Vikki Parker –
Vikki Parker is the Founder and Creative Director of Arts Unwritten, a theatre company for kids and teens that specialises in devising and making original theatre from scratch. As a child she trained in acting and dance, and immersed herself in creative writing and painting. As an adult she studied Psychology, Theatre & Performance, the Therapeutic Application of the Arts in Education and Secondary Drama Teaching. After an early career as a model and extensive experience as an actor / dancer she taught Drama in schools for 15 years across an age range of 5-18, until she decided to put all her passion, knowledge and conviction into setting up her Theatre Company to celebrate the holistic development potential of the individual through the Arts. She decided to come out of the shadows in defiance of an education system that seeks to belittle the importance of the growth of the person as a whole, a system that has chosen to reduce the Arts to a pitiful skeleton of its former worth. She runs weekly theatre workshops in Brighton, UK as a direct antidote to the testing / tick box culture of children’s academic lives today.
As a thriver–oriented survivor of a dysfunctional and emotionally unsafe family she credits the Arts as her saving grace and her only means of expressing her true self albeit through symbolic representation and the characters she played. The authentic truth of a person’s creative voice is at the heart of her work. The process, analysis and celebration of human dynamics and connection through theatre and the arts is her oxygen. In her workshops she endeavours to hold the space for that creative enquiry and honours the individual’s profound need to be seen and heard.
‘Every time I paint, act, dance, write poetry or sing Jazz, I express a part of myself that was hidden until that moment. I give it flight. I give it freedom. I give myself the space to be fully and unashamedly myself and I allow that to be witnessed, shared and celebrated. I want the same for all the people I teach.’ Vikki.
There are so many ways we can learn to express and empower ourselves so that we may be the best version of who we are. So we can show up in the world fully present and ask for what we need, and be able to help others with what they need. Everyone has their own journey, but we are all interconnected. Theatre allows us to rehearse, witness and consider that process. It allows us to feel our way back to ourselves. The Arts communicate a common story between us all. In conscious awareness she has chosen this unknown and uncertain path of developing her own life, her own creativity and her own permission to be herself.
She writes, paints and sings Jazz, practises yoga and meditation and is committed to the journey of healing childhood and generational trauma through holistic and energy therapies and art forms.
If this moment, this conversation, is about considering champions, then being a champion for your creative and emotional self is her wish for you all.
Arts Unwritten is a new venture with wild visions. We achieve little by playing small.
Vikki is especially interested in starting a conversation about the use of the Arts for personal development and would welcome personal stories about how theatre has affected your life. Let’s keep the connection going.
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Listen another #12minconvo
Credits:
Musical Background: ‘TAKE THE CHANCE’ by Nicolai Heidlas
