Charlotte Cunningham founded Turtle Key Arts as a performance venue and production company in 1989. Since then she has produced and co-directed a number of theatre and dance productions with a strong emphasis on physical theatre, dance and devised work. Charlotte’s groundbreaking education and participation projects aim to make high-quality arts accessible to all. Many are aimed at people on the autistic spectrum, notably, Turtle Opera at the Royal Opera House (2001-08), Key Club (2005–09) and currently, in association with the English Touring Opera and the Royal College of Music, Turtle Song, for older people with Alzheimer’s and dementia and their carers).  

A trainer and consultant to arts organisations working with people with ASD, Charlotte has acted as a dramaturg on Footprints, a national commission from the British Association of Science. She has curated festivals and cabarets. Charlotte is an examiner for the Faculty of Humanities and Arts at the University of Luxembourg. She contributed the chapter on production for Devised and Collaborative Theatre: A Practical Guide (2002).