DIRECTOR’S REPORT YOUNG AT ART 2001 A FESTIVAL FOR YOUNG PEOPLE MAY 18TH-27TH

CONTENTS

 INRODUCTION

 PROGRAMMING/VENUE

 STAFFING

 PRESS & MARKETING

 OUTREACH

 BOX OFFICE & AUDINCE FIGURES

 CONCLUSION

1 INTRODUCTION

The fourth Young at Art festival took place from 17-25th May 2001. The timing, increase in programme and additional staffing has made a significant impact on the festival which is now viewed as one of the major children’s festivals in Europe.

The quality of events, brochure and the additional staffing made this years’ festival the smoothest run and most efficient to date. Funding was tighter than ever but used to the maximum.

This year we invited international producers and promoters of young people’s work to the festival and were rewarded by Imaginate booking Puppet Magic to perform at the Lycium and the Traverse Theatres in Edinburgh during the children’s festival in May 2002. This now means that a Young at Art commission from has toured on the international stage for the last three years.

This year Young at Art presented 24 different projects, over 100 separate events with additional 28 workshops and 22 performances presented as outreach projects. We received more television and radio coverage than ever before and received very positive feedback about our brochure and distribution.

This year’s market research shows that the average attendance overall was 78% - the best so far. However, owing to the very small numbers able to fit in to our partnership venues the number of attenders was not as high as last year. Outreach work and workshops during the festival were all sold to capacity and we still enjoy our largest audiences from the early years with 78% attendance.

As usual a third of our audience is made up of first time arts/theatre attenders and two thirds say they are returning following previous festivals.

We are delighted with the continued support and commitment from the public and schools throughout Northern Ireland. We now believe that Young at Art has become the kite mark of quality for children’s live arts .

2 PROGRAMMING

The programme for the 2001 festival has been the most exciting and challenging to date. The theme Co-ordinates worked extremely making events easier to promote and giving the media a concept to work around.

The range of medium, the quality and provision for all ages and tastes worked very successfully with a balance of international and local projects.

Last year the key needs were to:  Continue to develop programme (NI wide if possible)  Continue to develop indigenous work  Continue to develop technology and art projects  Continue to develop relationships with venues  Continue to make partnerships  Continue to develop international profile  Continue to develop participation  Develop a viable year round programme  Develop web-site with young people  Develop school contacts through the young review  Develop training opportunities in conjunction with Stranmillis

How successfully were these recommendations addressed?  Continue to develop programme (NI wide if possible) Several tours were undertaken this year with Puppet Magic being performed in venues in Cookstown, Lisnaskea, Armagh, and L’Derry. Also Washday was performed in Coleraine and Armagh.

 Continue to develop indigenous work The festival commissioned two new pieces from local performers; Puppet Magic by Paul McEneaney for 6yrs+ and a family show “Recipe for Disaster” by Will Chamberlain. The family friendly day focused on local artists, storytellers and performers.

 Continue to develop technology and art projects Building Frames project with Rita Duffy engaged young people to record and present the changing landscape of the architecture and buildings in Cathedral Quarter though photography and digital manipulation. This project was open to all ages to encourage empowerment through the creative experience.

 Continue to develop relationships with venues Stranmillis University College was the venue for the Farmyard Recital performance by Da Capo and Stranmillis Theatre was used for Sleep Tight. The Group Theatre was used for the first time as a Saturday venue for Washday and Puppet Magic. Circus School was used for the first time as the venue for Wash Day. Other venues for storytelling included the LinenHall Library and our partnership with Belfast Parks continued with a Tepee in Botanic Gardens.

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 Continue to make partnerships New partnership was made particularly with new venues above as well as the touring venues. We also consolidated previous partnerships. and developed a very successful Play-Zone at Old Museum arts centre that proved to be very popular.

 Continue to develop international profile The International profile during festival was raised with performances by Gruppe 38 from Denmark and Theatre Triebwerk, Germany. This year we invited several international producers on the family friendly day to offer a platform for NI work. This has resulted in Puppet Magic being selected to go to the Lyceum and the Traverse in Edinburgh for the Scottish International Children festival in May 2002 with a view to promoting it for the American market thereafter.

 Continue to develop participation The Co-habitation project encouraged the participation of 18-25 yrs over to develop several installation pieces for Habitat on the Family Friendly Day. Numerous free projects including, resident musician sessions, storytelling art workshops as well as the family activities helped increase participation. Over 2000 children also enjoyed the outreach programme.

 Develop a viable year round programme We have successfully begun our year-round programme of activity with the outreach work (see outreach section) that also involves the Young Review and workshops in schools, the best friends scheme and school friends scheme, a Halloween storytelling event at Lagan Weir for schools and public. Five projects that will involve schools and youth groups to contribute to the Unlocking Creativity programme and the forthcoming Share Centre Project for disabled and able bodied children in Lisnaskea

 Develop web-site with young people This is to be developed in conjunction with a sponsor.

 Develop school contacts through The Young Review A School’s Friend Scheme is being set up and will be implemented for school year 2001/2

 Develop training opportunities in conjunction with Stranmillis Da Capo Music Training workshops are hosted in Stranmillis. Additional training sessions will take place on the lead-up to the international Conference 2002. Staff training has also started on a regular basis with workshops covering aspects that range from ‘Young people’s needs’, ‘ how to facilitate workshops with disabled young people’ and ‘what makes good quality theatre for young people.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES

4 Hansel & Gretel Gruppe 38, Denmark 7yrs+ Old Museum arts centre UK & Ireland Premiere This was a highly technical and sophisticated rendition of the famous fairy tale. Definitely one of the best quality pieces of theatre for children or adults. The company helped host a Talkshop discussion on the nature and exposition of theatre for young people. This has led to Open Space a forum for professionals working with young people to meet and talk organised by Young at Art.

