Voices embodies the objective of ensuring the experiences of survivors and victims of the Holocaust are not lost in the post survivor era.
Voices was founded in 2012 and premiered for Holocaust Memorial Day in January 2013. Almost exactly one year later we were at the European Parliament in front of world leaders and televised on 8 national TV stations! We had humble beginnings of which we are proud. We had no funding, no ‘home’ base and no resources at the start, just a shared determination and vision which, through hard work, determination and the vision and talents of a collective of inspired creatives from Milton Keynes where we are still based to this day.
Cate Hollis, founder, was previously a Head of Drama and advisor for over 15 years before founding Voices of the Holocaust. She has a deep grounding in theatre and drama education as well as Holocaust, genocide and human rights history. She brings to each project a pedagogical foundation in subject areas from history, psychology to drama. Our principles of equality and diversity are embedded into all our practices in theatrical performance, workshops and the professional development work that we undertake at schools, theatres and community venues around the UK and beyond.
Founded with the objective to ensure that the voices of survivors and victims of the Holocaust would not be lost in the post survivor era and that, if the stories were told in the right way, that theatre could be the surrogate human voice to continue telling stories that needed to be told. We work in schools and communities, perform in school halls and theatres, village halls and on world platforms, at academic conferences and small community events. We advise schools on their Holocaust education programmes, have run professional development sessions with Facing History International and have advised the Holocaust Educational Trust on their Drama resource pack.
We are blessed to have the highest calibre specialists amongst our team and our freelance colleagues, from our international cast to creative team, Trustees, partners and educators. We are not only known and respected for the calibre of our productions but also for our ethical and inclusive values and the philosophy behind our approach to education and telling the stories from this most challenging period in human history.
We are people of all faiths and none, we are of different cultures and ethnicities, we are diverse and neurodiverse, we are binary and nonbinary, we are able and differently able but more than anything we are all deeply committed to ensuring that our survivors’ stories and the application of the knowledge and understandings that their history gives us is what can make a real and profound difference to our own lived experience and our communities.
Voices has worked at every level, from engaging over 27,000 students in schools across the UK with ‘Kindness’, to performing at national and international conferences and events. We have marked Holocaust Memorial Day and Yom HaShoah at theatres and community events including at the National Holocaust Centre and Museum, streamed internationally from JW3, performed at Westminster for the Holocaust Educational Trust’s annual conference, received a standing ovation at the internationally streamed USA based Jewish Theatre Foundation and performed in front of Presidents and Prime Ministers at the European Parliament.
We have the support / endorsement of numerous nationally and internationally regarded organisations, academic specialists in our field and offer a unique solution to sustaining survivor testimony voices in our schools and communities in the legacy era. No event is too small and no platform too big.
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