Janice Connolly, co-founder of Birmingham-based company Women and Theatre and also known for her stand-up comedy character Barbara Nice, has received a British Empire Medal in the New Year Honours List for services to community arts in the West Midlands.
Connolly trained as a teacher before working for Barnardos for several years as a youth worker. She set up Women and Theatre in 1983 “as a vehicle for delivering drama with the power to affect change”.
Over 33 years, she has produced more than 50 plays looking at social issues and tackling taboo subjects such as domestic violence and mental health.
She said, “what a huge and fantastic honour this is. I’m overwhelmed and delighted. I share this honour with all the artists, staff, partners and participants I’ve had the pleasure of working with for so many years. I share it with people from across the whole community. It’s their stories that inspire me and it’s their voices I strive to share.
“It’s extremely important that the arts are available for everyone and continue to be so; they are essential and civilising. They help us make sense of the world and make it a better place for people to live in.”
Roxanna Silbert, Birmingham REP’s artistic director, said, “I’m not exaggerating when I say Janice is an icon in the West Midlands and fiercely loyal to the region.
“What marks her out is her approach to all her work, which comes from and is filled with love, humour, a profound belief in the goodness of people and a drive to make the world a better place.”
Helga Henry, director of organisational development at Birmingham Hippodrome, added, “Janice has tirelessly championed the ability of us to use theatre to come together, to explore complex and difficult emotional issues but, above all, to attain a higher truth, a higher understanding of people and the world around us.
“She has done this with compassion, with insight, with tenderness and, above all, with laughter.”