Arts Consultancy

Portfolio of work includes:

Consultant/Creative Agent working with William Parker Sports College to develop a creative learning strategy – funded by DCMS/Arts Council England’s Creative Partnerships Programme.

Sophie has a ‘can do’ approach to her work and passion for creative learning, which when combined made her a powerful ally in developing high impact Creative Partnerships projects across the College

Ian Gillespie, Deputy Head, William Parker Sports College

During their three years of funding from Creative Partnerships Change School Programme, Sophie worked with the senior management team at William Parker to support the incremental development of sustainable, creative approaches to the KS3 curriculum, delivered in partnership with the wider school and local community.  This process was successfully piloted in year one, working in partnership with computer games designer Dax Ginn and the local fishing community to research, design and make ‘iFish’, a computer game based on the Hastings fishing industry. In year two the college worked on three projects that collectively aimed to widen school community participation in using the Creative Partnerships’ approach. One of these projects, ‘The names on the wall’ involved Year 9 students working with a local military historian to investigate the names on the two war memorials sited within the school grounds. This research fed into a Year 10 playwriting project, led by playwright Grant Watson, which resulted in ‘The Blood Run’, a collaboratively produced play about those commemorated.  Students had the opportunity to ‘workshop’ their play with a director from the National Theatre.

Through a portfolio of ambitious projects, the college continued to develop links with the wider community in the final phase of the programme.  This included ‘The Creative Word’, a Year 7 literacy project where the students collaborated with a local charity ‘Dragonflies’, who work with children who suffer bereavement, and Martin Levinson, a local practitioner from an advertising background, Some of the students’ final work will be used by the charity to promote the Dragonflies programme.

The school is keen to emphasis the cumulative effect of the projects from its Change School programme on the college community. For example, a film produced in the final year, ‘Last Letters Home’, arose from the students’ ambitions to take the play written in year two into production. With ‘Last Letters Home’, the school community has a permanent ‘living memorial’ to the William Parker students who saw active service in the world wars, the screening of which will become integrated into the school’s annual remembrance service.

The college is committed to the implementation and development of the creative learning strategy that has resulted from their Creative Partnerships’ work with Sophie.

Education Associate, Donmar Warehouse, Covent Garden.

Sophie has been a brilliant member of the Donmar’s education team during my tenure as Artistic Director. Her passion, insight and creativity has been key to releasing the education potential of the productions she’s worked on with us and her warmth and enthusiasm has inspired the teachers and young people with whom she’s worked.

Michael Grandage, Artistic Director.

In her time as Education Associate  at the Donmar Warehouse, Sophie supported the theatre develop its Education provision. She designed and piloted the first programme of special education projects for the theatre, later advising on funding applications for the work, including the successful bid to the Clore Duffield Foundation, which supports the current provision of special projects. She was also part of the creative team leading the project work for Donmar Education Week 2009, in celebration of the Donmar’s West End Season. Sophie continues to work for the Donmar as an Education Practitioner.