They say children are the future.

Looking at the Job Centre website as a drama graduate is a very daunting task. The job opportunities are few and far between and after being "unsuccessful" in my application to McDonald's, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I have always wanted to be a drama teacher, children are the future and all that, but the lack of places on a drama PGCE made this an impossible task. So I decided to create my own business. I am no Alan Sugar and have never even studied business in school, so in the beginning I was a fish out of water. But with a lot of hard work, passion, focus and litres and litres of coffee, things started to take shape. I set myself up as a social enterprise and work began coming in drips and drabs. I finally got a regular teaching position with a community group in an area in Belfast which doesn't have the best of reputations, low income families, social deprivation and one of the main areas in Belfast affected by the troubles. I knew this wouldn't be the easiest of jobs.

Off I went on my first day with my workshop packed with classic drama games like "zip, zap, boing", I was sure the kids would love it and I would get some imagination gems. How wrong I was. I walked into the hall, which had 12 kids beating each other, doing cartwhee

ls and screaming! Was I put off? No, no. Using my best teacher voice I asked everyone to hold hands and get into a circle, to which one boy replied "nah that's gay! Like you!". Great. The response to the rest of the class was more of the same, insult after insult, "Ugh I can see your bra through your top", "this is so boring, so are you" and even "why does your face look like that". At the end of the class I felt a little defeated but carried on going back week after week and slowly but surely started to see progress. I became aware that these children had a lot of bigger problems than using their imaginations, I was working with children with ADHD, autism, behaviour problems and some from really troubled backgrounds. They struggled with communication and expressing emotions. Seeing progress made everything worthwhile.

One week I had a breakthrough when a little boy who had been really struggling and very aggressive in the beginning (the same boy that called me gay as an insult) , asked could he help me read the story. Giving him a chance to feel important built his confidence and I could really see him shining. Although this job was the most challenging job I'd ever taken it was the most rewarding.

This week I went in and taught my class as normal, but trying out new reward techniques, I was really getting something back from the kids and a few of them even thanked me at the end of class saying "thank you for teaching me something today, I love learning new things". Hearing this from the kids that were trying to fly kick me a few months ago was a huge deal for me and for them to be able to express how they were feeling was a major breaking point! When I was leaving the manager of the centre called me into the office and told me she had some bad news.

The community centre had been funded by the government to pay me to run these workshops and had decided to end the funding. The centre wasn't getting enough children in so the government have cut the funding, meaning that would be my last class. I felt so defeated, not because I was out of a job, but because these kids needed this class. Although there may not of been full classes the progress that could be seen in the kids we did have was huge. We see in the media all the time about how the cuts to the arts "may" affect us, but up until now I haven't seen it first-hand. I was furious that these kids were missing out on all the benefits that drama can give them, just because they can't afford it. These kids, that for one hour a week could be a child for that time and have a break from what is going on at home and outside of the class, need it a lot more than the kids that can afford to go and perform "Grease" once a year.

Maybe now after seeing how these cuts are affecting the future generation, something can be done to stop it.