From Placement to Practice: Lara’s Journey at St Margaret’s House

One of our aims at St Margaret’s House is to support emerging artists, whether that is to refine their work or to take creative risks. Wherever we can, that also extends to bringing members on board to our core team. A couple of months ago, we shared with you the experiences of a staff member who was with us for just three months, giving an insight into the many things she saw behind the scenes that go into what we do at SMH. Now, it’s over to Lara, our Arts and Wellbeing Coordinator, who has been on a journey with St Margaret’s House from a student placement to a full-time member of our team. Lara’s journey gives you an insight into how we support staff to build skills and how what we offer at St Margaret’s House differs from what you might find at other arts organisations.

My journey at St Margaret’s House began in September 2023, starting my third year at Drama School. I had spent the previous years studying Drama, Applied Theatre and Education at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. I arrived in Bethnal Green unsure of all the activities offered at SMH but curious as to how this organisation intertwined with my degree. In this placement I had three pathways: Ghyama Arts, Children and Young People’s activities and programmed live events.

Ghyama Arts

Let’s start with Ghyama Arts. This was a collaborative project between the Bangladeshi Parents and Carers Association (BPCA) and SMH. These sessions worked closely with disabled adults through a variety of different visual and performing arts workshops. Some sessions during the term I was on placement were led by facilitators from Spare Tyre Theatre Company, an inclusive theatre group who specialise in working with disabled adults. Alongside these workshops, the Project Coordinator at the time led sessions which allowed me to learn and develop my own personal facilitation style. This project pushed me to step out of my comfort zone and try something new. By the end of my 10 weeks, I had grown in confidence, as a result I was  able to lead a whole session independently.  This opportunity to lead the group allowed me to reflect on my personal practice adapting it to be inclusive and collaborative. Prior to this placement, I hadn’t had the opportunity to work in a specialist disability context before. Having this opportunity on my placement shaped my practice through inclusivity and accessibility.

Children and Young People

My degree had taught me a lot about working with children through facilitation, management and safeguarding but this was one of my first opportunities to put these skills into practice. On Mondays I worked with two fantastic facilitators to deliver Hilarity Academy sessions, providing comedy workshops to children and young people. On Wednesdays I assisted in delivering arts and crafts sessions to primary aged children at Crafterschool. This opportunity to work with young people in new ways was challenging at first, even just learning lots of new names, but by the end of term I was able to build some fantastic relationships with the young people which led to an increase of empathy and compassion which I hope the young people felt too. Some of this work included providing one-to-one support to young people who may have needed it. Working in this way showed me the importance of individual approaches and adapting to specific needs. This is something I have continued to reflect upon throughout my journey.

Events

During the rest of the time on my placement, I worked closely with the Arts and Wellbeing team to assist and deliver events, including Open Mic Nights, the Being Human Festival, film screenings and much more. This opened my eyes to the vast opportunities available within an arts organisation, the different roles and the communication and teamwork required to run an event smoothly. It was great to see how the Arts and Wellbeing team works and be included through marketing and delivery of events.

Post Placement

After three months at St Margaret’s House, I didn’t want to leave! There were so many exciting things coming up. Unfortunately for me, third year of university meant final projects, a dissertation to write and not much free time. By the summer term, I was able to volunteer with the Ghyama Arts project again, continuing to build connections with participants and assist in the delivery of sessions.

September 2024 arrived and Ghyama Arts was sadly suddenly left without a Project Coordinator. I was asked to cover for a few months in the interim. This was an incredible opportunity: this would be my first step towards the career I had dreamed about and studied for.

That term at Ghyama Arts would see a new connection built with Half Moon Theatre, just down the road in Limehouse, to create a performance for the Tower Hamlets Season of Bangla Drama Festival. This was a brilliant company to be involved with as we share a vision of how theatre can be more inclusive and provide ambitious ideas that pushed the participating adults to be artists in their own right.

Once my initial three months had come to an end I was invited to continue in the role until the end of the year, for the next two terms of Ghyama.

This time flew by as we made a Bollywood film and a summer Circus Extravaganza. Over the summer months my responsibilities increased within the SMH too. Ghyama Arts taught me so much about myself as an individual and about my practice: I now make such a conscious effort to think about accessibility in workshops first rather than it being an after thought. The support of staff at SMH was so encouraging when I was lacking in confidence or felt like I had impostor syndrome. This support is crucial to helping those of us new to the industry to find our feet, shape the particular contribution we can make and help us establish ourselves so we can go on to have long and varied careers in the sector.

As the summer came to an end, I was offered a full-time position within the charity as the Arts and Wellbeing Coordinator. This was an incredible opportunity and I felt very proud to have accomplished this achievement. It was very scary leaving university, so to have this security I felt ecstatic.

As September 2025 began, my role and responsibilities changed. I was tasked with taking over the admin and delivery of some of our Children and Young People’s projects. I continued to work on the final term of Ghyama Arts, creating a legacy for the programme, and exploring different outreach projects to offer to other groups in the community. As the Exhibitions team changed with the departure of two part-time members of staff, I have taken over the responsibility of managing exhibitions in the Chapel. This has been an exciting addition and learning opportunity in my journey here at St Margaret’s House.

This job change to full-time was so empowering, it enabled me to continue growing within an organisation that had shaped me so much and continues to do so. The encouragement and support from the team has been inspirational and I’m grateful for it all.

As we move further into 2026, I cannot wait to see what more this role brings and the rest of my journey at St Margaret’s House.