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12 | THE REVIEW MARCH 2026 Performing arts pathway creates new opportunities The Glass Ceiling Arts Collective is making a difference on and off the stage. By MELANIE LOUDEN The Glass Ceiling Arts Collective wants to be a catalyst for change. “In 5…10 years time, wouldn’t it be great to be watching TV or going to the theatre and seeing something that reflected the lives of everyone in Aotearoa?,” asks artistic director and board member Charlotte Nightingale. “I am often deeply saddened by the lack of diversity in these contexts because it only serves to marginalise people further, to push people further into the fringes of society. “That needs to change and if our [performing arts] programmes can be a catalyst for that change wouldn’t that be awesome! I say watch this space!” The Glass Ceiling Arts Collective, a charity founded by Charlotte and executive director Mike Eaglesome in 2020, started with one inclusive youth class in Auckland. The Collective now has 14 dancing, singing and theatre classes for youth and adults who live with a disability, and those who don’t, in Northland, Auckland, Tauranga and Christchurch, and is a supplier to the Cerebral Palsy Society’s e-card programme. The classes culminate in participants performing on stage and creating their own films. Mike says, in 2024, they identified a need to provide an extended, skills-focused performing arts programme for a smaller group of highly motivated young people, building on the foundations of the community classes and offering a more intensive and structured learning experience. By chance, John G Davies, one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s leading and most experienced theatrical practitioners approached Glass Ceiling