Moby Dick Theater Triebwerk, Germany 10yrs+ Old Museum arts centre UK and Ireland Premiere Imaginative & humorous introduction to this classical adventure by Hamburg’s ‘Theater Triebwerk’. This award winning production proved to be highly accessible and thrilling for all the audience.

Resident Musician All Ages Paul Marshall was our resident musician and conducted a series of imaginative workshops for all ages during the festival on boats, in Omac and out and about on our family friendly day. He is becoming the first Da Capo Music facilitator in Northern Ireland. Young at Art paid for his initial training so that he could develop his skills and lead music for under 5’s throughout NI.

Farmyard Recital Suite 3yrs+ Da Capo workshops led to this highly successful performance following Da Capo training early year’s teachers and pupils with Ulster youth orchestra

Sleep Tight Theatre-Rites, England 3-5yrs Stranmillis Theatre Ireland Premiere Theatre-Rites returned with the best work available for under-fives. Performed at Stranmillis College Theatre. Once again the quality and production value of their work were outstanding.

Washday Little Big Top Theatre Co 4-9yrs Belfast Circus School/The Group Theatre & Outreach venues A journey through the outer limits of laundry by a local company. This production toured to Armagh and Coleraine. A performance from a very new NI company, which had, lots of lovely images, some confusions but potential for good new work in the future.

International Storytelling African Tales with Tony Agogo, Indian Tales with Nisha Tandon and Native American Tales by Laura Simms and Traditional stories and music with Willie Drennan.

Family fun day A wide range of events were held on the Family Fun Day making it the most successful yet. New events included a series of art, puppet and map making workshops introduced in Castlecourt, Botanic and Stranmillis. All led by local artists.

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Puppet Magic Paul ‘Bosco’ McEnaney 6yrs+ Old Museum arts centre/Group Theatre & tour UK & Ireland Premiere A YAA commission funded by ACNI National Lottery. Magic and puppetry combined with original music created a really first class piece of theatre. This production travelled to four venues across NI for outreach performances. The fact that it had no words made it accessible to all.

A Recipe for Disaster Will Chamberlain Family Old Museum arts centre UK & Ireland Premiere A YAA commission. This 45-minute production brought together the best in traditional and modern clowning. Local audiences loved this show and it is clear that ‘clowning’, as a familiar form is a successful audience attraction.

Building Frames Rita Duffy All ages House/Downpatrick This project engaged young people in recording the changing landscape of the architecture and buildings in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter through photography and digital manipulation. Supported by Laganside. The exhibition was excellent and is currently in Downpatrick and due to tour further.

Co habitiation All ages Daylong installation performance in Habitat on Royal Avenue by 10 young people during the Family Fun Day. This was an enormous success and involved a window performance as well as a dance piece in the furniture department and sleeping in beds!

Smelly Won’t Behave Replay Productions 4-9yrs Tower Street Designed to tour as a theatre residency programme for Special Schools. It was performed twice at Tower Street during YAA.

Teechers Tower Street 4-9yrs Fusion Theatre Company Performed by HND Performing arts students from BIFHE presented in association with the Department of Creative & health Studies Centre for Performing Arts.

VENUES Our main problem concerning venues is that they are either too small to accommodate sufficient audiences for good box office return or that they are too large and costly for Young at Art to hire with tickets at only £3.50 for sufficient box office return to cover the hire fee. For this reason we use new and unusual spaces, however, we do need a partnership venue that can offer us more space but at an affordable cost.

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QUOTES Sleeptight “excellent particularly the interaction with the children” “Excellent performance for young and old both” “Beautiful, funny and gentle – nice to have something softer and more contemplative than much children’s entertainment” “I thought the performance was fantastic and I loved it” “Magical, bedtime will never be the same” “Theatre-Rites once again proved to be utterly enchanting and spell binding theatre for young people. Congratulations” “All superb. A delight for our 2yr old toddler and us”

Hansel & Gretel “Again Young at Art maintains brilliant standards!! This is a magnificent piece of theatre. A masterclass in storytelling and characterisation” “Excellent. We have been to quite a lot of shows over the years and this was very good.” “Magical, witty inspiring, visually spectacular” “Very, very good play, excellent storytelling and effect scary and enjoyable” “Loved it. Theatre form other countries is great to see” “An excellent event, very high quality. The children enjoyed it very much. More of the same please” “Venue convenient – very nicely managed of the children” “The show was very good, I would give it 10/10. It was nice the way the woman mixed up Danish and English in it”

SMELLY WONT BEHAVE “Good interactive entertainment especially for the 3-7 yr. olds. Convenient venue for us” “Very professional and very useful and direct. Kept my children’s attention throughout” “Brilliant, the children really loved it” “I thought is was fantastic” “I thought it was super and I want to be in a show when I am older” ‘Great venue although difficult to find. A festival map would have been handy”

STORYTELLING “Really enjoyed both sessions” “Expert dancer – no music available more explanation than storytelling. Lovely personality shone through” “Extremely interesting stories very well told” “Captivating wonderful storyteller” “Storytelling venue excellent” “Very accessible and child friendly”

