10068133Creative Arts Community HubClosedCollaborative R&DInnovate UKFor many years, Adult Education was available in FE colleges & offered by groups such as the Workers' Educational Association. Sadly, that is no longer the case. It's no longer possible to continue educating yourself & broadening your horizons without having to commit to long courses and pay huge fees. Which is where our project comes in....... Our vision is to create a dynamic Community Arts Hub - offering inclusive classes & activities across Performing & Visual Arts to those often overlooked in our neighbourhood: * older people - a programme for Third Age Learners including Creative Writing, Memoir Writing, Film-making, Singing, Acting, Comedy, Podcasting * single parents - activities including Musical Theatre, Intro to Film-making, Drawing & Sketching - with pre-schoolers welcome * LGBQT theatre workshop * Neurodiverse theatre workshop For the past 25 years, we've been training people to work as professional actors but.....we're a Drama School with a twist. Our ethos is to maintain low fess & run courses during evenings & weekends so people can earn money/take care of their family, whilst retraining. And it works! We currently have three Graduates in the West End & many others working across all sectors of the Industry. We've recently expanded our premises & now have a highly visible 'shopfront' on one of Brighton's busiest streets so lots of people have been popping in to ask what classes they can take part in & that's what prompted this innovative project. We want to respond to this need by offering access to the whole community, providing classes for all, not just those wanting to train professionally. Especially marginalised or excluded people - our research shows there is a big problem with isolation & loneliness right on our doorstep, especially for over 60's, single parents, neuro-diverse people & those without work. There is a distinct lack of access to such Arts resources within our neighbourhood & we are confident that we are the right people to create a thriving Arts Hub working for our community. We have fantastic Studios & facilities which are only used in the evenings, so we want to open up daytime access, offering inclusive classes as well as free daytime events such as live play-readings, acoustic music, art exhibitions, themed quizzes, Bring Baby Storytelling. All taking place around our warm, welcoming cafe, led by experienced tutors who create safe & supportive settings wherein people learn, explore & grow their creative potential.