The GAP says Goodbye to Ceri Townsend

After founding The GAP, and giving seventeen devoted years, Ceri Townsend will be stepping down as Artistic Director of The GAP Arts Project at the end of December. 

A planned transition will begin in January, overseen by the Board of Trustees, and further details will be announced in due course. In the meantime, the team, trustees and the whole of The GAP community would like to deeply thank Ceri for all that she has given and wish her all the very best for the next chapter in her career. 

“It’s been my absolute privilege to have worked with many, many young people over the last seventeen years, and their imagination, intelligence, generosity and compassion have been my inspiration and a source of constant learning and joy. Although I’m now turning my attention to my own creativity, I will take each of them with me into that exploration, as I do all those who have supported me in so many different ways over the years. It’s hard to leave, but I do so in the knowledge that The GAP is in the very best hands as it continues its exciting journey.”

Here is a brief snapshot of our history that testifies, captures and celebrates some of Ceri’s many achievements. 

In 2009, with the support of her employer Big Brum Theatre in Education company, Ceri and colleague Richard Holmes founded Theatre Ark, a young people's Theatre company. Its purpose was two-fold: to demonstrate to the arts sector young people’s capacity for creating theatre of excellence and meaning; and to give young people the skills and understanding needed to build a career in the arts sector. The young members, aged 13 to 18 years old, performed in high quality theatre productions, engaging in an artistic pedagogy that continues to be at the heart of The GAP today—a methodology that facilitates young people to use imagination and creativity to make meaning, and to learn about themselves and the world.  Moreover, the young people also learned essential employability skills, in networking, decision-making and team building, with some taking on leadership roles within the company, learning budgeting, project design, management and more. We know it is the source of great pride to Ceri that a number of the young people she worked with in these founding years remain engaged right at the heart of The GAP today, including those who have become her professional colleagues—Arron Singh Gill (GAP’s Youth and Community Artist ), Ella Marshall (GAP’s Programme Director), and Maria Hodgetts née Wells (Chair of the Board of Trustees). Other young people from those years continue the relationship in a range of other ways, as trustees, freelancers and advisors. It is a testament to the invaluable input and meaningful experience that Theatre Ark and Ceri’s mentorship gave them. 

With a growing interest in a range of additional art forms, and a run of successful projects in film, photography, poetry, and craft, the company eventually registered as an independent charity in 2014, with the new name of The GAP Arts Project. Our work expanded into different forms of cultural production and activism that continued to evolve organically in line with the interests of the young people involved, with Ceri’s guidance enabling them to turn their ideas into reality. At the end of a long period of working on a project-by-project basis, and with no core funding, Ceri then led the organisation to found The GAP—the first (and only) dedicated arts space for young people in the city of Birmingham. We found our home in 2017 at The Old Print Works in Balsall Heath, where we very happily remain today. Since then, Ceri has led on the ongoing evolution of The GAP venue as a flexible, creative and community-focused space that has the feeling of a home away from home, drawing upon her years of experience as a theatre designer and her determination to protect the provision of public spaces that are inspiring and free for all. 

Other major contributions include:

• - Establishing young asylum seekers, refugees and migrants as one of our key beneficiaries through support, mentoring, advocacy and tailored opportunities (2016 onwards).

• - Leading Children in Movement (2017-8) a Heritage Lottery Funded oral history project collecting the memories of those who migrated to Birmingham as young people from 1939–2017.

• - Directing and producing The Silence (2019), a theatre production set in Balsall Heath that explored the impacts of being ‘suspect communities’ upon Irish and Muslim residents.

• - Maintaining international partnerships and leading delegations of young people to InSite Drama in Budapest, Hungary and Drama Rainbow, Beijing, China

• - Leading The GAP from a youth-led, grassroots organisation to an Arts Council funded National Portfolio Organisation in 2023.

Under Ceri’s leadership The GAP has become one the UK's leading arts organisations dedicated to young people, respected internationally and cherished locally. Ceri’s lasting legacy is one of resolve, passion and unwavering commitment to young people, and their potential to create meaningful change within their lives and the world. We intend to continue this legacy for, and with, generations of young people to come.