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ART WORKSHOPS “Children left very much to make own choices/ideas. All seems relaxed and easy going – children happy – thanks.” “It was fun but I wish it lasted longer” “It was wonderful and good fun. I think it should be on every week” “Kids enjoyed the fun and education activities”

DA CAPO FARMYARD SUITE “Venue very hot – performance fantastic” “Well done everyone concerned. Absolutely terrific” “Well done enjoyed it very much” “Brilliant, wonderful music and singing” “Very enjoyable – good introduction to rhythm”

MUSIC WORKSHOP “Music workshop had the potential to run for longer – at 30 mins was a bit on the short side. “Music workshop was excellent. Could have lasted longer. Would have been nice if instruments for each child. Paul Marshall had a lovely rapport”

WASHDAY “Absolutely great – so imaginative and really well aimed at the young audience. I loved the props and effects and the simplicity and coherence of it” “The play was wonderful, very imaginative” “An ideal venue for this show” “Excellent performance” “I enjoyed the show very much” “Children really enjoyed this festival” “It was all fantastic and we need more of it all year round for this age group” “A very interesting, washy story”

8 STAFFING FESTIVAL 2001 For the first time ever there were enough staff on board to run the festival as smoothly and efficiently as it should be. Despite the drop in funding from the previous year we decided that we could not do without additional people without serious problems arising and burnout setting in. It has been a very worthwhile venture.

Director This is now the fourth festival run by myself as director. It was however, the first time I had had a complete year to work on the festival and this was enormously beneficial. Clearly one’s strategic vision and management improves with time but it has to be said that the additional staff this year made an indescribable difference, allowing me to use my time during the festival more effectively to network, look after international guests and nurture partnerships.

General Manager of the festival (freelance & part time) The addition of Shemaine Kerr as the General Manager released everyone else to do their own jobs properly since she took over the detailed administrative responsibilities, contracts and day to day finances. The efficiency of this opened up time for people to be more imaginative about their work and give total commitment to the project

Outreach Officer The ACNI National Lottery and Northern Ireland Events Company have funded this post. Suzanne Marner has produced outstanding work and continues to involve a vast amount of schools in high quality arts provision. In just 3 months she had personally contacted and organised 50 schools to participate in Young at Art activity surrounding the festival and we received more attendance from rural schools and special needs schools than ever before. The quantity of work covered and the evaluations arising from this is impressive.

Project Manager (freelance and part-time) Rebecca Hunter is an exceptional person in the field of arts and will make for a very classy festival director herself. The attention to detail and the profound understanding she has of the needs of a festival meant that she genuinely followed through all projects that were planned in detail in terms of how they would be realised. She also assisted in the final programming and managed to enthuse no less than 25 volunteers to come and join us

Communications (freelance and part-time) Matt Curry gained us the best coverage to date with more TV than ever before and more radio. With a budget of just £2,000 after the brochure design and print, he makes it look as though we have a range of quality resources that is in fact just him. His idea for Captain Co-ordinate as a living figurehead for the festival gave great promotional opportunities Matt also did our first proper audience market research, which gave interesting statistics. (Please see Press and Publicity report).

Production Manager (freelance)

9 Again Connor Kane proved to be our best production manager to date. He came on board a little late and therefore had to do more with less time but produced fantastic venues –technically speaking, and forgot nothing. He does without question need an assistant for this post.

Box Office Manager (freelance) Fiona O’Donovan, a highly experienced box office manager, worked with us to tidy up our systems and offer new ways of selling tickets, ensuring that we also had notice of ticket sales (or the lack of) well in advance. She worked throughout the whole festival and is one of the funniest people we have ever had the pleasure to work with.

Festival Assistant Sally Murphy acted as festival assistant/runner on the festival and took the post on as a way of training/learning about press and marketing as well as the general running of a festival.

RECOMMENDATIONS Most staffing needs have been met, although the freelance and part-time staff would ideally be in place year-round to make sense of their posts. A committed Press Officer or assistant to the communication manager would really extend the amount of material we could get out and be a part of.

YOUNG AT ART 2001 PRESS AND PUBLICITY REPORT

Overall media coverage of Young at Art 2001 was favourable compared to previous years. In fact TV coverage was the slightly better with a strong programme and images accounting for this fact.

TELEVISION COVERAGE BBC NEWSLINE 6.30– 30 second slot on day of launch 25/04/01 with Captain Co- ordinate at waters edge and brief piece of Anna’s interview.

UTV LIFE – 3/5 minute feature from Frank Mitchell on first day of festival 18/05/01 with Anna interview, piece from Will Chamberlain, music workshop and kids reaction to the first show.

UTV FAMILY SHOW – 3 minutes with Anna on 23/05/01 as she discusses the festival

10 GMTV – Recorded feature for original broadcast on Monday 21/05/01, then stalled – Paul McEnaney performing exerts from Puppet Magic and straight interview with Anna about festival.

TOTAL: 4 specific television features.

RADIO COVERAGE Radio coverage improved this year – with more specific features on the festival from more outlets as well as many more useful ‘mentions’ and previews from DJ’s on other shows.

