Arts for Social Change: Celebrating the LIPA Alumni Creating a Better World

From therapy rooms and classrooms to community projects and charities, LIPA graduates are using their creative skills to make a positive difference in people’s lives. As part of our 30-year anniversary celebrations, we’re highlighting alumni who are using the arts to support wellbeing, build communities and create meaningful social change.

Asha Richardson

After graduating from LIPA, Asha Richardson combined her passion for performance with a commitment to community work. As Asha explains, “Since graduating from LIPA, I opened my own theatre school franchise, growing it from 35 to over 300 students before selling it in 2025 to focus full-time on my charity, Ankoma Outreach.”

Ankoma Outreach is based in rural Ghana and centres on community drama and storytelling as a way to build cultural connection and understanding. Through the organisation, Asha has hosted more than 120 UK volunteers in Ghana and welcomed nearly 20 Ghanaian children to the UK for cultural exchange programmes. Her work now spans global citizenship education, partnering with schools and nurseries across the UK. “Creativity remains my foundation,” she says, “from running workshops in Ghana to building UK resource packs, and it all began at LIPA.”

Claire Sundin

After graduating from LIPA, Claire Sundin built a long career as a professional theatre actor, touring across the UK and performing Off-Broadway in plays and musicals. Alongside her performance work, she developed a parallel career as a freelance drama practitioner, which eventually led her to working with children with complex needs.

In 2009, Claire founded Christmas for Kids, a touring theatre initiative bringing performances to children’s hospices and special educational needs schools. The project grew into a registered charity in 2016, rebranding as Embracing Arts.

Today, Claire researches and develops sensory theatre, workshops and events for young people with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD), autism, disabilities or living with life-limiting conditions. Through Embracing Arts she has collaborated with major institutions including the British Library, the Bank of England and the British Museum, sharing her expertise as a sensory theatre practitioner. In 2023, the charity was named Kent’s Children’s Charity of the Year, recognising Claire’s continued commitment to creating arts experiences that everyone can access and enjoy.

Rebekah Price

For Rebekah Price, music became the foundation for a career dedicated to improving wellbeing and supporting people through difficult moments in their lives. “Since graduating from LIPA, I went on to do a master’s in music therapy,” she explains. “I am now a HCPC registered Music Therapist and I run my own music therapy service based in South Wales called Music For Joy.”

Her work supports people living with dementia, children with additional learning needs, and individuals with life-limiting illnesses or brain injuries. Continuing to develop her expertise, Rebekah has also recently qualified as a Neurologic Music Therapist, expanding the ways she can use music to support rehabilitation and wellbeing.

Kacey Baker

Kacey Baker has built a platform dedicated to sharing the voices of people who have experienced cults and coercive control. In 2020, she launched The Cult Vault podcast, where she interviews survivors and explores the psychology behind high-control groups and extremist environments.

The Cult Vault has built a significant global audience and has become an important platform for survivor stories. “It’s grown into an award nominated show with over 500 episodes,” she explains.

“Since then, I have completed an MSc in the Psychology of Coercive Control,” Kacey told us, who now works professionally as an expert in the field. She provides services as an expert witness and exit consultant, helping individuals and organisations understand the dynamics of coercive control and supporting people as they move away from harmful groups.