How funding helps

Neston Theatre School will be performing at the Leverhulme Drama Festival in April 2014. We will be creating a new play for the under 12s to compete with. If anyone would like to have a challenge for their child and be involved in a prestigious festival and the experience of working with professional actors/directors/writers, then come and join us.  The play will be performed at the Gladstone Theatre (and hopefully a venue in Neston).

The project is being directed/scripted by Mike Lockley.  Natasha Symms will direct/choreograph the show and Samantha Giblin will produce the show and help with the ensemble direction.  The play will take the form of an ensemble with every child involved in the devising and staging of the play.  Devising so far has been influenced by the works of William Shakespeare.  The cast is supported by youth volunteers Jonathan Stevens, (12) Jessica Astbury (14) and Lucy Mothersdale (17) - all experienced members of InterACT Youth Theatre.  They bring their own performance experience at The Lowry, with the National Theatre Connections programme, to the rehearsal room to help and mentor the younger children.

Discounts are available for low income families.  Fees and funds raised are used for the staging of the project.   LATC would like to thank Adactus Housing Association for their funding support for this project.  This local housing association has agreed for fund twenty weeks at rehearsal venue hire at the NC&YC.  This is of great help to the project and really enables LATC to continue its discount scheme so that we can accommodate as many children as possible.
For details contact Samantha on 0151 336 4302 or mail@littlectorstheatre.com or www.littleactorstheatre.com

Hello. 

I have a quotation for you today that resonates with me.  It is from Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sachs.  On BBC Radio 4's Today Programme in Thought for the Day he said :

'If you want to survive and thrive as a people, a culture, a civilisation, celebrate the family.  Hold it sacred.  Eat together.  Tell the story of what matters to you across the generations.  Make children the most important people.  Put them centre stage'

From the point of view of an arts provider who focuses on working with children this really rings true.  Our future culture and civilisation relies on us nurturing our children.  All children.  So we want to strive for access to the arts for ALL and not just those privileged or lucky enough to access
 stage schools.  Here at Little Actors, we are aware of the research into how participation in the arts improves health and well being, so we try to make our clubs and classes available to all children regardless of socio-economic background. Hopefully our affordable prices and discount schemes, goes someway to helping families nurture the creativity and well being of their children.

Professional actor facilitators who are passionate about bringing drama, singing and dance to children, also helps nurture and develop creativity as well as self esteem and confidence building.

So the second half of the summer term is upon us.  Only a count down of a few weeks to the end of term.  Then the onslaught of the summer holidays.  Personally, I love having my children round and for me 6 weeks free time isn't enough.  But I am aware they can get bored so I do seek out activities for them as well as the days out, the down days and the camping trips.  At Little Actors we have organised a summer performing arts course for primary school children.  Taking place at the NC&YC, Burton Road, Neston CH64 9RE.  The children will be split into infants and juniors so that they are taught at age appropriate levels.  The children will experience classes in drama, singing and dance and they will create a play to perform to friends and family at the end of the week.

Thanks to funding from Neston Town Council, we can offer FREE places to low income families.  Otherwise the fees is only £50. 

Dates - 5-9th August
Time - 10am - 3pm
Bring - suitable clothing.  Jazz shoes or bare feet for dance. packed lunch (no nuts please).

A tuck shop will be available.

See the website for details www.littleactorstheatre.com

As we approach half term and look forward to a break, I have to look at how to wind up the admin on Little Actors before the big summer holiday.  How can I plan ahead and make ourselves more visible?  How do we get more people in to access our classes?  From DramaTots to theatre Club to my youth theatres, not to forget our adult classes.  So now we are seriously looking at becoming a registered charity so we can widen our fund finding horizon so we can underpin our project funding with core funding.  Although I have been very successful in securing small pots of funding to support small community projects, but the core funding costs struggle to be met.  As we want to develop, then we have to make changes that will have a positive impact.

We are also busy developing our agency partnership.  Especially as some of our children have had high profile auditions ('Charlie and the Chocolate Factory', 'Priscilla Queen of the Desert' and 'Billy Elliot').

So Little Actors is very much looking forward to developing our community work to make access to the arts possible for all children who want to access it.

http://www.aboutmyarea.co.uk/site/content.asp?area=484&story=220390

http://www.aboutmyarea.co.uk/site/content.asp?area=484&story=220390

National Theatre Connections: Acquiring rights to perform Connections plays

National Theatre Connections: Acquiring rights to perform Connections plays: By Katie Town, General Manager, NT Learning The Connections back catalogue National Theatre Connections began in 1995 in response to ...

So what do we do at Little Actors

www.littleactorstheatre.com

Well we offer professionally led performing arts activities for children aged from 2 1/2 in Neston, Wanstead (London) and Childwall (Liverpool).  We believe that access to the arts should be a right for all children and not a privilege.  So we offer 50% discounts for low income families.  Research shows that participation in the arts improves health and well being.  All of our facilitators are professional actors who bring industry standards to the rehearsal space.

In Neston at Neston Theatre School we plan to participate in the 2014 Leverhulme Drama Festival.  A new approach for us but a new challenge for the staff and children alike.

Participation in the arts, specifically drama, dance and singing, for children improves self-esteem, self-confidence, team skills, literary appreciation, communication skills etc. It helps with the development of gross and fine motor skills as well as co-ordination.  We also promote community cohesion by participating in local events in the Neston area.