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The Arsenal Foundation has helped to fund Little Angel Theatre\u2019s Little Wings Drama Club for local children. Esme, aged eight, tells us about the sessions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI live with my mum, Nana and grandad in Islington. I am from London and my family are from Jamaica. My favourite subjects at school are maths, English, art and science. My hobbies are being creative, singing and acting. I attend Little Wings drama sessions, and Craft Collective and Crafternoon arts and crafts sessions at the Little Angel Theatre. I also attend performing arts classes weekly. I like football and I support Arsenal.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mum found out about Little Angel Theatre from one of the mums at my weekly swimming lessons. We started attending community fun days in 2022 and then we signed up to attend regular Little Wings classes in 2024. I wanted to attend because I like drama, acting, arts and crafts. I am quite shy and I also wanted to become more confident in speaking up.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe signed up each term to attend weekly sessions for both drama and arts and crafts, and have been attending regularly since early 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got to know each other by playing games and sharing stories about ourselves. The teachers would ask us our ideas for a story and we would all take turns; we would listen to each other and add our own bits to the story. We would then create a plan for our character and how they fit into the story.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 2025 I switched from going to Crafternoon arts and crafts with my mum to attending Craft Collective sessions for children over eight years old only. We decorated umbrellas as aliens and these umbrellas were then used as the main theme and characters for our play at the Little Wings drama sessions. The play was about being from outer space. We were all aliens and we each had lines that we made up with our group leader Viv. We put together a performance that we acted out at the Little Angel Theatre summer street party. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy favourite bits were decorating the umbrellas and using them in the performance. I also enjoyed making alien tentacles. Performing in front of strangers was scary but fun at the same time. It was fun because we are all friends and we were doing it together. I was happy that my mum got to see me perform in front of everyone because she said she was very proud of me.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur group leader Viv has been helped by lots of people over the past couple of years: Amirah, Isabel, Neave, Christine, Ella, Mary and Xintong. They were all very friendly. They helped us all to feel at ease when we were nervous by playing games with us. They encouraged us to be ourselves and created an atmosphere where we were not judged if we made a mistake.<\/p>\n
\u201cLittle Angel is different because it welcomes everyone, no matter what your abilities are \u2013 they take time to help you and they never make you feel like a failure. Unlike other groups I have attended, at Little Angel neurodiverse and non-neurodiverse children are treated equally. This helps us learn that we can all play and create things together, no matter what our differences are. The staff at Little Angel are all kind and fair to everyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have made a new group of friends and we have met up outside of Little Angel. I have become more confident in myself and am now more willing to speak up for myself and say what I am comfortable doing or not doing. I have also enjoyed learning my lines and performing in front of an audience. My mum has also made some new friends and she has had some free time to do other tasks while I am at the sessions.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy Nana is also an Arsenal supporter and she plays bowls twice a week at Arsenal in the Community with Mark Antoniewicz, who has known me since I was a baby because she took me to the sessions with her. When I was old enough I started to collect the balls and help to put the numbers up. I have never been to an Arsenal match but I would love to go one day. My favourite player is Bukayo Saka and my Nana has had her picture taken under his shirt in the changing rooms.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it is great that Arsenal help local charities and organisations. This helps people to get to know each other and to try activities that they might not have thought about before. This helps to grow community spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Little Wings<\/strong><\/p>\n Little Wings Drama Club was created to provide children who are part of Little Angel Theatre\u2019s local community an opportunity to explore drama and puppetry in a safe and welcoming environment. The attendees, aged between five and ten, are from families who face economic, financial or physical barriers that means they cannot always access arts workshops due to high fees or geographical constraints. <\/p>\n Little Wings Drama Club provides free, hour-long sessions a stone\u2019s throw away from our Theatre building in Dagmar Passage, Angel. Participants are encouraged to explore and learn about their artistic side through dance, acting and mime, as well as Little Angel\u2019s famous puppetry practice.<\/p>\n