Born to Prance...

As part of the First Friday Evening performance, Castlereagh Arts presented Anthea McWilliams’ show Born to Prance. The audience was all female, with the Arts officer as the only male representative!

It was a good recipe for a Friday night’s entertainment; a nice helping of dance and comedy, a splash of music and visuals, with a generous topping of nibbles and drinks; enough to keep the audience fuelled for taking their turn at the dancing!

The solo performance of Anthea McWilliams was funny and unique, the tale of a woman who decided to celebrate her 50th birthday by dancing from the very top to the very bottom of Ireland (Donegal to Cork). She used various media to tell the audience of her epic odyssey. First and foremost, she used dancing, then drama, read her notes and showed videos and pictures of what really happened on her Irish prancing tour…on the whole, a good night with some laughs and plenty of exercise for all!

Vincent Higgins' introduction to playwrighting

Continuing our summer workshops, Vincent Higgins offered some pearls of wisdom, captivating the audience with his insights into the craft of playwrighting.  Vincent offered a brief history of drama, from Thespes through Shakespeare, to Tennesee Williams and contemporary Irish writers.  After lunch he tackled structure and composition, challenging the participants to 'Get writing!' by the end.

  Many of the participants picked Vincent's brain, long after the workshop had finished. Feedback on the event was excellent, with many saying they enjoyed the format, length and structure of the workshop. 

Summer Taster workshops

As part of this year’s Summer Taster Workshops, Castlereagh Arts was pleased to invite ‘Best Cellars: Music and Media Playground’ to host Saturday’s workshop on documentary filmmaking. Led by company director, Dean Llewellyn, and attended by numerous local amateur filmmakers, performers, and writers, the workshop introduced participants to the art of shooting a documentary for television. In an open and friendly environment, Dean, whose clients include The BBC Blast Project, the Community Relations Council and Engage with Age, demonstrated how best to hold and position a camera; the most effective way to ‘tell a story’ and conduct an interview; and how and when to use voiceovers and music. After helping themselves to some tea and nibbles, everyone, then, was given the opportunity to get creative both behind and in front of the camera! All in all, it was a thoroughly informative and enjoyable afternoon, with attendees getting the chance to gain inside knowledge of the media industry.

Graffiti workshop. Newton Park, with NUC, Andrea Gibson and Re-Ink-Our-Nation

Early in the year, Andrea Gibson had met with me to discuss the possibility of doing workshops in the Cairnshill, Newton Park, Four Winds area, where a number of youth had been identified as ‘Taggers’. It was our hope that through this project we would teach the young people new artistic skills, and give them the opportunity to work with a professional artist. The project had dual purpose in hoping to lower anti-social behaviour and teach new arts skills.  Tim, the workshop leader from Re-Ink-our-Nation showed great skills in demonstrating the process to the young people.  The (almost) finished boards will now live in the youth club in Newton Park.