The GAP Arts Project

The GAP Arts Project started life as Theatre Ark in January 2009. The core objective at that point was to give young people in Birmingham an urgent and quality voice in the arts circles of the city, and to equip them with authentic experiences and realistic skills to manage and promote their organisation and its artistic work to the highest possible level.

Two major pieces of work stand out in the early years of Theatre Ark – The Crucible, which was a promenade performance in the AEHarris Warehouse in the Jewellery Quarter, and The Tempest, also at AEHarris. These productions were lauded by large mixed audiences and put Theatre Ark and its young casts squarely on the map. We developed a marked following among business professionals in the city – an unusual phenomenon for a youth company – and found support and encouragement from many quarters of the professional arts world.

Foremost amongst these was Big Brum Theatre in Education Company, the company in which Theatre Ark was concieved and incubated by Ceri Townsend and her colleagues. The close parenting of and subsequent partnership with Brum has been critical, first to the existence and then to the success of our organisation.

In the years that followed those monumental theatre productions the interests of members broadened and the company began to produce equally amazing work in film, photography, music and poetry. To reflect this growth and development we set about the task of establishing it as an independent charity, and redesigned its structure and reviewed its name. Now officially The GAP Arts Project, registered Charity Number 1156090, we retain those original objectives we began with in 2009, but have developed them and are committed to supporting in particular, young people not in education, employment or training, those who somehow and for whatever reason have got left behind or have fallen through the gaps.