Zinc is really proud of what it has achieved over the past 21 years. Here are some highlights from our history:
Our passion has always been the creation of Theatre and since Zinc’s inception our work has developed into full-scale theatre pieces that have toured within the UK. Below, is a selection of those productions:
- It’ll All Come Out in the Wash: This was a performance piece commissioned by Essex Social Services where all the different types of ‘homes’ run by the local authority are in one street! This piece was then invited to perform in Germany.
- Parklife – A Deaf and Hearing integrated theatre piece that sees the lives of five deaf people converge in the local park.
- He Who Says Yes. Brechts’ four short plays.
- Chasing the Duchess of Malfi – An original adaptation of the WH Auden and Brecht play.
- The Monk - An adaptation of Matthew Gregory Lewis’ Gothic Novel.
- Lavenders Blue – A devised piece exploring the experience of childhood, playing and being looked after by a local authority.
- Macbett – A production of Eugene Ionesco’s absurd adaptation of Macbeth set to music.
- At Home with the Cripps. An original performance piece, devised by a disabled cast illustrating the funny and often dirty truth of disabled people’s lives.
- Journey to the South Pole – Four unemployed disabled people embark on a journey to the South Pole without leaving the house.
Residential courses for young people
Every year for the past 21 years, Zinc has run residential courses for young people. These have created original and exciting theatre, drama, dance and music. We have attracted a wide variety of young people to these courses working alongside social care services and the voluntary sector to ensure this opportunity includes those who are hardest to reach. We are particularly proud of our residential courses for young people as we know that through intensive working with young people over a three or four day period we have been able to reach them and provide them with that ‘switch on’ experience where they see and begin to believe in their abilities, skills and self worth. It is the start of a process of re-engagement that supports disabled and socially excluded young people to aim high and achieve their full potential.
The company has also worked with other cultural organisations in the Eastern region to build new audiences. The Map project ran for two years from 2001 and provided support for participating cultural organisations to develop new audiences, in particular audiences who do not normally access arts and cultural activities. The support provided included disability equality training, developing links with local non-arts services, setting up and running pilot projects to reach and benefit disabled people. This was funded by Arts Council England, East.
CLiP into... (Creative Learning in Partnership)
CLiP into... is a creative partnership between Zinc, Creative Arts East, Inspire and Momentum Arts. Between 2008 and 2011, the CLiP into... project ran a series of creative activities for young people identified as being at-risk of dropping out of education and/or employment. Activities took place across the Eastern Region in Cambridgeshire, Essex and Hertfordshire, Southend & Thurrock. The project helped participants build confidence and self-esteem and develop communication skills whilst also nurturing new creative skills and an enthusiasm for learning, future education and work. Not only did CLiP into... help us develop new partnerships with schools, Pupil referral units, Youth offending services and Youth and Connexions services across the Eastern region, it also demonstrated the success of arts practice in achieving education outcomes. We enabled 1308 young people to progress to education or training and exceeded our target by more than 20%.