Jan 27
0
W5 Takes Stroll Down Santa Street

W5 takes a stroll down Santa Street

By | Business, Creative Industries, General, News, Newsroom

This Christmas, the AMAZE experience at W5 has been transformed into Santa Street – an enchanting, gaslit lane full of vintage shops with wondrous Christmas window displays.

The atmospheric streetscape contains a whole range of “shop” windows to see – Santa’s workshop, a bakery complete with the actual scent of Christmas baking, a post office with all the letters to Santa, an animated stained glass window, a bookshop with a model of the ship from Peter Pan and a book that magically writes the classic work of JM Barrie.

 W5, Northern Ireland’s Science and Discovery Centre, is continuing to develop new content for AMAZE and this is the most ambitious project to date recreating a realistic street and using state-of-the-art technology to combine soundscapes, multi-screen projections and augmented reality (AR) portals.

Adrian Lutton, W5’s Head of Exhibitions and Design has dreamt for years of creating an incredible built set that re-imagines the Christmases of yesteryear and the wonderfully festive shop windows that used to adorn every town and city.

 “We always wanted to do something special for Christmas using the best set designers and animators to celebrate the time when shops created fabulous windows. With AMAZE we have been able to make physical sets and build the tech into it to recreate a bygone era with a timeless feel where every shop tells a different story,” he said.

At the end of Santa Street, visitors walk through a fireplace to find themselves, like the Darling family in Peter Pan, perched high above the roof tops and chimney pots, with swirling snow and chill wind and a birds-eye view of Santa and his sleigh flying across the sky. Waiting at the end of Santa Street will be the ‘Jolly Old Elf’ himself where children can say hello and pose for a photo.

There are lots of other great festive treats on offer at W5 including:

·         Winter Freeze in the Lecture Theatre: a series of scientific demonstrations exploring incredibly low temperatures.

·         Climbit at Christmas: the iconic climbing exhibition will come to life with dancing northern lights, projected snowflakes and an enchanting icy glow.

·         Floor shows: the centre will have a holiday twist with the Science Mysteries of Christmas (how does Santa get around the world so quickly?) and Merry Sniffmas, a chance to test your sense of smell with a series of seasonal scents.

·         Drop in sessions of Christmas origami, chromatography and Santa circuits.

AMAZE was supported by the Inspiring Science Fund, a scheme co-founded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and Wellcome. Additional support came from the Odyssey Trust, and Tourism NI, which provided £400kfrom its Immersive Technology Fund. The investment supplements the planned £4.5m investment in W5 to create eight brand new themed zones, scheduled to be completed by June 2020. £3m funding was awarded through the Inspiring Science Fund and a further £1.5m invested by the Odyssey Trust.

‘Santa Street’ and ‘Meet Santa’ are two separate experiences and free with admission to W5. Both events are not bookable, however W5 recommends that the public pre-book a visit to W5. 

The Christmas experiences are running on Saturday 30 November to Sunday 1 December, Thursday 5 to Sunday 8 December and daily from Thursday 12 to Monday 23 December.

To find out more visit https://w5online.co.uk/whats-on/santa-street

Ends

Jan 27
0

Auditions called for young people to ‘Strive’ for fame

By | Creative Industries, Dance, Theatre

Northern Ireland’s fledgling theatre stars are being given the chance to work with a creative team whose credits include Riverdance and nurturing the careers of Rachel Tucker, James Nesbitt and Michael Sheen.

The call is out for talented young people aged 18+ to audition on December 16 for ‘STRIVE’ a new musical being staged at the Theatre at the Mill in Newtownabbey by some of the biggest names in Northern Ireland’s thriving musical theatre industry. Rehearsals for the show will begin in January.

Essentially ‘FAME’ for the new generation, STRIVE focuses on the lives of students in a performing arts school, something that the creative team as educators and mentors know all about.

Theatre at the Mill hits its tenth Anniversary this spring with a brand-new production penned by Pamela Cassells-Totton, Mark Dougherty, and Brigid Shine and directed by Michael Poynor.

Composer Mark Dougherty, the former musical director of Riverdance has written the score and it will be directed by Michael Poynor, a renowned theatre educator who has seen the likes of his students Rachel Tucker, James Nesbitt; Michael Sheen; Conleth Hill, Michelle Fairley and Jonjo O’Neill achieve West End success.

The stellar team includes scriptwriter and choreographer Pamela Cassells-Totton, who runs her own performance school; musical director and educator Wilson Shields and film and stage actor and teacher, Brigid Shine.

This brand-new show is the latest original production of Theatre at the Mill which has delivered a host of top-class youth shows under its Homespun programme, offering young people the opportunity to work with distinguished professional directors, musical directors and choreographers.

Theatre Manager Bernard Clarkson said that they have already filled younger roles for the production and are now calling for young people aged 18 and over to become senior cast members.

“This is a great opportunity for a young person to work with a gifted team of professionals on a high-quality production. The next round of auditions is on December 16 and we would encourage anyone aged 18 and over with a talent for musical theatre to come along and seize this opportunity,” he added.

Michael Poynor is one of Northern Irelands most distinguished directors and is currently busy working on a new production of The Wizard of Oz, which will be staged in July 2020.  Michael and Mark last worked together at the Theatre at the Mill on a new musical adaptation of Comedy of Errors, in 2017.

Each year the Theatre commissions and produces new work and following the success of last year’s premiere of Twisted, this latest production is set in the hottest academy for the performing arts, bursting with talent and explosive dreams.

Under Michael and Mark’s direction with writer and choreographer Pamela Cassells-Totton, STRIVE will undoubtedly capture the heart and imagination of anyone who has ever had a dream and the courage to follow that dream.

