July 2015: New for 2015, Bournemouth Arts by the Sea Festival will be launching its Youth Engagement Programme to encourage the next generation of artists,musicians and theatre-makers. The programme will offer a range of activities to engage children and young people creatively through participation, workshops and as interactive audiences.
Award winning immersive theatre company, Goat and Monkey, will be delivering a week long summer school called Twenty, Five and One for young people aged 11-14 years old.Set over five jam-packed days, from 10 –14 August 2015, the group will work together with a professional director to create aperformance at the end of the week.Drawing on films and music videos for inspiration, participants will explore stage combat, puppetry, street theatre and performance that puts the audience at the heart of the action. Working with other young theatre makers the students will immerse themselves in all aspects of the performance from acting, sound, scriptwriting anddesign. Come what may, the world premiere will be performed by the company at the end of the week!
“Goat and Monkey have pioneered ways of creating exciting immersive theatrical events by making work that is interactive, epic, surprising, interesting and fun. They grew up alongside Punchdrunk making game changing forms of theatre,” said Elgiva Field, Joint Creative Producer of the Arts by the Sea Festival, “and with this year’s summer school Goat and Monkey will give young people the opportunity to explore new ways of making and creating theatre that will both challenge and inspire them.”
Dan Somogyi, leader of Bournemouth and Poole’s award-winning Music and Arts Education Agencies, SoundStorm and Wave, said “Twenty, Five and One is a fantastic opportunity for all those young people who have always been interested in producing, staging and performing in a show. And amazing value too! What a great way to spend a week of the summer holidays. We’re delighted to be working with Bournemouth Arts by the Sea in spreading the word about this whole new branch of the Festival aimed especially at young people.’
Just twenty places are available on the Twenty, Five and One course for a fee of £50 for the week – to book tickets visit artsbournemouth.org.uk or phone 01202 451805.
Also, new for this year Bournemouth Arts by the Sea will be bringing a programme of events into local schools and nurseries throughout the festival, which runs from 9-18 October.
This will include an exciting collaboration between children’s author Frann Preston-Gannon (author of The Journey Home, How To Lose a Lemur, Dinosaur Farm) and Page One Theatre, who create inspirational theatrical experiences for young children and their families through puppets and performance. As part of this year’s Bournemouth Arts by the Sea Festival they’ll be sharing the developments of their new show, Grandmother’s Beach Hut, in workshops with six nursery schools. The Arts by the Sea Festival is also working with Bournemouth’s Library Services to give young families the opportunity to get involved with these playful workshops as part of the festival which is due to be announced in August.
In Sonic Investigators, Gobbledegook Theatre will be working with school children aged between 6-8 years old to explore how sound works. These unique workshops will be run within schools to engage children with the sounds that surround us, encouraging creative play around new sounds and their possible stories. Gobbledegook will bring a host of fantastical and fabulous objects to help children hear and play with new sounds.
The festival will also be working with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra to deliver opportunities to play and be inspired by music. There will also be a family concert and a chance to join the BSO’s new family orchestra during the festival programme for a one-off performance.
Councillor Lawrence Williams, Portfolio Holder for Tourism, Leisure & The Arts at Bournemouth Borough Council, said; “This vibrant Youth Engagement programme is an exciting addition to this year’s festival. It offers a great opportunity for children of all ages to enjoy the arts and for Arts Bournemouth to help nurture our future creative talent.”
Bournemouth Arts by the Sea Festival is taking place between Friday 9 and Sunday 18 October 2015. The full Bournemouth Arts by the Sea Festival 2015 programme will be released in August.
