RESEARCH: Agency Through the Arts

While earning her MA in Applied Drama at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Darcy collaborated with a small team to conduct research around children's experience of choice through drama experiences. They chose a setting where choice can be extremely restricted in many areas of life: hospitals. 

The team created drama experiences incorporating varying degrees and types of choices for participants, then facilitated them in pediatric wards at St. Thomas' Hospital and St. George's Hospital in London. 

After presenting this research, Darcy was granted funding by the Leverhulme Trust to continue this line of inquiry at Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. In partnership with Snow City Arts, she led drama workshops with individuals and groups of patients that varied widely in ages and abilities. 

Whether through formal studies where choice is most restricted, or in settings like Montessori schools where children enjoy expansive freedom, Darcy is interested in how the arts can provide agency in meaningful ways. 

"Thank you for helping us create a better and brighter healing environment for our patients.
We would love to partner with you again!" -Family Life Center Coorinator, Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago