AN ARTS student is appealing for funding so that she can study in America.
Naomi Refault-West (26), from St Clement, wants to develop her skills as an arts therapist by going to the California Institute for Integral Studies. She recently graduated from the University of Wales in Aberystwyth with a first-class degree in performance and English literature.
Naomi has been studying the arts for a number of years and is especially interested in their social and therapeutic benefits. She is currently in Australia working with the theatre group Ozfrank and has travelled around the world with her studies.
At 19 she volunteered with the German Peace Organisation for Human Rights and Democracy and was sent to Montenegro, where she worked with children from Kosovo as acting and dancing were used as a form of therapy. She said: ‘I found my vocation on that trip, to train as an arts therapist.’
After meeting a Mexican theatre director she was invited to perform with his company and went to Mexico for eight months. While at university she travelled to Bolivia during her summer holidays and worked with a community theatre troupe to try to unite hostile communities through the arts.
It is through these experiences that Naomi was inspired to apply to the CIIS for an MA in expressive art therapy, which is not available in the UK. ‘Having a credential in arts therapy would help me to initiate projects and obtain grants and the CIIS is one of the few places that specialises in this’ she said.
She has received her letter of acceptance and is now turning to the Jersey community for funding. ‘This would be an investment for my future and for serving the community in Jersey and the UK with both practical and theoretical work,’ she said.
• Anyone wishing to help should e-mail her at nimbleberry@hotmail.com.
• Picture: Naomi Refault-West (on the right) has been studying arts for a number of years