BBC Radio Ulster- Good support again this year. A 3/5 minute feature on day of launch 25/05/01 from ‘Evening Extra Arts’ programme and ‘Across the Line’ youth programme. Subsequent support at festival time extended to reviews of performances from young people coupled with previews of what was on for the rest of the week and a feature on John Bennett. Friday May 18 had 2 separate features with a five-minute package on the ‘Building Frames Exhibition’ as well as a review of Puppet Magic and A Recipe for Disaster. Thursday 24th had three young people reviewing Hansel and Gretel and Moby Dick on Evening Extra Arts. Laura Simms also had a good 15/20 minutes chat with on Friday May 25th with John Bennett, telling stories and giving away tickets for her sessions the next day.

Downtown Radio – Improved coverage again. Usual Saturday before interview with Candy Devine and Anna about festival 12/05/01for 5/7 minutes. Improved with a 5/7 minute general piece from Damian Murray interviewing Matt – broadcast on evening of Monday 21st May. Also drive-time 2/3 minutes on Friday May 18th opening day with Matt going. Coupled with repeated mentions from these and other DJ’s throughout festival week.

Citybeat – Usual 6/8 minute feature from Citybeat Radio between launch of programme and festival start.

TOTAL: 10 specific radio features.

NEWSPAPER COVERAGE Newspaper coverage was widespread and positive with more than 20 features and articles in print from provincial papers to , Newsletter and Irish News. Disappointing lack of reviews in print as usual. See coverage.

BILLBOARDS 48 Sheet billboards used again this year in three separate locations across Belfast as opposed to just on Gt Victoria Street as last year. Mixed reports from people as to the effectiveness of spreading the coverage and message across town although cost effective in the respect that we got one of these free for a cycle. Total cost: £1000.

11 ADVERTISING Only advertising taken out was with Big List with picture and phone number as with previous years. Best advised to put that sum (£100+vat) in the budget for something more spectacular, visual and of our own making for next year.

DISTRIBUTION First time we paid someone to distribute programmes for us (£400) – money well spent as it left us free to do other things even if it was out if our control. But distribution was done thoroughly and would recommend we continue this practice while paying attention to possible new outlets and expanding databases.

CAPTAIN CO-ORDINATE Always vital to have a theme and the Captain captured that for us very well both visually through the programme, billboards, on television and in person. Generally considered effective in use.

POSTERS We haven’t used poster since year two of festival and this low- level presence is needed in some way to reinforce the festival. Fly posting outdoors for a BCC sponsored event is illegal so we need to be aware of what we are doing with posters and where they are going before we spend on printing them up.

RECOMMENDATIONS - emphasis on letting the schools know early what is going on - Concentrate on pre-primary schools and crèches and make contact with heads of these groups to get deals for them coming along. - Visual stunts outside the realm of mainstream media to attract attention, with good press, TV and radio. - Take on a Press Assistant to help with general press work to free Press Officer to concentrate on marketing and promotions - Continue with billboards but rethink advertising in Big List perhaps finding more suitable publication - Continue to use independent distribution of programmes - Daily Listings would be useful - Tie things in to the theme earlier in the year - Develop brochure – dare to be ever- more different

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YOUNG AT ART 2001 AUDIENCE EVALUATION RESULTS (%)

ATTENDED YAA PERFORMANCES HOW OFTEN TAKE KIDS TO ARTS? IN PREVIOUS YEARS ? 0 33% Once 13% 1-2 21 Every six months 33 3-4 28 Every three months 34 5-6 12 Every month 7 7-10 3 Regularily 11 11+ 3 Never 2

HOW MANY PERFORMANCES HOW FIND OUT ABOUT ATTENDED THIS FESTIVAL PERFORMANCE/WORKSHOP

1-2 38% Through post 28% 3-4 34 pick up at venue 8 5-6 19 elsewhere 22 7-10 6 Newpaper/mag A 1.5 11+ 4 Newspaper article/review 1 TV 1 Radio 0.6 Word of mouth 13.5 Listings 0.6 School 12 Personal contact 7.5 Other 3.75 Posters (48 sheet) 1

WHICH NEWSPAPERS DO YOU WHICH WEEKEND PAPERS DO YOU READ ? READ ?

Tele 43% Irish Times 20% Irish News 14 13 Guardian 16 Sunday Inde 6 Irish Times 11 Guardian 25 Local 0.3 Other / Sunday Times 37 A’Town News 0.7 Mirror 1.7 Inde 0.7 Newsletter 3 Community Tele 5

13 3 Regional 3

WHAT RADIO LISTEN TO ? WHAT MAGAZINES DO YOU READ ?

Radio Ulster 27% Homes & Interiors 32% Radio 3 2 Ulster Tatler 10 Radio 4 21 Womens News 3 Citybeat 11 Arts.ie 23 Radi0 2 12 Northern Woman 15 Downtown 4 Lagan Lines 2 Radio 1 8 Big List 14 Cool FM 14 Radio Foyle 1

Previous Attendance From the results of the evaluation one third of our audience this year was new and that two thirds came back for more after being to at least one event last year. One third of our 2001 festival audience had not previously attended a YAA event. One half of our 2001 festival audience had attended between 1 and 4 previous festival events. Almost one fifth have attended 5 or more previous festival events.

Attendance to festival this year: Attendance to one or more events this year is split quite evenly with one third attending one or two, one third going to three or four and one third going to more than five events. Shows good programming and spacing. More than one third of the audience attended 1 or 2 performances this year. More than one third attended 3 or 4 performances this year Almost one third attended 5 or more performances this year.

