IdeasTap launches Ideas Fund Shorts, £40,000-worth of funding to help young people realise short film projects.

 Recognising the wealth of talented young filmmakers in the UK, IdeasTap is offering eight awards of £5,000 each for the most original, engaging ideas. Entries must be for films no longer than five minutes and can include documentaries, conceptual pieces, trailers for features, music videos, fashion films and animated shorts.

 Aiming to make the funding process easier for young people, the Ideas Fund is dedicated to providing opportunities for up-and-coming talent.

Craft Club is a new initiative from the Crafts Council in association with the UK Handknitting Association. They aim to facilitate volunteer groups in running after-school clubs in craft skills, and have enlisted the help of England’s NFWI to provide the skilled volunteers to deliver this. Initially these are for knitting clubs, under the ‘Knit 1 Pass it On’ scheme.

Many federations have already signed up to support the programme, and arrange for their volunteers to be trained to run the clubs. At each training day, volunteers will receive instruction and support to enable them to work in schools and enthuse children about traditional craft skills.

 All training days run from 10am to 4pm.

• Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, Friday 12th March

• Crafts Council, London, Friday 19th March

 To attend a training day, please kindly RSVP to

knit1@craftclub.org.uk

at your soonest convenience (or no later than 2 weeks before your preferred event). They will then send a short form for you complete to confirm the place.

Warwickshire User Forum, Community Arts Workshop and Open Up (part of national Mind) are offering a free workshop on Friday March 5^th in Rugby around storytelling.

If you have any contacts who you think would be interested in attending, please do pass on this information.

Open Up can pay travel expenses so distance is no deterrent (within reason!)

If you would like more information, please contact:

01926 335569

07552 161734

44 Holly Walk

Leamington Spa

CV32 4HY

This is a workshop opportunity by Escape

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The website provides the tools to deliver opportunities for young people that foster wider participation in the arts, encouraging achievement and opening pathways into the arts, creative and cultural industries. 

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Learn more about how the service can support your work - www.easwestmidlands.org.uk. 

This months SPOTLIGHT! falls on Matthew Dibbens, a local improv comedian. We enter the interview nervously ready to be sliced up on a quick wit and a few verbal silver bullets … but Matt puts us at ease and tells us how we can all benefit from learning the skills associated with his art form…. 

Q. Hi Matt , tell us … What is improvised comedy ?  

A. Comedy Improvisation was made popular by the television show “Whose Line Is It,Anyway?” and is acted by young and old alike. Improvisation,like magic,is the art of creating something out of nothing.What most people do not realise is that improvising,ad-libbing etc is something that we do everyday,as we have no script for our daily lives.

Q. Do you need to be good at acting/drama to be good at it ?

A. You do not need acting experience to improvise.All players will need is some enthusiasim and willingness to let go and have some fun.

Q. What do you think you learn by being able to inprove your ability to improvise?

A. During improv people explore and develop certain skills such as listening,quick thinking,risk taking,self confidence and also team work.Skills that will help acting and public speaking but also good for life in general. This will be done by playing games and  performing sketches.

Q. OK , sounds good.  Can you tell us about what you do… 

A.  I myself have been involved in improv for the past 3 years performing shows at venues throughout the Midlands and London with Coventrys WOW Impro and Impro Vivo troupes.We competeted in the Theatresports show in London against teams from around the UK. In this I won most memorable moment of the match. We have also performed to stand up audiences as well as writing and performing our own sketches.

 Intertested in knowing more ?  ………..Matt is running workshops opporuntinites

Comedy Improvisation Workshops

Fun Workshops In the Summer Holidays To Help Your Acting And Comedy skills.

These workshops will help develop quick thinking,risk taking,self confidence and team work all by playing games and acting out sketches.

If you have ever seen “Whose Line Is It,Anyway?” and thought you would like to have a go,then these workshops are for you.

If interested please call Matt on 07904 448 260 to discuss costs, times etc.

Beingfrank Youth are going for strength to strength….

We’ve been working with them for over 2 years now developing boys dance in Warwickshire. posted below is the result of a successful Youth Opportunities bid that enabled them to make a new peice of work to tour. The new work will be featured as part of the U:dance showcase and BDE at dance exchange - but here a sneak preview of the lads in action ……. enjoy the show…………….

Visit their YouTube site at - www.youtube.com/user/rubeingfrank

This video is of the Dance group “Beingfrank Youth- Deja vu”. The footage is of them auditioning for U:Dance which is a nationwide programme which aims to give every child and young person in England the opportunity to take part in a dance performance each year. U.Dance currently has approximately 39,767 children and young people from over 1,253 schools, taking part in over 198 dance performances across the country. The boys took their audition in Stoke and they were accepted and pleased the pannel of judges. Now the boys will represent U:Dance across the contry performing pieces of dance in all different locations in the UK.

Plings is a website giving information about local activities for young people organised by councils, voluntary and private sector organisations. It is being piloted in twenty local authority areas and is a part of the effort to break down barriers to access.

Plings aims to be a national resource presenting live information including details of the location, date, time and type of trusted activities and opportunities for young people. It also aims to collate feedback from young people about the activities available for them and to provide tools to help local authorities and other organisations assess their service provision.

http://plings.net

Spaceshaper is a tool for anyone who is keen to improve their local parks, streets or squares. An exciting new version has been developed enabling 9 to 14 year olds to get involved in the developments that affect them. It offers practical, creative and interactive resources that encourage young people to contribute to discussions about the future of their neighbourhood. The sessions are taking place nationwide.

For more information, contact the Spaceshaper Team on 01634 4011166 or on:
www.spaceshaper@cabe.org.uk.

Beingfrank Youth are going for strength to strength….

We’ve been working with them for over 2 years now developing boys dance in Warwickshire. posted below is the result of a successful Youth Opportunities bid that enabled them to make a new piece of work to tour. The new work will be featured as part of the U:dance showcase and BDE at dance exchange - but here a sneak preview of the lads in action ……. enjoy the show…………….

This video is of the Dance group “Beingfrank Youth- Deja vu”. The footage is of them auditioning for U:Dance which is a nationwide programme aiming to give every child and young person in England the opportunity to take part in a dance performance each year. U.Dance currently has approximately 39,767 children and young people from over 1,253 schools, taking part in over 198 dance performances across the country. The boys took their audition in Stoke and they were accepted and pleased the pannel of judges. Now the boys will represent U:Dance across the contry performing pieces of dance in all different locations in the UK.