Bea Jackson
To our shame, when we at Wayzgoose first discussed linking with local arts projects, we had not yet come across TIN Arts.
Running for 22 years on our doorstep, TIN is the eponymous brainchild of Martin, inspired by his wife Tess. Both are professionally trained dancers with a vision to provide worldwide access to the arts.
If queried on their career predictions thirty years ago, it is unlikely that they would have foreseen running a national movement for artists with learning disabilities and autism. Yet, chance and ingenuity led them to be at the forefront of performing arts and dance opportunities for many across the UK who otherwise would not have access.
I had the pleasure of hearing more about Martin’s story in Autumn. Read on for more of our conversation, including the success of TIN’s student George, and advice for local students seeking to support the cultural growth in County Durham.
Wayzgoose is giving a percentage of the proceeds from our posters and new T-shirts towards the work of TIN Arts. We hope that our readers will gain a better understanding of what their money is going towards and hopefully will be inspired to become more involved with local projects.
Pre-order here: …
Could you tell us how TIN Arts came to be?
“Myself and my wife were both trained dancers at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance and we met in Leeds in 1997. We graduated and did all things that dancers were supposed to do; we tried to get some work in performances, theatres, and a little bit of touring. It got to about 1999, we were living in Brighton at the time, and we decided that we wanted to start a family and Tess is from the North East so we moved there.
The first thing we did was think about how we could start a business. We made plans to teach dance, quite a traditional pathway, but it just so happened that two of the offers that we got -one was a school group, one was an adult group- were both for people with a learning disability.
We had never done it before, we had no family attachment or history to it. But, we started workshops and classes in Newcastle and Durham… we didn’t really know what we were doing but we were trying our best. Afterwards both groups said “oh, that was really good, we really enjoyed that, can we do that again as we don’t get to see much of this”. So that kind of perked our interest and we went “why don’t you get to do much of this?”.
The simple answer was “just, well people don’t create arts opportunities for people with learning disabilities”. Straight away there were two things: one was a moral sense that’s not right and doesn’t seem fair; the other was a commercial lens that it makes sense to have a business focusing on that area if no one else is doing it. The main thing was that we really enjoyed it, it came very natural to us both.
So in 2000, we formally started TIN arts with a focus on trying to deliver dance and performing arts programmes to people with the least access to it.
We started with those with learning disabilities, then we added young people with autism. We then incorporated people who live in deprived communities, we moved into hospitals… so that’s the pattern of TIN arts. We have always been looking at where do people not get to access art for free on their doorstep, let’s go do it there.
We’ve done that now for twenty-one years and we are the biggest, in terms of learning disabilities and autism, of leading dance companies across the North. You can take part in workshops or art-based activities whether you are two years old or ninety years old. We also have talent programmes where we have met artists who have created dance performance shows that have toured nationally and internationally. It shows that excellence exists in all types of bodies and all types of people. Dance is not for a certain type of aesthetic or certain type of person. It is all about the way people move.
We all move differently, there is beauty in all types of ways that people move. Everybody has got a story to tell.”
What is your vision for TIN?
“Our vision is simply access to the arts for all. That’s the world we believe in. Whether we do it or somebody else do, it doesn’t matter.
But our mission isn’t about taking dance to people and giving it to as many people as we can. Our mission is about identifying, removing, and reducing the barriers that stop people from taking part in the arts.
Some barriers can be about prejudice, preconception about financial barriers, and locality. Anything you do in life has barriers around it. Sometimes it can be the way you talk, the way you walk, the way you look. We try to strip those away and leave the art form of dance for anyone to enjoy.”
Why do you believe the arts are important to our lives?
“The arts, creativity and culture are universal and subjective. Whether it’s music, or watching films or going for a walk on the hillside, it’s all brought together as culture. It’s whatever you want it to be, whatever your relationship with creativity is, however you would like to express yourself; whether by standing on a stage and dancing or going to a nightclub tomorrow. Entertainment, culture, arts, they are all intrinsically linked. They are a way of expressing ourselves and a whole form of communication.
The way that the arts can address your mental and physical health is really strong. It is an outlet, a way of channelling anxieties and finding peace for yourself. You don’t have to answer to anybody else. You don’t have to prove yourself. There is no right and there is no wrong. You can dance, you can paint, you can act. It is an open, immersive experience at whatever level you want it to be.
Individual benefits include self confidence, self-esteem, and problem solving. Ultimately it is an open universal gift that anyone can accept and use how they want to.
Let me tell you a quick story.
Ten years ago we met a guy named George who was attending this special school in Middlesbrough. His teacher rang and said “he’s not a good lad, he’s a bit troublesome but he loves dancing, is there anything you can do?”. His parents have some form of disability and difficulty, he lives in the most deprived area of Middlesbrough, his verbal communication is quite low and he has something called an unspecified learning disability which has an impact on his developmental skills. George was not very verbal and could get quite angry, but he could also dance. He had a natural movement ability. Every time he moved you just wanted to watch him.
We involved him in some of our programmes. He did really well. We were offered a performance opportunity in Sutton, we took him with us and again he did really well. We kept challenging him and although we had some interesting escapades with his behaviour, when he danced he was amazing. As he was getting older and hit twenty three, we saw that the National Dance Company was auditioning. So we said to George why don’t we go and try this thing, it’s in London which would mean living away from us but we think you might quite like it. So we took him to this audition, a bit of a Billy Elliot type thing, and he got in. He became the first dancer with a learning disability to get into the National Youth Dance Company at the age of twenty four.
It was the first time he lived away from home, the first time he slept in a bed that wasn’t in his house, all these firsts. When he came back, he was mature, he had a bigger outlook on the world and we said what are we going to do now George? He said I want to make my own dance. So we went to the Arts Council in England, sourced some funding and we created this solo called ‘WIRED’ and in 2017 George toured nationally outdoors – London, Norwich, Brighton, Stockton- his own fifteen minute dance piece he performed with no help, he just did it.
Now George is still with us and training to be one of our dance teachers and leaders. He teaches other young children with special needs about dance and leads them in activities.”
Do you have any advice for our student readers, particularly in the North East, as to how they can help to promote the arts?
“A couple of quick simple things. The first step is to google and get in touch. Most organisations in your vicinity, like ours, are really approachable and open for volunteers.
Also, any students interested in supporting the cultural growth in County Durham should look at Durham 2025. Durham is trying to become the UK City of Culture. If we get the bid then it will be an amazing year round celebration of culture in the county and we are looking for partnerships and many people to get involved.”
To hear more about the important work TIN ARTS are doing take a look at their website: https://www.tinarts.co.uk/
Watch some of George’s WIRED performance here: https://vimeo.com/278111643
Durham UK City of Culture bid: https://durham2025.co.uk/