General arts attendance General arts attendance to arts events is on the whole quite low with almost 80% of those questioned taking their kids between 1 and four times a year and only 11% attending regularly. One third of our audience take their children to arts events four times a year. One third of our audience take their children to arts events twice a year 13% take their kids to arts events once a year and 11% take their children to arts events regularly.

Knowledge of YAA Almost 30% of our audience found out about YAA with a programme though the post and almost a quarter by picking up a programme elsewhere. Word of mouth and through school each accounted together accounted for another 25% with the quarter accounted for by personal contact ‘other’ newspaper, advertising and radio in that order. 28% of our audience found out about YAA with a programme through the post 22% of our audience found out about YAA from a brochure they saw elsewhere 13% found out by word of mouth and 12% through school 8% picked up a programme at venue and 7.5% found out through personal contact

14 The other 4% found out through press, radio, ads, listings and other

Daily newspaper preference Almost half our audience (43%) read Belfast Telegraph followed by The Guardian (16%), Irish News (14%) and Irish Times (11%). The community telegraph is read by 5% followed by the newsletter, Belfast News and regional locals (all with 3%)

Weekend newspaper preference The Sunday Times is the most popular weekend paper followed by The Guardian/Observer (25%), Irish Tines (20%), Sunday Life (13%) and Sunday Independent (6%)

Radio station BBC Radio Ulster 927%) and Radio 4 (21%) are the most popular radio stations followed by Cool FM (14%), radio 2 (12%) and citybeat 9115) then radio 1 (8%0 and Downtown (4%)

Choice of magazine Homes and interiors is clearly the most popular magazine (32%) followed by arts.ie (23%), Northern Woman 915%), the Big List (14%), Ulster Tatler 910%), Women’s news (3%) and Lagan Lines (2%)

Outreach Report, April-June 2001

An Overview The Young at Art festival 2001 saw an addition to the core members of staff with an Outreach Officer starting work in April. This new position allowed the existing outreach work of the festival in previous years to be built upon and extended throughout Belfast and beyond. Between April 1st and May 31st Young at Art provided 50 schools nurseries and community groups with the highest quality artwork available on the international circuit, as well as commissioning local artists to produce new work and tour it around Northern Ireland.

Young at Art brought 28 workshops and 22 performances to 2,253 school children during this time, as can be seen from the maps attached. The work taken to the school children

15 varied from origami workshops by Alex Sutton Vane, to the world class performance of ‘Hansel and Gretel’ by Gruppe 38. There were a variety of music workshops, storytelling sessions and theatre productions that toured to venues and directly into schools across Northern Ireland. Young at Art also provided two days of teacher training for Early Years Practitioners during this time.

For some of the projects in this year’s festival Young at Art worked with groups of school children towards a festival event. The ‘Farmyard Suite’ by Da Capo worked with four groups of Early Years children to perform a recital of songs that they had learned in workshops. The ‘Building Frames’ exhibition led by Rita Duffy worked with two groups of primary school children to take photographs of their home environment and the architecture around Laganside. Their work was exhibited during this year’s festival.

The Outreach work also involved working with the Young at Art Best Friends, as well as working in partnership with other organisations on some projects. Young at Art collaborated with the Ulster Youth Orchestra for the Da Capo project, and also with Children’s Express who reviewed work in the festival for The Young Review.

The festival forged good relationships with venues out-with Belfast. Puppet Magic was a Young at Art commission for this year’s festival. Following the premiere of the show at Old Museum arts centre, the piece toured for four days around Northern Ireland to four different venues. Puppet Magic toured to The Burnavon, Cookstown, The Share Centre, Fermanagh, The Market Place Theatre, Armagh and The Playhouse, L’Derry. Washday by Joanna Williams, toured to The Riverside Theatre, Coleraine, and The Market Place Theatre. Instead of going directly to schools with these performances, using local venues allowed more children to see the work in an environment that worked best for these shows. The venue programmers were impressed with the quality of the work, and are keen to have a show tour there next year.

The Projects Da Capo Early Year’s Music

Da Capo is a method of teaching music to children from the age of 3yrs and up. They are a London based school of music, and as part of the Young at Art festival 2001 they worked on a project with Early Year’s groups in Northern Ireland.

The project with Da Capo began with some training in their methods to Early Year’s practitioners in Northern Ireland. This training lasted for two days, and out of this came a group of interested people who wished to take part in the workshops and ‘Farmyard Suite’ recital. Da Capo teachers then went to these four groups to do a series of four workshops using their music teaching methods.

Young at Art provided each group with a Da Capo toolbox, and each child with a pair of claves. This meant that each group had the resources to then practise the exercises and songs that Da Capo covers in their lessons.

16 The performance of ‘The Farmyard Suite’ went brilliantly, and was enjoyed by parents and children alike. The Ulster Youth Orchestra accompanied the children as they sang their songs, with a newly revised, and very humorous, arrangement of ‘The Farmyard Suite’, which had the audience and the children captivated.

Feedback from teachers and parents has been overwhelmingly positive, and seems to highlight a need for good quality pre-school music. The teachers seemed to get a lot out of all aspects of the project. One teacher wrote,

“An excellent experience for all concerned. The children have developed very sophisticated musical skills and they thoroughly enjoyed the whole process! The training days were excellent, the materials first class, the workshops were well organised and very practical. Excellent overall! Well done!” Wendy Armstrong, Sydenham Infant PS

‘Building Frames’ Photography Exhibition

‘Building Frames’ is a photography exhibition led by Rita Duffy with the primary six classes of Euston Street PS, and St Matthew’s PS. The exhibition looks at the architecture in the Laganside area, and examines the children’s sense of ownership of the buildings that surround them.

