Be My Baby, 2018
Due to current restrictions, and following brilliant feedback for our Autumn term digital project, Whatever Makes You Happy, we will be running an online project for young people in the Spring term of 2021.
Starting in the first week of February 2021, our weekly Zoom sessions are designed to be creative, active, social and fun – just what we all need!
To apply for a place on this project please read the information below and complete this form by Monday 25th January.
We have a limited number of places available for this project and may not be able to offer a space to everyone who applies. We will be in touch regarding the outcome of your application by Wednesday 27th January.
Dark sky reserves are protected spaces in the night sky, free of artificial light pollution, designed to allow human beings to enjoy, reflect upon and explore our nocturnal environment.
This digital project will bring young people together to creatively explore themes including, the night-time, dreams, sleep and the cosmos. Participants will work with our practitioners and professional playwright and poet, James McDermott, to develop their ideas, which James will then turn into a piece of audio drama which the young people will record for a sound installation, in the summer of 2021.
Week commencing 1st Feb – week ending 26th March (8 weeks, including a session during half term)
Youth Theatre 1 (school years 3&4 / age 7-9yrs): Tuesdays, 5 – 6pm
[Group Full] Youth Theatre 2 (school years 5&6 / age 9-11yrs): Tuesdays, 6.45 – 7.45pm
Youth Theatre 3 (school years 7&8 / age 11-13yrs): Mondays, 5 – 6.30pm
Youth Theatre 4 (school years 9&10 / age 13 – 15yrs): Mondays, 7.15 – 8.45pm
Senior Youth Theatre (school years 11 + (ages 15-20yrs)): Wednesdays, 7 – 9pm
Our Youth Theatre Squared groups for young people (11-25yrs) with additional needs will also be taking part in this online project, see below for further information on how to join those groups.
We will be charging fees for this digital project, but also have bursary (free) places available if you currently need one. Our fee structure is:
Standard Plus*: £75
Standard: £60
Second child: £40
Means-Tested (Universal Credit recipients or a young person living independently): £30
Bursary: A limited number of free places are available for those who otherwise could not access our activities. Please contact us if you would like to apply for one of these places. Current bursary holders will continue to receive a bursary place.
*Our Standard Plus fee includes an additional amount to help support our work and provide opportunities to those who otherwise could not access our activities.
These sessions will be delivered via weekly online meetings using Zoom. For further information on what Zoom is and how to use it please see our Zoom FAQs here.
The safety of our staff and participants is one of our main priorities, whether sessions are taking place in person or online. If you want to take a look, our Safeguarding Policy can be viewed here.
If you’re a young person with a disability or additional need who wants to explore theatre making and develop your creativity, come and join us at these weekly sessions. Sessions will allow participants to explore the world around them, build their confidence and develop their theatre making skills.
Mondays 1st February – 22nd March (includes a session in half term)
Group 1 (11-15yrs or higher level of need): 5.45pm – 6.45pm
Group 2 (16-25yrs or lower level of need): 7.30pm – 8.30pm
Termly cost: £50 / £30 if you’re in receipt of Universal credit or if the young person is living independently / Bursary (£free) places are available, contact us to find out if you are eligible.
Groups are allocated loosely by age, but also take into consideration the level of need. We will have a conversation with each family/carer and place each participant in the group we feel they will benefit from the most.
If you’d like to join please contact us: creativelearning@wolseytheatre.co.uk
Youth Theatre Squared is funded by:
In Autumn Term 2020, we ran Whatever Makes You Happy, a digital project for our Youth Theatre members.
The weekly online sessions were a place for young people to explore together the things, the people, and the places that they value and those things in these strange and confusing times that make them happy. It created an online community to support their resilience and wellbeing, and encouraged connectivity and creativity at the end of a challenging year.
One of our Senior Groups get creative online
Under current circumstances it is not possible for every person to perform or share their work in a public forum, but the spirit and creative ideas that came out of the sessions will be shared with an artist, who will shape the content into a piece of work, which will then be shared with family, friends and the public.
“I just wanted to reach out to you and thank you so much for including my child this term. She has had the most awful few weeks mentally and your project has literally kept her going.”
“I just wanted to say thank you so much for your time and adaptability this term! As a parent I really appreciate that you have offered my daughter the chance to take part in something different, meeting new people even though we couldn’t go out!”
“It was really uplifting and gave me something to look forward to in the week. Even just seeing the people that would normally be in the theatre group was such a relieving thing, it felt like something was back to normal 🙂 “
“I just thought it was a really good release for everything that’s going on.”
Working with professionals from the theatre, young people will reconnect with learning and the National Curriculum; discover career pathways in the creative industries; develop essential life skills, and use their creativity to reflect upon their experience of lockdown, all in a safe, fun, supportive environment that is Covid-19 secure.
As one of the arts organisations that has worked with the Paul Hamlyn Foundation on their Teacher Development programme, we have been a part of a wide-ranging project that has successfully evidenced that young people’s learning can be dramatically enhanced by a practical, art-based approach to animating elements of the National Curriculum.
An ‘active learning’ approach has been shown to be especially effective at eroding disadvantage and supporting young people who might not have thrived in a conventional school environment to reach their potential.
Regardless of where your school is in its delivery plan for Science, Computing or Mental Wellbeing, our programme could recap, introduce or support the teaching of these elements of the National Curriculum.
We understand this is a period of uncertainty for the education sector, and we’d be happy to have a conversation about how we can be flexible with this work to engage with your school. Please contact either:
Rachel Fitzgerald, Creative Communities Manager: RFitzgerald@wolseytheatre.co.uk
Sian Thomas, Creative Communities Producer: SThomas@wolseytheatre.co.uk
Want to stay in touch with the New Wolsey Theatre? Of course you do!
Tickets +44 (0) 1473 295900
Email tickets@wolseytheatre.co.uk
The New Wolsey Theatre
Civic Drive
Ipswich, Suffolk
IP1 2AS
VAT No: 765325812
Charity No: 1082016
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