TYPE OF WORK
Community artist, specialising in drama (games, improvisation, storytelling, forum theatre, performances).

TARGET GROUPS
Regeneration of working-class communities, health settings. Training young people in post-conflict settlement, HIV/AIDS awareness work, working with police on issues of social justice. Work with women experiencing domestic violence and social workers.

GEOGRAPHICAL CONTEXT
UK, North Africa and Middle East, Australia/New Zealand, Western and Southern Europe.

COMPANY POLICY
Gerri Moriarty is interested in issues of social justice and equality of opportunity. Particularly interested in working in collaboration with professionals and non-professionals as a key to sustainability. Experience of delivering training to students (e.g. Liverpool School of Performing Arts, Adugna Dance Company in Addis Ababa), professional artists (e.g. workshops, seminars, mentoring mainly in the UK) and non-professionals. Collaboration with writers, visual artists, musicians, and dancers. Use of arts as a technique for public consultation. Also specialises in monitoring and evaluation of arts work.

SCALE OF PROJECTS
Number of practitioners: 1–15
Number of participants: 18–1000
Preparation time: Varies
Contact time: 2 weeks – 9 months over 4 years

Domestic violence theatre project (Malta, 2002)
Working with residents of three domestic violence shelters housing women who have and are experiencing domestic violence.

Aims: Confidence building, self-esteem, using forum theatre to explore possibilities for change. Detailed evaluation report available, giving views of social workers on achievements.

Partners: British Council, Ministry for Gender, Ministry for Education, three domestic violence shelters on the island, women who have and are experiencing domestic violence.

Community Theatre of Belfast (UK, 1999)
Aims: To give expression to alternative voices, to create dialogue across communities, to explore possibilities for future development. The group formed out of this project, the Community Theatre of Belfast, has just raised funds to employ a worker to help implement its development plan.

Partners: Facilitated workshops and co-directed The Wedding Community Play with groups from the Interface Nationalist and Loyalist communities of working class Belfast.

Drama project with police officers (Ethiopia, 2001)
Using drama to raise awareness amongst police officers about issues of social justice and ways of dealing with community conflict.

Partners: Department for International Development consultants, Ethiopian Police Service, Ethiopian Gemini Trust, Adugna Dance Company.

Ugandan National Culture Policy
Further consultancy work in collaboration with the Ministry for Labour, Gender and Social Development. (August 2003)

Persephone
Development of a project looking at issues of what you bring forward into the future and what leave behind in the dark in a post-conflict situation with women from community theatre groups in Belfast.

Gerri Moriarty
1 Strand Cottages
Ballycastle
County Antrim
Northern Ireland BT54 6HR

T/F +44 (0)28 2076 9139

E gerri@moriarty.prestel.co.uk

“Adugna are delivering to their full potential and have work for the next three years, due in part to your wonderful work.”
Artistic Director, Adugna Dance Company, working with young people dealing with poverty (Ethiopia)

“Central and local government have made social inclusion a policy priority. This study will make a significant contribution to the national discussion around understanding the social impact of the arts.”
Deputy Executive Director, Arts Council England, on Gerri Moriarty’s research study of the social impact of the arts

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