The project started with Rita giving a talk and slide show with each of the schools, looking at the notions of shelter and design. The children were given disposable cameras, and asked to look at their home environment and take photographs of their house, street and family. The children were then taken around the Laganside area, to take photographs of the architecture in the area. In the final session, the children were encouraged to think creatively about the photographs that they had taken. They were asked to leave a mark of their identity on the photographs.

The result was a stunning series of surreal images that were displayed as part of the festival. ‘Building Frames’ toured to The Saint Patrick Centre in Downpatrick in July 2001.

17 The Workshops There were a variety of workshops conducted with school groups and others throughout the festival this year. Alex Sutton Vane held origami workshops in schools, with the Best Friends and with the general public in Castlecourt shopping centre on the Family Friendly Day. The school children made a fleet of ships, and the Best Friends watched Alex make a giant elephant, and made simpler animals of their own. The school children really enjoyed the workshops, and we were inundated with requests from them to come back the next day for more!

Paul Marshall, a local musician with an interest in the Da Capo music methods, worked on board The Tenacious and The Joyce to make music with school groups, and members of the public. The workshops were very much enjoyed by the school children and teachers. One teacher wrote,

“The pupils and staff thank you most sincerely for the opportunity to go on the S.S Tenatious last week…the experience was enjoyed by all” E Cousins, Mitchell House Special School

The Storytelling Sessions There were several school storytelling sessions by international and local artists in this year’s festival. Laura Simms, an American storyteller, visited Good Shepherd PS in Poleglass to tell stories from all over the world, to a group of 100 primary six children. The children were spellbound by Laura’s performance, and the principal wrote,

“It was a brilliant and unforgettable experience.” Joe McGinnity, Good Shepherd PS

Tony Ogogo visited Stranmillis PS to tell African stories to the senior school, explaining some aspects of African culture and life. See photographs attached. Nisha Tandon visited Malone College to do a workshop on Indian Storytelling and dance with a group of their first year students. The students really enjoyed the experience, and hope to bring Nisha back at some stage to build on this session.

Frances Quinn visited Bunscoil Leath Chathail in Downpatrick to tell some traditional Irish stories to an infant group. The children and teachers enthused about this experience, and are eager to be part of a similar session in the future. The teacher commented,

“ Very worthwhile venture. Frances had a good rapport with the children and she incorporated drama into her storytelling which the children thoroughly enjoyed.” Nuala Ni Chathain, Bunscoil Leath Chathail

Willie Drennan worked with two schools in a storytelling session with musical instruments to tell some Ulster Scots stories to Ballymena Academy Prep, and to Gracehill PS. Willie then asked the children to collect or compose a story of their own about where they live, and collated these to return to Young at Art. One of the teachers wrote,

18 “Excellent blend of music and storytelling - infact ‘yarning’ at its best! The follow up idea by Willie Drennan –great idea! We enjoyed joining ranks with another local school.” Sylvia Crossey, Ballymena Academy Prep Dept

The Performances Jo Williams performance of Washday toured to The Riverside Theatre and The Market Place Theatre, as well as showing in the Circus school and Group Theatre in Belfast. Feedback from the schools’ shows and public performances were overwhelmingly positive. One teacher wrote,

“Excellent performance- well thought out; aimed exactly at the right level for children of this age. Lots of props, involvement, tongue twisters, action and even some rudeness. Perfect!” Annemarie Fitzpatrick, St Patrick’s and St Brigid’s PS, Ballycastle

A Recipe For Disaster is a traditional clown show specially devised for this year’s festival by Will Chamberlain. Overall the feeling was that there were aspects of the show that could be improved upon. The feedback from the school performance was mediocre,

“Quite appropriate for this age group. They enjoyed it.” Anne Dunphy, St Bernards PS

Theater Triebwerk did two school performances of their show Moby Dick, which was very well received. One principal wrote,

“They all came back raving about the wonderful production and indeed they said it was the best thing they had been to see in a long time.” Nuala McCaughan, St Michael’s PS

The performances of Sleep Tight were tender and beautifully delivered. They went down extremely well, and Theatre Rites are always very popular with pre-school groups and Special Needs groups. Theatre Rites have established an excellent relationship with these groups in Belfast over the years, and their shows sell well.

“Kept the children’s imagination for the whole of the performance. Soothing and exciting. Extremely enjoyable.” Anita Curran Barnados, (Tuar Ceatha)

Gruppe 38 did a school performance of Hansel and Gretel in additon to their public performances. The feedback from both the public and from schools was overwhelming. The show was the highlight of the festival, combining simple storytelling with sophisticated projection.

“The performance was really excellent, enjoyed be the children and teachers alike. The costumes and effects were stunning and greatly added to the atmosphere. It was so enjoyable that some children went to see the play again.” Anne O’Gorman, St Joseph’s PS

Puppet Magic performed to school audiences when on tour to Cookstown, Fermanagh, Armagh and L’Derry. The comments from teachers are listed below give an indication

19 of the success of this piece. It was extremely well received, and it was a very accessible piece with no spoken words, making it suitable for Special Needs Schools and Irish Medium Schools. Some of the schools found the title of the piece to be misleading, and were expecting a ‘Punch and Judy’ show. The piece will probably be renamed to ‘Buster’ for future performances.

