My husband, Mowbray Bates, who has died aged 73, devoted his professional life to “education, education, education” in its many guises.
During five years from 1971 at the Great Georges community arts project (now the Black-E) in Liverpool, his educational horizons were transformed. He contributed to and learned from participatory drama activities, the exploration of creative and co-operative games, engagement with visiting artists such as Meredith Monk and the daily encounters with local children.
He then relocated to Belfast, where he and Imet. Along with others, in 1978 we co-founded Northern Ireland’s foremost community arts project: Neighbourhood Open Workshops (NOW). There, as he worked within distinct Belfast communities, Mowbray’s quiet passion and talent for creative learning came to the fore. Under his guidance, NOW had a lasting legacy on arts development in Ireland.
Mowbray was instrumental in developing two Belfast arts centres: the Crescent arts centre where NOW was resident; and, as inaugural director in 1988, the Old Museum arts centre, which gave many theatre companies (such as Tinderbox and Replay) their first home. His introduction to the artists collective Welfare State International to Belfast to create a large-scale participatory outdoor event in the Botanic Gardens (1983), inspired the creation of the acclaimed Galway theatre company Macnas.
After a move to Dublin in 1991, Mowbray completed an MLitt in theatre, at Trinity College Dublin, and taught a community theatre module there for three years. He helped initiate Cafe (Creative Arts for Everyone, now Create), and in 1991-92 directed the first accredited national course in Ireland specifically for arts workers. His workshops with inner-city Dublin drug abuse workers and long-term users offered alternative approaches to improving self-awareness.
Mowbray was born in Chippenham, Wiltshire, to Edward Bates, a labourer, and his wife, Edith (nee Harley), and went to Malmesbury grammar school. After graduating with a degree in English, French and philosophy from the University of London in 1968, he took a PGCE, and began teaching English in Algeria, alongside his first wife, Judy (nee Archer). They later divorced.
Mowbray and I were married in 1986, and for some years he became a full-time house husband, bringing up our three children. Later, working at the Institute for Choreography and Dance in Cork (2000-06), he co-ordinated an EU-funded dance project for young people at risk and a regional Older People in Dance programme.
When diagnosed with melanoma in 2017, Mowbray made this into an education for himself and others through his blog, How to Live With Cancer.
Mowbray is survived by me, our children, Máille, Oisín and Benóg, and by a brother, Edward, and two sisters, Liz and Ellen.
