Matt Woodhead, is Co-Artistic Director at LUNG, a campaign led arts charity, working UK wide to make hidden voices heard.
Matt trained on the National Theatre Studio Directors Course and as a Trainee Director at Leeds Playhouse. As a freelancer they’ve worked for the Learning and Engagement Department at The National Theatre and The Lyric Hammersmith and as a script reader for Leeds Playhouse, Chichester Festival Theatre & The Papatango Playwriting Prize. Awards include: Director’s Guild Award for Best Newcomer & John Fernald Award.
LUNG theatre was one of the winners of the SMK National Campaigners Award 2024 for the Creative Changemakers Award for the Woodhill: Film and theatre project, raising awareness of prison suicide.
Matt was interview by Emma Boyd, Head of Marketing and Communications at SMK.
EB: What is so exciting about LUNG being a campaign-led arts charity? Does it make you unique?
MW: At LUNG, campaigning is at the heart of everything we do. Our production Woodhill was used as a tool to shine a light on self-inflicted deaths in prison and lobby HMP Woodhill to support the mental health of men and trans women dying in their care. The project started as a film, became a play and quickly became a national conversation with MPs. During our campaign, HMP Woodhill was put into special measures. I do not believe that using art in this way makes LUNG unique. Lots of other organisations do this work, so well. There just isn’t enough of it. I wish more artists used their platform and privilege to affect change.
EB: How did the coalition between LUNG, SAFESOC, and Woodhill Families Group form for the prison suicide project? Why theatre and film?
MW: SAFESOC is a project led by Dr Philippa Tomczak at the University of Nottingham that aims to reconceptualise prison regulation for safer societies. Together, we created a short film that told the real-life story of a mother whose son died at HMP Woodhill. The film was then adapted into a dance piece, which is going on a national tour in 2026. Art has the power to challenge perceptions and shine a light on hidden stories in a way nothing else can. When academic and arts organisations pair up, the results can ripple for years to come.
EB: What’s happened with the campaign since winning the Creative Change-makers Award in 2024?
MW: the SMK Award was such a game changer for LUNG – it charged us up, just when we needed it! Our campaign is run with our Woodhill Families Group, which is formed of people whose loved ones have died at HMP Woodhill. Over the last year, our campaign has gone from strength to strength. We continue to meet once a month, providing training for prison officers and undergraduate social workers.
This autumn, we’re also partnering with UNGRIPP to campaign for the resentencing and release of people serving an IPP sentence. We’re kicking this project off at the Labour Party Conference in a few weeks – so watch this space!
EB: Your productions are ‘only the beginning’ and shape policy change — how does that work in practice?
MW: Absolutely, for us theatre is a doorway. Take Trojan Horse, which told the story of teachers and governors in Birmingham who were falsely accused of radicalising students. When the production went on tour, we partnered with Baroness Sayeeda Warsi and her campaign for the government to define islamophobia. Audiences were invited to sign petitions and lobby people in power. For us the methodology is always the same. We ask people to bear witness to a story, then we invite them to take action.
EB: Tell us about your work with Speak Up and how it encourages young people to see and bring about change.
MW: Speak Up is a partnership programme we’ve run with The National Theatre. Taking place in 55 secondary schools across England, Speak Up empowers young people to make art about the things that matter to them. The programme has run for three years and in that time, young people have spoken up about everything from anti-racism, the environment and AI to influencing school policies around bullying and exclusion. It’s about agency, showing youth their voice can shape futures.
EB: How can SMK’s campaign community get involved and support LUNG?
MW: This autumn, Faber & Faber is going to publish a collection of monologues we’ve crafted from interviews conducted over the past year with the people of Barnsley and its surrounding towns. For any Yorkshire based SMKers, please join us at our Calling Barnsley Book Launch at The Civic in Barnsley on Friday 7th November. You can also pre-order the book at Foyles (or any good book shop of your choice!) Come hear and read these stories – then take action!
EB: Thank you!
At SMK, we are curious about how change happens and are interested in the intersection between art and social change. As part of our work to share our evolving understanding of social change, we interview artists and arts groups whose work is based in change-making and activism and who seek to understand and highlight contemporary social issues through their practice.