Improv comedy for the socially isolated

Making Things Up is an improv company that works with socially isolated people based in Manchester, UK. The project started in collaboration with the homelessness charity Coffee4Craig and uses improv to build confidence, foster connections and empower people to break free from social isolation. We speak to founder Daniela Gerstmann.

Can you tell us a little about Making Things Up’s origins? How did the organisation start, when? What was the driving force behind creating the project?

I got the idea for Making Things Up a few years ago when I was volunteering at a homeless drop in center and doing improv comedy as a hobby. During Covid, our improv sessions moved online and I noticed how people were using humour to deal with everything that was going on. At the same time, the guests at the drop-in always had a special kind of humour. I thought about putting the two together and talked to people at the local improv group ImproQuo and the drop-in Coffee4Craig. That’s how Making Things Up started, and we ran our first workshops in 2023.

Has your mission or scope changed over time?

We still work with people who are homeless, but we have broadened our scope to include people who are socially isolated. By social isolation, we mean a situation where someone doesn’t have interactions with other individuals or society in a wider sense, to the point where this impacts their quality of life and opportunities for the future. For example, this could be an elderly, widowed person who doesn’t leave their house much and has no one to share a cuppa with or to notice if something were amiss. By offering improv workshops, we give our participants a way to reconnect with their creative selves, a group, and society. One of our participants recently said that being at the workshop gives them a reason to talk to others.

How does Making Things Up work on a week-to-week basis? How do you alert those in the community to what you are doing, and bring them to you for workshops? Is awareness raising a challenge?

We run weekly workshops in partnership with Coffee4Craig, the drop in that has been our partner from day one. We invite people to just be there and have fun as a group for two hours. There is no expectation to perform a showcase afterwards, and if someone wants to come and just drink tea and watch, that is totally fine.

We are also looking for new partners. The important thing is to build trust by choosing a good location. We let people know about the workshops through posters, other homelessness organisations in Manchester and also through social media. But raising and maintaining awareness is definitely a challenge in the sense that, if someone is dealing with living on the street or in a shelter, coming to a weekly workshop might–understandably–not be feasible on a regular basis. Also, people move around or, in a best case scenario, move out of homelessness. So we see regulars, but also a lot of turnover.

What is it about improv as a format that really lends itself to the work you do, perhaps in comparison to other outlets or formats for workshops?

Improv is for everyone and you can do it anywhere. You don’t need any props or experience. It’s basically like playing make-believe when we were children, with a bit of structure. With a good facilitator who knows how to adapt games to the room, everyone can join up to their comfort level. We are super lucky to work with Jade Fearnley from Murder Inc, who is brilliant at this. If you’re in the North of England, please go to one of Jade’s shows because she’s really funny! She also trained two more facilitator-artists in our last season so the team is growing.

What sort of benefits do you see improv and the workshops having on those you work with? How can these sessions you run improve things beyond the hours you have to work with community members?

Improv is all about saying ‘Yes and’, valuing what the other person contributes. In the pilot, one participant said ‘These are the only two hours a week when I am treated like a human being.’ That really stuck with us.

People have a laugh and a brew together at the workshops, but it’s about more than that. For many, it’s the first time in a long time that someone listens to them. That is very powerful and can be a turning point. After the pilot, we had people rekindling estranged family relationships, getting mental health support and one person even got a job. That’s also the good thing about working with a partner like Coffee4Craig, they can support people beyond the improv and connect them to other services or opportunities.

As an organisation, what are some of the most pressing challenges you face?

We are moving from working on a project-by-project basis to longer planning horizons as a company. There is a lot to learn. Luckily, my co-directors Barney Stevenson and Eji Osigwe are very resourceful, patient and humorous people. Also, we’re aware that the Impact Grant is a one-time opportunity. We are looking into getting donations from individuals so we can be more independent when the two-year grant period is over. Arts funding in the UK has been getting more competitive and last thing we read, donations were down, too. We have a mentor at Arts Homelessness International (AHI), Matt Peacock, and he told us that getting used to the feeling of always having some sort of challenge is part of the game.

And of course, we work with people who have been made vulnerable by society, and you learn things that are difficult to hear. We are looking into setting up a network for facilitators so they can exchange experiences with Kate Richards Geller, from Urban Voices Project in Los Angeles, and Matt Peacock from AHI.

How do you hope that Making Things Up will grow and change over time?

Good question! I would like for us to produce a festival at some point, where we work with people from the community in different roles (performers, ushers, etc.). That’ll mean getting into partnerships with other local businesses and also offering more advanced, performance-oriented workshops for people who are able to come more regularly.

I’m also doing a research project in association with a Canadian company called Art of Festivals to see how we can translate Making Things Up to the Montreal context. It’s a larger and more diverse city than Manchester. My colleagues in Montreal are Fanny Martin and Alida Esmail, who bring strategic and intercultural research insights to the project. So Making Things Up CIC is getting a little sister across the Atlantic, and of course, the plan is for the siblings to talk to each other!

On the other hand, we’re the kind of organisation that shouldn’t have to exist in the first place. So the actual ideal would be to make ourselves obsolete, but until we get there, we can make people laugh. If you think that was cheesy, watch our video! :)

Read more about Making Things Up here.