If you are a young person aged 18 or over and wish to audition for Strive, then email Bernard.clarkson@antrimandnewtownabbey’gov.uk

Jan 27
0

Young people affected by homelessness celebrate educational achievements

By | General, News, Newsroom

More than 100 young people affected by homelessness have rebuilt their lives thanks to a major project run by the Northern Ireland Youth Forum.

The Relentless Change Programme, funded by ‘The National Lottery Community Fund’ has had a real impact on the lives of these young people, helping them to find permanent accommodation, employment and connection to vital statutory services.  The RCP Programme is supported by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, Extern and Ulster University.

This has been achieved largely through The Youth Forum’s ‘Relentless Youth Work Approach’ with the young people establishing transformational relationships and completing personal and social development and experiential learning courses to help them deal with the challenges and pressures of homelessness.

On top of that 18 young people have completed a work placement this year and 41 have completed an accredited Ulster University course on civic empowerment. A further 15 are registered to take part in the course in April.

On Tuesday 26th Nov 2019 at the Northern Ireland Youth Forum, programme participants, staff and partner agencies came together to celebrate their successes on the programme over the last year.

One of the participants, Saoirse McEvoy, is now employed by Northern Ireland Youth Forum as a Youth Apprentice in its Peer Mentoring Project.

Saoirse, who chaired the celebration event said, “Being on the Relentless Change Project has changed my life massively in relation to my mental health, before I started the project I was not in a good place. I had the most brilliant experience from this project and made the most amazing friends.  I gained lots of skills and developed my qualities.  Having the opportunity to experience university was incredible.”

Conchuir MacSiacais, a Relentless Change Project worker, spoke about how the young people involved in the project formed a Youth Steering Group to campaign and advocate on behalf of their homeless peers. This group regularly liaises with an Expert Steering Group to look at ideas for reducing the levels of homelessness among young people.

He said: “In the lead up to the summer the youth steering group launched its first film with key messages for service providers and decision makers, during this period the project also supported a number of groups of young people through different pillars of the project, some of those young people have went on the join the youth steering group.

“I feel privileged to be able to work with such an amazing team, a brilliant funder, and inspiring groups of young people and today’s event was really about recognising and celebrating the achievements of all of those amazing people”.

In the second year of this three-year programme, more than 40 young homeless people engaged with the RCP project.

As a result of their work, they continued to present key messages which they feel would make life easier for other young people in the same situation.

These are:

  • Access to correct information from NIHE at the right time.
  • Don’t put young people in hostels with older people or in B&Bs
  • Family Intervention at the right time could help prevent homelessness
  • Social services need to do more to help support young people leaving care
  • An advice service for youth homelessness that is flexible and provides out of hours support
  • Young people need more choices in relation to housing options
  • Services and decision makers to listen and learn from young people
  • More education in schools and youth clubs about homelessness

–       Ends

Jan 27
0

Multi-national school united through love of film

By | Creative Industries, Film, General, Newsroom

A tiny Armagh primary school where the pupils speak six different languages is harnessing the power of film to unite and teach the children literacy, maths and social skills.

The Drelincourt School, where 80% of the pupils speak English as a second language, has won the UK-wide Into Film Club of the Month award for their innovative approach to using film in the classroom.

The little rural school, with just 20 pupils all under the age of eight, was honoured for the fantastic way that they have adapted the club as a unique all-encompassing learning experience.

Every Friday afternoon, the school turns into a mini-cinema with the children running all parts of the operation from choosing the film, promoting it, running the box office, taking tickets and serving popcorn.

The children have to earn the value of their ticket throughout the week by participating in school activities. By the end of the week, they are presented with their much-prized 10p plastic coin that gets them a seat in the cinema. Once each term popcorn is served; the children make their own recyclable paper cones and serve the popcorn to their classmates from an old salad bar now converted to a special counter just for the occasion.

After the movie, each child reviews the film and they are given topics by the teachers to discuss such as the quality of music, humour or acting. The skills they are learning include literacy, language development, maths as they work the box office and earn their ticket money, social skills as they work together to choose the film and manners as they wait patiently in the queue to go into the cinema.

Teacher Sharon Walker explains: “We’ve had a film club for the past five years but we really wanted to make it an even more important learning and developmental tool. With just 20 pupils, our children speak six languages between them including Lithuanian, Latvian, Russian, Polish, Bulgarian and English. Film has the power to unite them.”

They’ve watched the Peanuts Movie, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Cinderella, Cars and their next movie will be a black and white Laurel and Hardy film.

 “We’ve had such amazing support from Into Film. I hadn’t been aware of the amount of resources that they have online; there are so many valuable teaching tools and they’re all available free. They provide the films as well and have come out to the school to see what we are doing and to encourage us,” Mrs Walker explained.

Lorraine Magee from Into Film said she was so delighted that The Drelincourt School had been awarded Film Club of the Month in this national programme and has presented the school with a £100 voucher to spend on their club.

“We are so impressed by the way they’ve taken their film club to the next level. This is such a happy place and by using film to teach, the children really look forward to coming to school and participating in the club,” she said.

Into Film is a UK-wide organisation with a regional hub in Northern Ireland, which aims to put film at the heart of children and young people’s education, helping to support their academic, cultural, and social development.

The organisation runs an annual children’s film festival and also supports filmmaking projects through industry events as well as through film clubs in local schools.

The Drelincourt children will get the chance to check out the competition later this month as they go to watch Peter Rabbit in the Omniplex cinema in Armagh as part of the free Into Film Festival.

“I love seeing the look of excitement on their faces every Friday morning and the way the children are growing in confidence. One child told me that Film Club is the best day ever. They’re learning so much but it’s so much fun,” Mrs Walker said.

–          Ends