Six Ways to Wellbeing

Do you have young people wanting to do their Arts Award? We have this opportunity for young people to do their Bronze or Silver Award with Six Ways to Well-being in Swale.

Six Ways to Wellbeing with Wide Eyed Theatre

Your ideas, performed from scratch - Join our unique young persons performance group in which we create a story of people, place and events that make us happy and share them with the world.

All the ideas come from you...

Book your place here

Timetable:

Project Launch - Tuesday 28th October - 10am till 4pm - Bluetown Heritage Centre
This session will launch the project and is open to anyone interested in joining the project. It will be a day of building our performance company and creating project ideas.
Lunch will be provided - if you need support with transport please email vicki@wide-eyed-theatre.co.uk

Weekly Evening sessions in November and December - Location and times TBC

Celebration Event - 6th December - Location and times TBC

This is part of the Six Ways To Wellbeing programme being managed by Ideas Test and Swale CVS and is funded jointly by Kent County Council, Artswork and The Royal Opera House Bridge. Find out more about the Six Ways to Wellbeing at www.sixwaystowellbeing.org.uk.

You can find Ideas Test, Swale CVS and Six Ways to Wellbeing on Twitter @IdeasTest @SwaleCVS and @liveitwelluk, all of whom will be tweeting about the project under #sixwaystowellbeing. Six Ways to Wellbeing is also on Facebook, please search for ‘liveitwellkent’.

You can find out more about Wide Eyed Theatre on www.wide-eyed-theatre.co.uk

FAQs

Is there an age limit/restriction to take part?
You must live in Swale (which includes Faversham, Sittingbourne, Sheppey and surrounding villages) and aged between 13 to 19 years.

What happens after I book?
We will email you to confirm the details and send you some forms for you and your parent/guardian to fill in.

What do I need to bring on the day?
You must send us signed consent from your parent/guardian in advance or bring it on the day. If we don't have it you won't be able to take part.

Where can I contact the organiser with any questions?
Yes, please get in touch if you have any questions. Call Cassy Fry Programme Coordinator on 07713 865955 or email cassy@creativepeopleplace.info.
Do you have questions about Drama Workshop with Wide Eyed Theatre? Contact Ideas Test

Book your place here 

September's Arts Award Adviser Forum

The September Arts Award Forum was attended by Nova, Polly, Linda, Katie, Peter, Emma and Vicki, on 24th at the Gulbenkian.

The forum featured a creative session with musician and artist Peter Cook. Peter brought with him some beautiful beech branches.

First we explored the branches, stating what words they evoked for us: brown, rough, bumpy, elephant.

We then played with sounds, seeing how the branches made different noises depending on how they were struck. It was good fun to take turns as the leader, with the rest of the group mimicking the leader's rhythms.

Peter played to us Bernie Krause's recording of trees – a fascinating soundscape of cells popping.

The diversity of sounds associated with branches and wood was interesting, and great to discover as a group.

Peter also showed us how to make small instruments simply, out of straws. Simply flatten the tip of a plastic straw and snip a vent near the top with scissors. Blowing through the straw then produces a great sound!

Discussion:

The Advisers discussed bringing musicians into class to create interesting lessons. 

We talked about how to make young people's heroes more exciting, and Vicki suggested the idea of encouraging young people to write to their heroes. Getting a response can be incredibly inspiring.

Linda emphasised the importance of teaching young people that they are responsible for their life, and that they have to make things happen. This is what is so great about Arts Award as it allows young people to take control.

The difficulty of the school timetable was discussed, and it was decided that bringing a guest into school rather than sending individuals off to meet people would be easiest and safest.

Regarding units, Vicki confirmed that you do not have to follow units in order.

Arts Award Gold Training

Arts Award Gold Training will be on Thursday 13^th November from 4-8pm, for any Bronze or Silver Advisers who wish to reach Gold. It costs only £75 (usually £110). Contact vicki@wide-eyed-theatre.co.uk for more information and to book your place.

October's Arts Award Forum

October's Arts Award Forum is on 29th October. Come along for a creative session with Improvisation and Comedy performer Lucy Fennell, plus interactive planning session for all levels of the award.

An exercise to begin the Arts Award

In our last session Vicki introduced the forum group to an exercise she uses regularly with groups of all sizes, ages and abilities. Its great at identifying skills and areas of interest that the participants have. It is also is a way of identifying an individuals arts challenge that can be used in Bronze and Silver and other levels. When coming to evaluation it is a point to look back on a develop progress. The best thing about it is that its fun!


Materials needed: Something to draw with, Paper

1) Ask the group to draw around both their hands on one side of paper. If they have large hands they can overlap!

2) In one of the hands ask the group to write/ doodle/ draw positive things about them selves e.g. skills, their personality, what they enjoy. This can sometimes be an exercise within itself as some groups find it very hard to say positive things. You can suggest things to encourage them by telling them your own or ask the to ask someone else in the group to give them a positive point they've noticed about the person. Aim for a minimum of 5 things and 3 of those to be arts related.

3) In the other hand we create wishes for ourselves. Try to not call this a 'negative' or 'bad' hand. Changing the language to 'I would like to be a better listener' is more proactive than 'I am rubbish at listening'. Again make sure some of these are arts related.

4) The final stage is to discuss your 'hands' and find challenges. How this is done depends on the group; some groups may be willing to share with everyone, others may want to work with a partner or you on a one to one basis. The idea is to identify a goal or challenge for the individual that they feel comfortable about. This may jump out of the I wish hand, or it may be a combination of using skills they are already good at to achieve something new. For example many of our participants are great at drama but want to take it further by writing a script or directing. Others have combined feeling comfortable in the group with a new skill such as photography and photographed the group rehearsing and performing.

Enjoy the exercise and don't forget to revisit the hands when evaluating and reflecting!