PWB-UK (or PUK) aims to teach performing arts and circus skills to financially, physically or mentally disabled young people (ages 5 to 27) across the UK. This includes blind, physically challenged, deaf or those within the Autism or Aspergers spectrum or other mental challenges, refugees and asylum seekers and those growing up in rural or urban deprived areas.
PUK was launched in 2018 and was aimed at building on our success teaching performing arts and circus skills abroad, mainly working with orphans and vulnerable children via partner organisations in India, Kenya and Nicaragua. We have run several successful workshops and projects with various partners in the UK (see below) and are always looking to expand on this by finding new partners, funding bodies, sponsors and collaborators. Please see our research page on the benefits of learning circus skills.
Over the summer of 2018 PUK successfully worked with Royal Society for Blind Children (RSBC) in London, St Vincent’s School for the Visually Impaired in Liverpool and the Manchester Deaf Centre, to deliver half day circus workshops to groups of between 5 and 15 children with various levels of hearing and visual impairments. The workshops went very well and we have been asked back to do more and are now currently looking for funding to deliver a more structured and certified set of workshops with these partners and any others, for example the Henshaws Trust in Liverpool.
We have regional managers in the South, North-West, North-East of England and Scotland – please see OUR TEAM page for more details.
In November and December 2022 Performers Without Borders self funded 4 sessions with a residential Blind School called New College Worcester (NCW) where we initiated our new format of acquiring future funding to work with organisations again in the future.
We provided accessible Circus Arts Instruction and performing arts workshops once a week for 3 hours, where students could drop in and out as they pleased. This culminated in interviews from the students and staff we worked with.
Please see the project video we create; New College Worcester Project Video
In September 2023 we were successfully Funded by The National Lottery Awards for All grant to come and work with NCW again for 14, 3 hour sessions, where we hope to be able to skill the students up further to give them the opportunity to try some fire performing!
In June and July 2023 Performers Without Borders self funded a short project with Manor Academy. This is the second time we’ve applied this format to working with New Partner Organisations across England, we self-fund a few taster sessions to give a flavor of what we can do and the benefits it has on the participants, then look to acquire future funding from the grants sector to work with them again and for longer!
We provided accessible circus arts instruction and performing arts workshops for two separate age groups in a local community center.
Participants rose to the challenge, and left with a broad range of new skills, and desire for more circus!
Manor Academy project impact;
PWB Manor Academy 2023
Currently we are looking for partnerships on the following three main areas:
Of course we are always needing individual small donors to support our work in the UK. You’d be surprised how much difference a donation of £2 or more a month makes to our ability to conduct our outreach programs.
Want to see more photos?
To see more photos from Performers Without Borders, head over to our Flickr profile
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