I left school without my GCSEs. I became a mum young. The arts changed everything.

I left school without my GCSEs.
I became a mum not long after. And for a while, it felt like the world had decided what my options were.

But there was one thing that had always made me feel like the world was bigger than the one I'd been handed — and that was the arts.

Growing up in a working-class environment that was often under-resourced, my educational journey wasn't always straightforward. Doors that seemed open to other people often felt closed to me. But drama — the act of stepping into a story, of becoming someone else, of being given permission to imagine — that was a door that was always open.

It gave me confidence I didn't have anywhere else.
It gave me language.
It gave me somewhere to put all the things I didn't yet have words for.

It shaped me. Quietly, and then completely.

From the stage to the classroom

I went on to study performing arts at college and then university. I pursued acting professionally — stage and television — and I loved it. Being on stage felt like the truest version of myself. There’s nothing quite like it.

But the performing industry is competitive, saturated, and relentless. Making ends meet with children in tow is genuinely hard. I was doing everything right — I had an agent, I was getting work — but the gaps between jobs were long, and the financial uncertainty was exhausting.

Then one day, whilst juggling a performing job at the National Theatre and flexible shifts at a call centre to make up the difference, something shifted.

I decided to pivot.

Not away from performing — I want to be clear about that. I have never walked away from it, and I never intend to. But I decided to channel what I knew and loved into something that could sustain my family, serve my community, and still keep me connected to the craft.

I volunteered a drama session at my son’s nursery, designed to support literacy development.

That became my first contract.

Over ten years later, I am still doing this work.

What DramEd actually is

DramEd brings specialist drama sessions into early years settings — nurseries, pre-schools, and reception classes. But it isn’t about putting children in costumes or rehearsing a play. It’s about using story, character and imagination as tools for real developmental work.

Communication skills. Emotional literacy. Confidence. Vocabulary. The ability to understand and articulate feelings — your own and other people's.

All of it can be unlocked through thirty minutes of drama when it’s done well.

A child who won’t speak in circle time will roar like a lion in a DramEd session — and then, almost without realising it, start telling you why the lion is sad.

That’s not performance.
That’s development.

Why access matters so much to me

The access I had to the arts when I was growing up wasn’t guaranteed. It was luck — the right teacher, the right school programme, the right moment. And I know that for many children today, that luck still isn’t evenly distributed.

Children from lower-income backgrounds, children in government-funded settings, children in communities that have seen arts provision cut — they deserve the same experiences. Not a watered-down version. The real thing.

That’s why I founded Arts Start CIC — a community interest company that exists specifically to bring drama and storytelling programmes to settings and communities with higher numbers of funded or disadvantaged children.

DramEd earns.
Arts Start CIC gives access.

Both are needed. Both are part of the same mission.

The bigger picture: Performers Who Pivot

I’ve also written a book — Performers Who Pivot — because my story isn’t unique. There are thousands of trained, skilled performers who are struggling to make the maths of an arts career work, especially once they have families, mortgages, or responsibilities that make financial uncertainty harder to absorb.

Pivoting into education — particularly early years education — is a path that doesn’t just survive. It sustains. It keeps you sharp as a practitioner. It keeps you connected to children's imaginations, which is honestly one of the most creatively nourishing places you can be.

And when the auditions come, you are ready for the job.

I’m now building a licensing pathway through DramEd to help other performers do exactly what I did — train in the DramEd approach and build their own sustainable, meaningful career in early years drama education.

Accessible training.
Real skills.
A career that works around your life, not against it.

So why did I really do it?

Because a little girl who grew up without much, who left school without qualifications, who became a mum young and still found her way through — she deserved to see what was possible.

And so do the children I work with every single day.

That’s why I’m still here, ten years on.
Still in the sessions.
Still in the story.
Still absolutely certain this work matters.

Grace Viora is the founder of DramEd and Arts Start CIC. She delivers early years drama sessions across nurseries and schools, and is the author of Performers Who Pivot. To find out more or enquire about sessions, visit www.dramed.com.