“Excellent Performance, great story line and thoroughly enjoyed by children and staff. Bosco was fantastic with the children especially as he took the time to meet and greet them. A wonderful performance and a great day out.” Roisin Daly, Dungannon PS, (Special Needs Unit)

“Lovely venue (Share Centre) - good vision for children. Performance was charming - not what we expected, but the children thoroughly enjoyed it. Many were spellbound.” Jennifer Cramble, Jones Memorial PS, Enniskillen

“Venue top rate. Performance excellent-captivated children who would have watched for a further period if it had been possible.” S.C Mc Bride, Newcastle PS and Nursery Unit

“Excellent performance although parts of it were ‘above’ P1/2 children. Venue - very good (Share Centre)” Debbie Gervais, Moat PS, Lisnaskea

Conclusion Overall, the Outreach work of this year’s festival was a great success. As can be seen from the comments above, the children and teachers very much enjoyed the shows that Young at Art brought to them during the festival.

It is hoped that the relationships with the schools targeted this year will be built upon, with the launch of the Young at Art School Friend’s Scheme. Young at Art hope to develop our audience by working in a number of schools, bringing them workshops and performances for a set fee. For some schools who cannot afford this subscription, this will be offered free of charge.

It is hoped that the Da Capo project will be built upon next year, from both training and workshop perspectives. There seems to be a genuine need for more pre-school music in Northern Ireland, as parents and teachers have pointed out. Young at Art hope to develop the relationship with Paul Marshall and Da Capo next year, with a view to Paul becoming a Da Capo teacher here in Northern Ireland.

It is hoped that the stories that are collected from the storytelling sessions this year, will be collected and built upon in future. Young at Art very much hope to produce a publication of children’s artwork and stories, about the town or village that they live in. The artwork has been collated and the stories will in the main be collected from monthly storytelling sessions that Young at Art intend to collaborate upon with The Linen Hall Library.

20 Collaboration between other organisations and venues went very well this year. Use of local venues, instead of school gyms, was easily organised and extremely well received. It made the pieces accessible to more children and built good relationships with arts officers and venue programmers. It is hoped that these relationships will be built upon next year. Other venues have voiced an interest in receiving some work next year. The St Patrick’s Centre in Downpatrick is keen to have some storytelling or workshops in the centre. An Grianan, in Letterkenny, are also happy to have a show tour there during Young at Art 2002.

The Outreach work of this year’s festival built well on the success of previous years. The contacts made this year will be all offered the chance of becoming a School Friend. This will be offered Northern Ireland wide for interested schools.

The Young at Art Best Friends Scheme will continue to be offered to members of the public who have booked with Young at Art this year. A tea party and storytelling session will be offered to the Best Friends in August. Young at Art hope to offer high quality arts events to both the schools and public through the School Friends and Best Friends throughout the year until Young at Art 2002.

SCHOOLS AND PROJECTS

OUTREACH SCHOOLS APRIL-JUNE 2001

1 ABBOTS CROSS PS NEWTOWNABBEY 25 PUPILS PUPPET MAGIC 2 BALLYMENA ACADEMY PREP BALLYMENA 10 PUPILS W. DRENNAN, MOBY DICK 3 BUNSCOIL CHOLMCILLE L'DERRY 83 PUPILS PUPPET MAGIC 4 BUNSCOIL LEATH CHATHAIL PAIRC THOMAS RUSSELL 15 PUPILS FRANCES QUINN 5 CARR'S GLEN PS BELFAST 43 PUPILS PUPPET MAGIC 6 CLONTIFLEECE PS WARRENPOINT, NEWRY 32 PUPILS PUPPET MAGIC 7 COOKSTOWN PS MOLESWORTH ST, 202 PUPILS PUPPET MAGIC COOKSTOWN 8 CORNAGAGUE PS NEWTOWNBUTLER 35 PUPILS PUPPET MAGIC 9 CRANMORE INTEGRATED PS BELFAST 24 PUPILS PUPPET MAGIC 10 DUNGANNON PS DUNGANNON 13 PUPILS PUPPET MAGIC 11 EDENDERRY PS PORTADOWN 55 PUPILS PUPPET MAGIC 12 EGLINTON PS EGLINTON, L'DERRY 56 PUPILS PUPPET MAGIC 13 EUSTON ST PS BELFAST 26 PUPILS BUILDING FRAMES 14 GLENCRAIG PLAYGROUP HOLYWOOD 15 PUPILS DA CAPO 15 GRACEHILL PS BALLYMENA 20 PUPILS WILLIE DRENNAN 16 HARDY MEMORIAL PS RICHHILL, ARMAGH 57 PUPILS PUPPET MAGIC 17 JONES MEMORIAL PS ENNISKILLEN 45 PUPILS PUPPET MAGIC 18 LISTRESS PS L'DERRY 12 PUPILS PUPPET MAGIC 19 MALONE COLLEGE BELFAST 25 PUPILS NISHA TANDON 20 MILLSTRAND PS PORTRUSH 35 PUPILS WASHDAY 21 MITCHELL HOUSE SPECIAL SCHOOL HOLYWOOD RD 15 PUPILS PAUL MARSHALL

