Our Communities

In 2024/25 VDT delivered over 50 Art of Recovery craft based workshops in collaboration with substance misuse charity Oasis and arts organisation Quiet Down There in Brighton. 

Building on our extensive ‘creative health’ work with adult female survivors of childhood sexual violence, adverse childhood experiences and domestic violence, Art of Recovery is an ongoing creative health project providing a safe space for women at risk to explore and capture their creative voices.

In early 2026, VDT will facilitate a new series of free Art of Recovery workshops for women at risk at VDT’s new community space at Moulsecoomb Place, working in partnership with East Brighton Trust and the surrounding networks and organisations to develop a safe place for women to engage in creativity in the heart of our local community. Small group sessions will be facilitated by Artistic Director Charlotte Vincent and explore creative ways of carefully capturing women’s stories through writing, crafting and moving. Art of Recovery workshops are safe, closed and confidential spaces, designed to build trust, deepen peer relationships, address the severe isolation of this demographic. Engaging in Japanese book binding to origami, clay work, embroidery and yoga , workshops provide a safe haven for self-care and developing interest in artistic practice as well as offering an opportunity for VDT to signpost women to supportive organisations in the area. Refreshments will be provided.

AofR Workshops also seek to capture participant voices and will flow into 6 month research, development and making period to  translate the women’s lived experience into shareable narratives and metaphors, with a  self-selecting  moving forwards into a making process as  performer / collaborators in the work.  The resulting production work will be shared in the Gathering Space at Moulsecoomb Place to a selected audience in autumn 2026, with associated participation and dialogue events for family intervention and social care professionals, women’s support charities, families and local networks in attendance. The work will be captured on film and distributed more widely in 2026/27. 

This process will be facilitated and directed by Vincent and supported by VDT’s Participation Producer Antonia Grove alongside gatekeepers and key workers, with the process supported by supervision and therapists when necessary. 

VDT facilitate our groups with a skilled, trauma informed approach and with Safeguarding embedded at every stage of our creative process and practice. Check out our Safeguarding Policy.

To find out more about Art of Recovery and how to get involved, contact Administrator Gemma Morris admin@vincentdt.com  or call 01273 911 616 

Feedback from Art of Recovery Workshops in 2025:

‘These workshops offer self-motivation, emotional wellbeing and self-confidence.” 

‘Movement based activity was excellent and much needed. Hope to have this as a regular part of the session” 

‘Coming here has made me realise that I like using my hands and do something creative’ 

‘I leave here bouncing’ 

‘Coming here gives me a chance to breathe’ 

In autumn 2025, VDT is offering free, movement–based workshops for community groups that lead to a range of new, inclusive performance training pathways for young people in Brighton throughout 2025/26.

From September-December 2025, VDT’s Participation Producer Antonia Grove will lead  a series of free creative workshops for young people age 14-18, introducing participants to VDT’s methods and exploring creative tasks in a welcoming, supportive space to develop confidence, creativity and communication skills through movement, performance, spoken word and song.

VDT will  then invite 8 young people to take part in a free follow-up performance intensive in Brighton in December 2025.

A second phase of free regular creative classes with VDT, for 16-24 year olds will take place in spring 2026, developing a deeper understanding of VDT’s practice and of the wider dance industry, building key performance skills, improving mental and physical health and creating new connections between young people. 

In autumn 2026 VDT will launch a new, inclusive Dance Theatre Collective in Brighton, co-designed with early career artists age 16-24. This performance training opportunity based at VDT’s community space at Moulsecomb Place offers an alternative, subsidised training programme where experimentation and individuality are valued, fulfilling VDT’s ambition to skill up the next generation of dance artists, ensuring readiness to work in our industry, with an understanding of devising processes, creative leadership, facilitation, safeguarding and socially engaged practice.

As VDT is committed to integrating care-experienced young people into our work and we will be actively seeking to develop partnerships with East Brighton organizations to recruit care experienced YP into this training programme.

VDT facilitate all groups with a skilled, trauma informed approach and with Safeguarding embedded at every stage of our creative process and practice. Check out our Safeguarding Policy.

To find out more about this programme of work with young people and how to get involved, contact Administrator Gemma Morris admin@vincentdt.com  or call 01273 911 616 

Young People’s Feedback on VDT Movement Workshops 

‘I learnt that there is a different way to move and express yourself and a new type of communication’

‘I really enjoyed working with other people and learning how to connect through movement’

London Road Network (LRN) is a nascent collective of arts and community organisations working to support meaningful, long-term change, building a cultural heart around London Road in Brighton.

Initiated by Vincent Dance Theatre, Quiet Down There and Dr. Cara Courage, the LRN brings together Phoenix Arts Space, Lighthouse, Sew Fabulous, The Rose Hill, Magnetic Ideals, Radio Reverb, the London Road Area Trust and the University of Sussex. 

The aim of LRN network is to identify, develop and expand interdisciplinary, intergenerational partnerships and pathways between cultural and grass roots organisations and the communities who live in, and transit in and out of, the London Road area in Brighton.

In July 2025, funded by Co-Lab at University of Sussex, LRN worked with Digital Media MA Student Julide Es to map the London Road Area, finding out which arts and grass roots organisations operate in the area. You can see the emerging map here.

If you work or live within the Cultural Heart of London Road and would like to get involved, please take part in our LRN Survey and contact VDT Administrator Gemma Morris to register your interest gemma@vincentdt.com

LRN is a partnership project with Arts Fundraising & Philanthropy, with support from University Of Sussex Co-Lab.