary Kavanagh