our history
how it all began...
educational trust was established in 1994 by co-founders; Christopher
Enticott
and Rakhee Jasani, who came together to stage a youth theatre production of the children's musical
Bugsy Malone. In fact, the name
Eastside originates from the Lower
Eastside of New York, where
Bugsy Malone was set. Chris Enticott had recently graduated from drama school but cut short his acting career to establish Eastside and to direct his first youth theatre production. Rakhee Jasani had also recently graduated from Oxford University and similarly curtailed her career in arts marketing to help develop and promote Eastside's work. In addition to Chris and Rakhee,
Bugsy's small production team included Aidan Hansell
(now one of Eastside's charity trustees), Phil Lewis
(Assistant Director), Francine Smith
(Choreographer) and Patrick Nunn
(Musical Director). Eastside's inaugural project culminated in a sell-out run of
performances at the
Emery Theatre in Stepney, East London in August 1994. Eastside was soon to receive its first PR opportunity, when the cast members were invited on to Channel 4’s
The Big
Breakfast to promote
Bugsy Malone. They appeared in full costume, dressed as gangsters and speak-easy dancing girls, and even got to
splurge presenter Mark Little with custard pies! Mark Little, (pictured below with co-presenter Gaby Roslin and the
Bugsy cast) later became a
patron of Eastside joining existing patrons; actor Gary Wilmot (who brought his children to see the show), singer and dancer; Patti Boulaye and actress
Zoë Wanamaker.
Then and now; the Bugsy Malone cast outside The Big Breakfast house with presenters Mark Little and Gaby Roslin in 1994 (left) and members of the group, reunited 15 years later in 2009 (right)Today, Eastside Educational Trust is a highly acclaimed, award winning, world record breaking arts education charity, with a glittering array of celebrity patrons and providing more than 100,000 hours of arts activities to young people every year; but the Eastside story started in 1994 in a cold, unfurnished room above the Green Room Club in Adam Street, which is nestled between the busy theatres on the Strand and the River Thames. The Green Room Club was the oldest actors' club in the world, set up by the actor-manager Sir Henry Irving in 1877 until it was dissolved in 2000, but from 1994 -1997, the Green Room Club was home to a fledgling Eastside with office space generously donated by the then landlord Mr Minter. The success of
Bugsy led to a series of after school drama workshops in a number of other schools and ultimately to another youth theatre production, this time Ibsen's
Peer Gynt with young people from a boys' school in Tower Hamlets and a nearby girls' school, with the final production successfully 'touring' to both schools.
In 1997, Eastside moved out of its Adam Street address and made the short journey down the River Thames to the illustrious navel vessel HMS President (1918) which is permanently moored on Victoria Embankment. This amazing address was to become Eastside's home for the next three years, and with its unique office in the bowels of a ship, Eastside proudly became London's only underwater theatre company. Accommodation was again donated rent free, courtesy of the American social entrepreneur Ed Berman MBE whose charity InterAction owned HMS President and the wonderfully supportive ship's captain Chris Cooper. At this time, Eastside was keen to develop a new project that would increase young
people's core basic skills such as reading and writing, and that would
put the fun back in to learning and reading books. So, in 1988, whilst still on board, Eastside developed and launched its first major literacy project,
From Page to Stage, which was designed to
celebrate the UK's first
National Year of Reading and to
support the introduction of the
National Literacy Strategy.
Eastside's offices have included The Green Room Club (far left), HMS
President (centre left), Hamilton House (centre right) and our current
home 37 Hackney Road in Shoreditch (far right)
Two years later, Eastside was selected to represent
the City of Westminster as part of
McDonald’s
Our Town Story
at the Millennium Dome in Greenwich.
Eastside was commissioned to produce a 20 minute show which was performed
live three times in the Dome’s 500-seat theatre and relayed to other points in
the Dome on huge plasma screens. Eastside’s innovative performance comprised of
music especially composed by Patrick Nunn and recorded by young musicians from
Trinity College of Music and a cast of 60 young people performing in front
of a video projected backdrop to tell the story of 24 hours in our capital
city, through music, drama, dance and circus skills. The new millennium also saw Eastside
set its first world record for the largest number of people reading poetry
simultaneously. Spanning out across London from the Royal
Festival Hall, 3,701 young people simultaneously read ‘Word’ by Patience
Agbabi, on National Poetry Day, led by Agbabi herself.
In 2001 Eastside moved from HMS President to new offices at Hamilton House
overlooking the prestigious Inns of Court at Middle
Temple where
Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night was first performed. In 2005 Eastside acquired a
new permanent home in Shoreditch back in the heart of London's
East End and close to Shakespeare’s ‘Theatre’
one of the first purpose built theatres in the capital built in 1576. Our current offices are
spread over two floors with the main office on the ground floor and Eastside’s arts education centre,
The Lower Eastside, in the basement below. The offices are located within
Perseverance Works, a courtyard complex of small creative industries including
a number of photographic studios, designers, sculptors, printers and small
independent production companies.
