About Viki

Viki Browne is an Artistic Director, theatre director, dramaturg, facilitator, trainer and mentor working in participatory and community performance and inclusion in arts & health.

She works as a director and dramaturg for performance, facilitates creative projects and peer support groups, mentors artists and practitioners, and trains and consults with people and organisations working with communities. She works with artists, schools, universities, charities, youth groups, cultural organisations and local councils. She is particularly experienced in working with people who, like her, identify as neurodivergent and use creativity and connection to support their mental health. She specialises in structured creative peer support within group settings.

Viki is Artistic Director and Co-Founder of Many Minds, a Bristol-based mental health and performance charity and a lived-experience-led organisation. Since co-founding the organisation in 2017, she has directed and facilitated the creation of 23+ devised participatory performances, working with people who might not otherwise access the arts due to their mental ill health. Many Minds’ work has been presented at venues including Bristol Old Vic, City Hall, the RWA and the Wardrobe Theatre. She has also trained and mentored Many Minds members in facilitation and leadership, supporting them to develop their own creative groups.

In 2022, she co-created and directed Same Storm Same Sky, an original musical developed with over 150 community participants and presented by a 50-strong community cast on the main stage of Bristol Old Vic.

In 2019, Many Minds received a VOSCUR Award for its partnership work.

Current work

Directing, Dramaturgy & Outside Eye
Project-based support for artists and companies making performance, from developing ideas and dramaturgy through to rehearsal and delivery.

Training & Lecturing
Training artists, facilitators and practitioners in participatory and community arts, mental health and neurodivergence in group settings, safeguarding, accessibility and inclusive facilitation.

Facilitation & Organisational Development
Facilitating groups, AGMs, board away days, staff wellbeing sessions, visioning, dreaming and organisational development processes.

Group Peer Support / Supervision
Facilitated spaces for artists, facilitators and group leaders to reflect on challenges, share experience and develop practical approaches together.

1:1 Mentoring & Access Support
Artistic, professional and access mentoring for artists and practitioners, alongside practical support with creative projects, access needs, planning, organisation and getting things done.

Access, Participation & Community Arts Consultancy
Supporting organisations, buildings and artists to think practically about accessibility, participation, mental health and neurodivergence.

Her own artistic practice explores ‘outsider performance’ and questions how the arts sector values performance made by non-professional artists. She works across theatre, live art, film, music, dance and installation, often creating multidisciplinary and multi-sensory performance. Her work is interested in the live relationship between performer and audience, and invites audiences to take an active role in the creation of the work.

Viki is passionate about creativity as a basic human right and believes accessibility is at the heart of any creative process. She is interested in the ways that making things together can connect us to one another and build personal and collective resilience.

Viki is based in Bristol and works with artists, charities, cultural organisations and community groups locally and further afield.

Many Minds: many-minds.org

If you think Viki might be the right fit for a project, training, mentoring or collaboration, please get in touch: vbrowne@live.co.uk