Roger Martin
chair of the board of trustees
"Young people who might have been overlooked suddenly engage more and find that opportunities open up in front of them. We have made a difference to their lives."
Hello - I'm Roger Martin; I view the activities of Eastside from the perspective of an actor / theatre director and I am delighted to chair an organisation so much at the cutting edge of traditional, contemporary and ground-breaking creativity – in all the areas in which we offer workshops. It is a proud boast that we are able to offer young people exciting opportunities to take part in a wide range of artistic disciplines, and we are often able to introduce them to their first experience in the creative arts.
As a theatre and television practitioner myself, I believe this dimension to our lives to be of inordinate importance, but what I am most proud of, is the social, language and character development that we constantly see whenever our extraordinary facilitators get in amongst the young people and stimulate magic in their particular discipline. I have observed over the years that two wonderful by-products constantly emerge; they are what I refer to as “Giving a Voice” and “Creating Champions” (which are the flip sides of the same coin). Simply put, children and young people who have not found it easy to contribute in a classroom environment are often, wonderfully, able to grow, blossom and develop in a creative workshop; they find a voice. From there, many go on to discover a new or hidden talent for dance or acting; some find the joy of reading after many years of struggle and the beauty of some of the creative writing we see (especially poetry) is outstanding. These are our new “champions”. We can all identify the academic and / or sporting champions we were at school with. These new champions are not just those who might feature in a school production, but those who gradually appear out of the shadows and gain the admiration of their classmates by revealing skills in a new arena. Added to that, the personal development, which almost always goes with it, is noticed by teachers, friends and family alike. Young people who might have been overlooked suddenly engage more and find that opportunities open up in front of them. We have made a difference to their lives.
I believe one of the main reasons behind our success is that in Chris Enticott and Rakhee Jasani (our co-directors) we have two startlingly creative and imaginative people whose invention and durability appear to know no bounds. We are constantly aware how lucky we are to have them. Let me finish by saying that I hope you enjoy browsing through the pages of this website and we look forward to welcoming you to Eastside and working with you in the near future.
