Office hours
As a part-time E&S member of staff, Erin works variable and flexible hours with a focus on direct teaching in the studio. As such, office hours are variable week to week. If you want to book an appointment, just email her.
Dr Erin Walcon (She/her)
Senior Lecturer
Drama
Erin serves as a Senior Lecturer in Applied & Educational Theatre at the University of Exeter. She is also Co-Director of Doorstep Arts in Torbay: a grassroots organisation providing sustainable long-term participatory arts engagement opportunities for children and young people in an area of statistically low socio-economic status.
Her 2013 PhD, titled Vital Spaces/Vital Signs: Young People, Performance, Identity and Dialogue, examined the ways in which devised theatre practice with young people aged 13-19 creates pedagogically rich space for dialogue about identity and social change. From 2013-2015, Erin worked on the AHRC-funded Amateur Dramatics: Crafting Communities in Time and Space as a postdoctoral research fellow. This research was led by Jane Milling (Exeter), Helen Nicholson (Royal Holloway) and Nadine Holdsworth (Warwick) and was the first major study to seriously consider the social and cultural dimensions of amateur dramatics.
From 2016-2021, she also served as the drama advisor for the MA in Creative Arts in Education, within the Graduate School of Education on the St Lukes campus. From 2020-2024, she served as the convenor of the MA in Applied Theatre. She now serves as one of the team contributing to the MFA (Master of Fine Arts) in Theatre Practice.
From 2013-2024, Doorstep Arts worked in collaboration with Battersea Arts Centre and 8 regions across the UK as part of the Collaborative Touring Network, building connections between outstanding touring performance and ongoing participatory work at various doorstep sites across Torbay. Since 2018, Doorstep Arts has served as the only regionally-based NPO in Torbay, running a substantial programme of participatory drama work with young people across Torbay in schools, youth clubs, church halls, theatres and many other 'doorstep sites'. Their work reached 8,129 beneficiaries in 2023-24, and contributed to regional cultural strategy, partnership work in support of young people, and continued advocacy for increased access and entitlement for children and young people in Torbay.
Erin chairs the Torbay Arts in Schools Network, which serves as the Local Cultural Education Partnership in Torbay. This grassroots network, with 69 partners, is also a Family Arts Network, as part of a national campaign.
Erin currently serves as a board member for Theatre Alibi, helping to host their Getting Through the Cracks symposium series in 2020-21. She also serves on the Advisory Board for Beyond Face and the Cultural Learning Alliance.
Erin's practice and research interests include: dialogic theatre, participatory arts, social justice, community engagement, critical pedagogy, and theatre in education. As a practitioner, Erin facilitates and directs devised theatre, using creative writing, physical techniques, dance and original music to create new works with young people. She has a substantial fundraising track record, including successful investment from Arts Council England, the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, Garfield Weston, National Lottery, Children in Need, Trusthouse Foundation, and more.
She writes and publishes in open-access and public-friendly formats which aim to have a non-academic audience and readership, primarily using the Doorstep Arts blog as a primary space for reflection, sharing practice, and opening up dialogue about key areas of concern.
