Core Company exploring ‘friendship’ in new project
‘I need a Friend’ research and development project
During Autumn 2025, DIY’s Core Company has been working on an exciting research and development project funded through Salford CVS’s Health and Wellbeing Fund.
The company has been diving into themes of ‘friendship’ and ‘the outsider’ using theatre, music, design, and recorded sound. They’re exploring why social connections matter so much and how we can warmly welcome outsiders into our communities. These themes are important both to DIY members and to our wider society.
The process is also boosting health and wellbeing. DIY members have had space to draw upon lived experiences in a safe and supportive setting. The sessions align with the Five Ways to Wellbeing, developed by the New Economics Foundation.
Members have opportunities to connect with others, give to each-other and to other people with learning disabilities, take notice and maintain focus, keep active through a range of physical activities and learn new creative skills.
Core company members exploring ‘friendship’ through movement and theatre.
Words and pictures
We started the project by choosing images that expressed how we felt about ‘friendship’. Based on these images, we used drama and creative writing to explore questions like “why is friendship so important to us?”, “how does friendship makes us feel?”, “why is it so important to us to connect with others?”, and “what are the different ways we connect with others?”
We then chose more images that expressed the idea of ‘the outsider’, asking questions like “why are people excluded?”, “how does it make us feel to be picked on or left out?” and “what can we do to include people who are being picked on and left out?”
Songwriting
A series of song-writing sessions have taken place with music specialist Sarah Atter. Working with Sarah we have created a Friendship Song…
Reaching out
Hand in Hand
Lift me up
Lean on me…
…and we’ve also been working on an Outsider song.
I’m the Outsider
Out of the picture
Out of the story
Out….never in
Art and design
Because so many of the ideas that have emerged during the project have been about hands – reaching out, lifting up, giving hope – we then started working with designer Nerissa Cargill Thompson to explore the theme of ‘hands’ as a metaphor.
We made double-sided hands on sticks – one side depicting the hand of friendship, the other depicting the hand of the bully. At a follow-up session we considered the theme of scale – experimenting with making tiny hands and huge hands, so that we can introduce sensory props and a sense of scale into our piece.
Sound recording
Another element of our research and development has been a series of sound-recording sessions with artists Hilary Easter Jones and Richard Easter. We’ve had fun exploring how recorded music can create emotions – and we have started to record the poetry we created at the beginning of the project. Here’s a snapshot of some of the poetry we have been recording:
Friends
They stretch out to you
When you need help.
They let you know
You are not aloneFriends
If you’re having a down day
They pick you up
They help you through your problems
They make you laugh
What’s next?
Core Company members are really looking forward sharing some of this Research and Development work with other groups next year. We’ll also be moving onto the next phase of the project which will be developing a sensory piece in partnership with a small group of local Special Schools. Watch this space for exciting new developments in the New Year!
This project is made possible thanks to the Health and Wellbeing Fund from Salford ICP with support from Salford CVS.
