WE BUILD CONFIDENCE
CONNECTION
& COMMUNITY
ABOUT US
POP Collective CIC is an inclusive performing arts school where every young person can access creativity, feel safe and truly belong.
We don’t just teach performing arts:
WE BUILD CONFIDENCE
CONNECTION
& COMMUNITY
Many traditional performing arts schools don’t work for every child.
Some young people:
Feel anxious or overwhelmed
Need more support or flexibility
Don’t see their needs understood
Have never even had the chance to try
POP Collective began with a simple belief. Every young person deserves the opportunity to experience the joy, confidence and connection that creativity can bring.
Our founder, Marika Newman, has spent more than 20 years teaching performing arts and leading creative and community programmes. Throughout that time, she saw how singing, drama and movement could help young people find their voice, develop friendships and begin to believe in themselves.
But she also saw that traditional performing arts environments did not work for everyone.
Some young people needed more time to feel comfortable. Some found busy rooms, rigid expectations or performance pressure overwhelming. Others communicated differently, needed additional support or had previously been made to feel that performing arts simply were not for them.
Too many talented, imaginative young people were missing out, not because they lacked ability, but because the environment had not been designed with them in mind.
Drawing on her professional experience and personal understanding of SEND, Marika wanted to create something different: a place where high-quality performing arts and genuine inclusion would exist side by side.
POP Collective CIC was established in 2025, with its first workshops taking place across Cambridgeshire in summer 2026. From the beginning, the aim was not to ask young people to fit into a traditional performing arts model. It was to build a creative community flexible enough to welcome them as they are.
At POP, confidence matters more than perfection. Young people can participate in the way that feels right for them, whether that means taking centre stage, joining in gradually, contributing their own ideas or simply feeling safe enough to try something new.
Our sessions combine professional creative teaching with small groups, thoughtful adaptations and a strong understanding of individual needs. We work closely with families because they know their young people best, and we continue to listen, learn and develop our programmes in response to the people we support.
What began as one person’s determination to remove barriers is growing into a community of young people, families, tutors, volunteers and partners who share the same belief:
Creativity should not belong only to the loudest, most confident or most experienced.
It should belong to everyone.
Come as you are. Create something brilliant.
MEET THE TEAM
POP Collective is governed by a skilled voluntary Board with experience across safeguarding, SEND, social care, HR, governance and community development.
WE OFFER A PLACE WHERE
