Arts for all project launched in Oldham

A professional drummer and an actor who has taught at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester are determined to help social enterprise Upturn unearth some working-class artists - after branding the current creative industries “elitist.”

With music lessons coming to the tune of £40 an hour, learning an instrument has become a pipe dream for some, says touring sticks man, Adam Jenkins.  

With London living so expensive, theatre schools such as RADA and Italia Conti are totally out of reach. No wonder Britain’s top actors Eddie Redmayne, Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hiddleston went to Eton and Harrow, said actor Pete Gibson (pictured below).

 “Just seven percent of those employed in the creative arts are from working class backgrounds. We also have a North-South divide meaning we have reached the bizarre point where plays about life in boroughs like Oldham and staged in Greater Manchester theatres – are cast in London,” he said. 

So determined is drummer and multi-instrumentalist Adam to change that tune that he has set up a Just Giving page to buy pre-loved instruments for young people to use in sessions at Upturn’s town centre space, The Hive.  

Adam said: “On the page I relay the story of a 13-year-old who hated school. Then one day, they picked up a guitar. A few months on and they attended school regularly, making plans for their future and performing music they had written themselves.  

"The guitar didn’t change their lives, the opportunity did. Across Oldham and Rochdale, there are vulnerable young people facing challenges most adults would struggle to carry. Our project aims to give them that chance to display what they are good at.” 

Upturn will provide both the teaching and the space for the sessions. Though it is situated in the busy Spindles Shopping Centre, the environment there is adaptable – and has been used for everything from high-level meetings to events for business networks such as CROWN.  

Other charitable organisations have taught young people life skills courses, there – and there are chilled breakout rooms available for students. 

 Organisers hope guest experts will help teach and that students will receive accredited Arts qualifications. The culmination of the sessions will be a showcase event attended by industry professionals. 

 An actor who has appeared in around a dozen horror films, Pete has engaged with all sorts of students before from isolated older folks to teenagers in youth offending institutions.  

“People are quite surprised when I tell them how many inmates there enjoyed the drama” he revealed. “One project actually had them reenacting their crime and playing the victim! Drama gets them into the minds of other people and also gives young people a voice.  

There are actors who have used quite traumatic life experiences and become great artists and established names. Sadly, they are few and far between these days.” 

 
Pete also wants to smash what he believes is a comfort zone – where Northwest actors are pigeonholed into certain roles. “Basically, too many casting agents think we should only do Coronation Street because we’re Northern. I see our students as potentially playing Shakespearean roles,” he concluded. 
 

Adam added: “Being a working-class musician means that everything comes out of your own pocket. That is not just buying an instrument; you have to learn to play it, pay for rehearsal space, and then market your band. Plus, there is the small matter of supporting yourself when wages at the beginning of your career are so poor.” 
 

Visit Adam’s Go Fund Me page:  
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/adam-jenkins-2?utm_term=n8Vjz42WA&utm_medium=FA&utm_source=CL 
If you think you can help the project, contact info@upturn.org.uk