Earlier this year it was a case of Mind the Gap minding its bank balance as the innovative West Yorkshire theatre company secured £818,943 in European Union funding that effectively greenlighted its plans to build a new start-of-the-art theatre space in Bradford.
The funding, secured through the European Regional Development Fund, is the company’s second major financial boost in recent years. Previously Mind the Gap received £1.25 million from Arts Council England. With over £2 million now safely in the bank it can finally begin moving into new premises at Manningham’s iconic Lister’s Mills redevelopment.
Mind the Gap is the UK’s largest disability related theatre company outside London and its new premises “will include new computer technology and practical access solutions to make sure that the building is accessible and usable by people with learning disabilities.” As well as provided a much more comfortable base of operations the high tech equipment will enable co-founder Tim Wheeler to better realise the performance and strategic vision envisaged 20 years ago.
Wheeler established Mind the Gap with co-founder Susan Brown in 1986. Their aim, then as now, was to start a company that could “dismantle barriers to artistic excellence so that both disabled and non-disabled artists can work alongside each other as equals … to create highly visual performance work incorporating verbal and non-verbal theatre making techniques, including forum and image theatre.”
Over the past two decades Mind the Gap has run a wealth of programs that have engaged communities, either as participants or spectators, throughout the UK.
Every year the resident acting company embarks on a national tour of small and middle scale venues performing classical adaptations. The award winning performances see learning disabled and non-disabled actors performing side by side to critical acclaim. Since 1993 Mind the Gap has conducted 11 national tours performing at more than 90 venues.
As well as touring Mind the Gap runs outreach programmes throughout the West Yorkshire area for young people and adults with learning difficulties. The aim is to get people involved in drama either during weekend or weeklong sessions. There are also limited places available for participants to get involved even if they live outside West Yorkshire. This summer 10 residents from Croydon were invited to take part in the summer outreach project, which culminated in Mind the Gap’s first ever performance at Lister’s Mills to a packed house.
Perhaps the most powerful contribution Mind the Gap makes on an individual level is through its one year Making Theatre theatre training course, which runs yearly from 1st September. This year eight students will learn skills in acting, stage management, directing, and other technical areas that will hopefully equip them to forge out their own career in the dramatic arts.
As Mind the Gap seems to go from strength to strength so to does its ambition. Wheeler, as artistic director, has for a long time been itching to take his show on the road to reach audiences internationally. The new centre at Lister’s Mills will finally make it possible for Mind the Gap to reach out both locally and globally. In an interview with the BBC, Wheeler, said: “With the centre we can bring people in from our local community but we are developing international links as well. We’re also looking towards the East, at the rich cultural tradition that’s developed in Bradford. The silk road is where the expertise came from to develop Bradford’s wealth in the past and there’s this wealth of cultural tradition within the city which we should be able to celebrate.”
In October Mind the Gap’s one-hander On the Verge was performed at China’s South Gate Space in Beijing.
The performance marked the beginning of a new era for Mind the Gap and stamped an international seal of approval on the quality of performances by learning disabled, proving, if any were needed, that excellence is not only the preserve of non-disabled artists.
