Latest news

DIY Artists & Leaders lead the way at Greater Manchester Universities

‘Thanks to everyone at DIY for welcoming us in, this has been one of my favourite experiences during medical school…The people have all been fantastic and had a huge impact on me. Keep on being the amazing, inspiring people you are!” Medical Student, University of Manchester This Spring term, DIY’s Core Company and Gamechangers have […]

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Photo: Spotlight on Amy – Transforming Leadership

Spotlight on Amy – Transforming Leadership

I am a part of Transforming Leadership. It is run by a drama company in London called Access All Areas.” Amy, DIY performer and leader Two of DIY’s Gamechangers are part of a national initiative to develop learning disabled and autistic cultural leadership. Called Transforming Leadership, the initiative is being led by a network of […]

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Photo: Happy New Year and Happy 30th Birthday DIY!

Happy New Year and Happy 30th Birthday DIY!

2024 marks DIY’s 30th birthday and we are going to celebrate it in STYLE! We are starting off by unveiling our 30th birthday logo, which will appear on everything – from our website to our socials and all our other communications – throughout the year. We will be celebrating our 30 years during the first […]

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Photo: Lighting up young peoples’ faces

Lighting up young peoples’ faces

DIY goes into schools and lights up peoples’ faces” This year’s UK Disability History Month (UKDHM) runs from 16th November to 16th December and the focus is ‘Disability Childhood and Youth’. This offers a great opportunity for DIY to highlight the cultural education work we have been doing this term and to spotlight some of […]

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Photo: Launching our Gamechangers Leadership Profiles – marking Disability History Month

Launching our Gamechangers Leadership Profiles – marking Disability History Month

DIY Gamechangers is DIY’s Creative Leadership Training Programme, funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation. It is making a difference by increasing the opportunities available for creative leaders with lived experience of learning disability. Now, DIY Gamechangers have created a series of profiles that express our individual identities as leaders. The profiles have been launched on a special […]

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Photo: Amy and Charlotte travel to develop leadership skills

Amy and Charlotte travel to develop leadership skills

Transforming Leadership is an exciting national initiative to develop learning disabled and autistic cultural leadership. It is being led by Access All Areas and is funded by Arts Council England. It will run until March 2025. The aims are to: Share skills and best practise in co-directing and inclusive governance amongst all partners Create training and pathways for […]

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Photo: Time and Space to do things better – our NPO journey has begun!

Time and Space to do things better – our NPO journey has begun!

Time and Space to do things better It’s five months since DIY became a National Portfolio Organisation (NPO). In November 2022 we were very excited to hear the news that we had been offered funding from Arts Council England as part of its 2023-26 Investment Programme. In April this year we started our NPO journey! For […]

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Photo: Evaluating Nature Connectedness through the senses, emotions, beauty, compassion and meaning

Evaluating Nature Connectedness through the senses, emotions, beauty, compassion and meaning

How can people with learning disabilities be supported to engage with the urgent environmental issues of today? As a Learning Disability Theatre Company we believe we have a distinct part to play in ensuring that everyone is offered opportunities to engage in environmental issues and to move towards environmental activism. For a while now, DIY […]

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Photo: New national arts programme puts learning disabled and autistic people at the heart of cultural leadership.

New national arts programme puts learning disabled and autistic people at the heart of cultural leadership.

As we celebrate Learning Disability Week (19 to 25 June) DIY Theatre is celebrating its role in ‘Transforming Leadership’.  This new national arts programme is putting learning disabled and autistic people at the heart of cultural leadership. Transforming Leadership is being coordinated by Access All Areas (AAA) who are known for making disruptive theatre by […]

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Photo: Images to represent us as leaders

Images to represent us as leaders

Gamechangers are working on their Leadership Profiles DIY Gamechangers is DIY’s Creative Leadership Training Programme, funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation. As part of the training programme DIY’s Gamechangers have been creating their own profiles to express how they see themselves as leaders – to portray their unique leadership styles. The completed profiles will be […]

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