Graduation day at Blue Teapot’s Performing Arts School for people with intellectual disabilities can be bitter-sweet, according to the school’s co-ordinator, Ana Belle Alvarez.

“In some ways, you feel very sad when they’re gone when they graduate. After three years of sharing moments, and sharing so many things, it can be sad. But then it’s exciting when you have the new people coming in as well,” she said.

The Performing Arts School at Munster Avenue in the city is one strand of the Blue Teapot brand, which is now inviting new recruits for the semester beginning next September.

The other better-known strand is its Ensemble, also based at Munster Avenue, which includes a professional troupe of actors, who stage performances at their own theatre space and elsewhere, throughout the year.

One aim of those who join the former is, ultimately, to land a role in the latter.

“That’s the dream. We don’t have the capacity (to meet demand) but that’s the aim of everyone,” said Ana, a Spaniard, who has been with Blue Teapot for almost six years.

Many in the professional Ensemble were schooled in the Blue Teapot Performing Arts School.

Two students who graduated last year are now part of the 11-strong Ensemble, which had two spaces available.

But even those who don’t progress to a professional career in theatre with Blue Teapot will benefit from the course which is Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI) accredited, according to one of a handful of well-known teachers at the school, Rod Goodall.

“To be trained in the arts – drama, dance, music and so – does not mean that the student will achieve a career in these disciplines. It means that they’ll enjoy more creativity, more confidence and be better equipped for social interactions in their lives,” said the drama tutor and theatre director.

There is some crossover, though.

“Sometimes, it has been the case where the students of the Performing Arts School, participate in a production with the professional actors,” explained Ana.

“Parallel to that, our drama teacher sometimes produces a theatre show just for the students to showcase to their family members,” she said.

The three-year programme leads to a certification in QQI Levels 2 and 3. It is an opportunity for people with intellectual disabilities, who are aged 18 and over, to access formal training.

Modules include drama, music, drawing, costume, design and event participation. The programme also incorporates life-skills training including interpersonal skills, online safety, health and fitness.

Literacy and IT supports are provided by Galway Adult Basic Education Services.

“Every training programme is very structured and the students work really hard in the classes, learning so many skills and it’s all very practical but they have fun as well,” said Ana.

When asked to describe the sort of people with intellectual disabilities the school is looking to recruit, Ana said: “Anyone who has a passion for the arts; a passion for performing arts; anyone who has a passion for the theatre.”

School is on Monday to Thursday, 10am-3pm. Much of the programme focuses on personal development where learners can fulfil their artistic potential.

“To be able to develop their own potential and their own ideas, everything we do with tutors is based in the student’s own creativity and their own ideas. If they’re creating a mask, for example, it’s based on their own research of what they like, and they transform what they like, and their own personality and creativity, and they transfer that into their final work,” she said.

The company liaises with organisations such as Ability West and Brothers of Charity during its recruitment drive, and it also contacts schools for school-leavers with intellectual disabilities who are seeking a new challenge.

Ana’s biggest problem is that they have capacity for an intake of just five people every year.

“It’s very hard because we have many people applying for the Performing Arts School, and we only have five places. You’d love to take everyone, but the reality is we don’t have the capacity,” she said.

*The deadline for applications is Friday, February 3, at 5pm. For further information or to request a brochure visit the website, email or contact 087 652 0146.

“Photo: Blue Teapot members Michael Hayes and Valerie Egan on the set designed by Sabine Dargent and with costumes designed by Charmian Goodall).