"I really enjoyed the Archive. It made me feel happy and think about love and family"
Ryan, audience member and member of "Gateway Into The Community"
"Great work! Wonderfully participatory for the audience, who become part of the piece and thus add to the archive. I think it's sometimes forgotten that that the audience can be, and are, part of the show... the work is not a static thing but changes with each showing. Kitt very much responded to the spirit of what we are collectively trying to achieve here at Headway Arts."
Allie Walton-Robson, Creative Director, Headway Arts
Archive of Friendship
Headway Arts, Northumberland, UK
2019-ongoing
A live art library exploring learning disability culture.
Headway Arts approached Kitt in 2018 to collaborate with the Stars group on the question"What is learning disability culture?". The group wrote the following text as an introduction to their interactive performance piece:
"Welcome to the Archive of Friendship….
This is an interactive performance, which means you can join in!!
Headway Art is a professional arts organisation and registered charity. We create performances, hold exhibitions, run workshops, learn new skills like circus and dance and we always try to be thoughtful about each other’s feelings.
This performance has been created by us over the last 12 weeks. The Archive of Friendship tells stories about our individual lives and is an archive, like a library, of the culture of Headway Arts. This includes pictures, sounds, smells and even tastes of things we have done and made. Also information about how we treat and respect each other and how, for us at Headway, we are always a family.
Things that are part of our culture at Headway are kindness, friendship, respect, joy, politics, Fish and chips Thursdays, Sign language and soap operas, Dr Who and words searches and … Mamma Mia 2!!!
The Archive of Friendship is a type of performance called live art. We call it live art because we want to be with you while you experience the art we have made. We want to help you enjoy it and to share your ideas and your reactions to our ideas. It has some acting and singing in it. Also, some other things which you might not usually expect to find in a performance like eating biscuits, colouring in and blowing bubbles.
We hope you have a super great time!"