21 22 MOAT COUNTY PS ENNISKILLEN 40 PUPILS PUPPET MAGIC 23 NETTLEFIELD PS BELFAST 35 PUPILS ORIGAMI, P.MARSHALL 24 NEWCASTLE PS NEWCASTLE 27 PUPILS PUPPET MAGIC 25 OAKWOOD INTEGRATED PS BELFAST 21 PUPILS PUPPET MAGIC 26 OVER THE RAINBOW PLAYGROUP BELFAST 9 PUPILS DA CAPO 27 PRIMATE DIXON PS DUNGANNON 84 PUPILS PUPPET MAGIC 28 QUEEN'S UNI. STAFF NURSERY BELFAST 11 PUPILS DA CAPO 29 RICHMOUNT PS PORTADOWN 55 PUPILS PUPPET MAGIC 30 SAINTS AND SCHOLARS PS ARMAGH 38 PUPILS WASHDAY 31 ST BAITHIN'S NATIONAL SCHOOL CO DONEGAL 29 PUPILS PUPPET MAGIC 32 ST BERNARD'S PS BELFAST 31 PUPILS ORIGAMI, P.MARSHALL 33 ST COLMCILLE'S PS CLAUDY, L'DERRY 89 PUPILS PUPPET MAGIC 34 ST COLUM'S PS PORTSTEWART 50 PUPILS WASHDAY 35 ST EUGENE'S PS ENNISKILLEN 43 PUPILS PUPPET MAGIC 36 ST JOSEPH'S PS BELFAST 75 PUPILS HANSEL AND GRETEL 37 ST MARY'S PS ANNALONG, NEWRY 15 PUPILS PUPPET MAGIC 38 ST MATTHEW'S PS BELFAST 18 PUPILS BUILDING FRAMES 39 ST MICHAEL'S BOYS PS CORNAGRADE, ENNISKILLEN 35 PUPILS PUPPET MAGIC 40 ST MICHAEL'S PS BELFAST 67 PUPILS MOBY DICK 41 ST PATRICK'S AND ST BRIGID'S PS BALLYCASTLE 55 PUPILS WASHDAY 42 ST PATRICK'S PS SAUL, DOWNPATRICK 16 PUPILS PUPPET MAGIC 43 ST THERESE'S PS GALLIAGH, L'DERRY 57 PUPILS PUPPET MAGIC 44 STEWARTSTOWN PS DUNGANNON 25 PUPILS PUPPET MAGIC 45 STRANMILLIS PS BELFAST 250 PUPILS TONY OGOGO 46 SYDENHAM INFANT PS BELFAST 20 PUPILS DA CAPO 47 THE GOOD SHEPHERD PS DUNMURRAY 101 PUPILS LAURA SIMMS 48 TUAR CEATHA,BARNARDOS BELFAST 10 PUPILS SLEEPTIGHT 49 ROSSTULLA SPECIAL SCHOOL NEWTOWNABBEY 33 PUPILS SLEEPTIGHT 50 WEE CARE BELFAST 33 PUPILS SLEEPTIGHT

Box Office & Audience figures YAA sales

PROJECT AUDIENCE ATTENDANCE PARTICIPANTS BOX OFFICE TOTAL % INCOME £ Hansel & 355 46 294 Gretel Moby Dick 213 59 199.5

22 Paul Marshall 100 250 0 Farmyard Suite 120 100 300 111 Sleeptight 583 73 1823.5 Wash Day 255 50 780.5 Tony Ogogo 32 17.5 75.5 Nisha Tandon 11 12 33.5 Willie Drennan 100 70 0 Francis Quinn 18 20 49 Laura Simms 171 95 555.5 Map making 63.8 251 48 Discovery Trail 62.5 26 60 Puppet making 100 22 12 Native 98 46 46 American ws Puppet Magic 520 72 843.5 Recipe for 396 73 666.75 Disaster Building 100 100 44 0 Frames Co-Habitation 1250 100 10 0 Smelly Won’t 181 95 549.5 Behave Teechers 160 38.5 28 52.56 Balloon Race 100 225 27 Face Painting 100 103 103 Art Table 100 39 39.9 TOTALS 4365 71.9% 1414 6370.71 Total audiences and participants = above +Outreach (2053) + Omac sales (521) 8,353 Overall attendance 78% Box Office received by YAA (LESS CREDIT CARD DEDUCTIONS AND E CHARGES) Total YAA £64.71 + Outreach £3188 + Omac Net £1553 = £11109.65

CONCLUSION

This year’s festival was the best- planned, managed and executed to date with the highest quality work so far. It had a good theme and the most integrated events and brochure design. We enjoyed improved media coverage and good audiences. The most significant improvement for me personally and for the health of the organisation was the increase in staff, who proved to be a very able and happy team – generating the very positive attitude that one would wish for from Young at Art.

Young at Art is becoming known for its good commissions for children on the international arena with a new piece being produced for export each year. With an audience attendance of 78%, participation at 100% and 33.3% brand new audiences each year, it has the feel of an organisation on sure ground.

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We do of course need more money to make staff full time and we also need more core funding. Both of these I feel are achievable in the next year. Young at Art is also lacking in a general Northern Ireland - wide awareness and needs better publicity more regularly and continuously throughout the year. The festival needs earlier promotion in the city centre and our message of quality and accessibility needs to be fore-fronted.

The year ahead offers large challenges to Young at Art: To develop its audiences and widen its profile, to plan strategically and practically for the team, the festival and the year’s activities. We are consistently asked back to schools and to venues that know us. The job for us now is to ensure that this increases substantially over the next 5 years.

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