Eastside has run projects at some of London's most famous addresses;
The Millennium Dome, The Palace of Westminster and Her Majesty's Royal
Palace and Fortress The Tower of London.
Not content with one world record, in
2003, Eastside broke the record for the longest reading aloud marathon. Five young people camped out in a garden in East Sussex and read the entire Harry Potter series for
72 hours and 19 minutes.
During the early years of
the new decade a great deal of attention was focussed on ensuring that children
had mastered the basic skills of literacy and numeracy. Eastside’s work during this period was firmly
rooted in developing a love for language in a way that was fun, accessible and
relevant for young people. In 2000, Eastside
was awarded a grant from the DfEE (Department for Education and Employment as
it then was) under its Partners in Study Support programme. This was an extremely successful pilot
programme and Eastside’s spoken word programme has grown out of the success of
this programme. Urban Rhythms offered
boys from years 9 and 10 at an inner city London
school the opportunity to take part in a three week spoken word masterclass. The master class developed the participants’
writing and creative skills giving them a range of performance opportunities
from Speakers’ Corner to Soho Theatre and the opportunity to analyse what makes
a good performance by evaluating and critiquing street theatre. The project then aimed to stretch the young
people further by creating opportunities for them to pass on their newly
acquired skills by motivating and inspiring younger children at neighbouring
schools during the autumn term. The
participating students were also asked by neighbouring schools to perform at
assemblies and they ran a poetry INSET for their teachers.
One of Eastside’s strengths
is the range of interesting partnerships we have developed over the years to
give young people the opportunity to see things from different angles. In 2001 we teamed up with SOLT (Society of
London Theatre) to develop a two week summer school giving Gifted and Talented
young people the opportunity to learn from West End
theatre professionals and develop their performance skills. Based in the rehearsal room at the Theatre
Royal in Haymarket, the participants danced with the cast of Chicago, had a go at directing Phantom of the
Opera, explored physical theatre and mask work by taking on the Lion King and
warmed up their voices with the Reduced Shakespeare Company. The programme culminated in a performance at
the Criterion Theatre at the end of the two week programme.
In April 2004, Eastside
celebrated its
10th anniversary
with a reception at the Houses of Parliament hosted by London MP Simon Hughes.
The celebration was attended by leading politicians and influential figures
from the world of arts education, members of the capital's business community
and many of Eastside's partner arts organisations as well as teachers and
students representing the range of schools and community groups across London
that the charity works with each and every year. MP Simon Hughes chaired a
student debate as part of the event and the motion put before the house was
whether creativity was an essential and important part of everyday life.
Thankfully the motion was carried!
In 2005 Eastside was
selected by Arts Council, England
to become London’s first and only Arts Award
agency for the young people’s Arts Award when the award was launched nationally
as an accredited qualification, until 2007 after which time the Arts Award in London has been directly
supported by the Arts Council. During
the first two years of the award, Eastside established a strong training base,
ran networking events for the award and developed ways to raise the profile of
the first national qualification supporting young people to develop as
artists and arts leaders. We launched
the Arts Award in London with tea at Claridges where guests discussed their
arts inspirations with acclaimed artists and we showcased the work of over
hundred young artists working towards the Arts Award at our regional
celebration at ‘The Nunnery Gallery’ at Bow Arts Trust.
Eastside believes that
developing the skills of the people that work with young people is as important
as working directly with children. We
have developed a programme of INSETs that give teachers the opportunity to
become learners again. We deliver
discrete workshops but also work in the classroom supporting teachers to
deliver the curriculum creatively. In
2006, Eastside was commissioned by Creative Partnerships London East and South
to deliver a programme which supported teachers in deliver the curriculum
creatively. Over 2 years, Eastside
delivered the programme to 67 schools across eight participating boroughs. This programme has inspired many teachers and
Eastside has been asked back to continue this support. As well as working with teachers, Eastside
works with artists and arts educators to ensure that they are able to pass on
their skills to young people. In 2006 Eastside
launched the Lower Eastside, our in-house
education centre to support the development of our associate artists and
volunteers.
In 2008, Eastside won the European Award for
Languages for Trans Lingual Express one of our flagship international
projects. Trans Lingual Express invites
young people to make short films in the language they are learning to exchange
with young people in that country. Participants
came from London, Berlin,
Paris, Madrid
and Rome. Eastside has developed a portfolio of
exciting and accessible international projects which all link young people in
the UK
with their peers abroad. The projects
enable young people to participate as global citizens. In 2008 a group of young people from Holloway
in North London represented the UK
at the Power in the Voice International Festival in Botswana
supported by the British Council in Southern Africa.
