Arts Engagement & Outreach: November News

Here’s a taste of what our Arts Engagement & Outreach team at The Octagon & Westlands have been busy working on this month…

Our Arts Engagement & Outreach team develop and deliver programmes and activities that benefit health and wellbeing, enrich learning and education in and outside school, inspire and celebrate talent. Creating work that will support local artists and tell “local stories”. In everything we do and programme we will seek to improve inclusion and remove barriers, whatever they may be, so that everyone is able to enjoy and benefit from the creative arts.

Our Arts Engagement & Outreach team look to provide more opportunities for our communities to watch, take part and benefit from arts and cultural activities where they live.

This November we have welcomed, celebrated and participated in 'Discover! Creative Careers Week', a national campaign designed to raise awareness and provide insight into the various job roles within the creative industries.  From creative career talks in schools, our published series of creative career vlogs and artist blogs, to in-school workshops run by international theatre company Wise Children, read more below…

Talent Development

Inspiring the next generation of theatre makers/producers/technicians

In November, we delivered a series of talks in Primary and Secondary schools on the topic of career pathways in theatre. Anthony Kosky, our Arts Engagement & Outreach Officer, spoke at Stanchester Academy, Preston Primary and Birchfield Community Primary School to over 800 pupils of all ages. Inspired by ‘Discover! Creative Careers Week’, these talks highlighted job roles within our venue. For younger pupils, they also featured an introduction to Pantomime ahead of their visit to our venue to watch Jack and the Beanstalk in December. 

"Thank you for coming to school. The children really enjoyed hearing about the theatre experience. Many of our children wouldn't have been to the theatre before, so understanding the 'rules' there before they go is really helpful! Anthony was great; he pitched it really well, and the children enjoyed grilling him at the end about his role in the theatre. "   Birchfield Community Primary School

Creative Vlogs give insight into the exciting career roles within The Octagon & Westlands

We Launched a series of vlogs (short video blogs) highlighting creative career roles within The Octagon Theatre & Westlands. These videos can be seen on our social media pages and YouTube channel. They feature our Theatre Technicians, Marketing department, Arts Engagement team, Theatre and Venue Manager and our Company Stage Manager for this year's Panto. These vlogs have been designed to give young people, our patrons and those interested in the industry and insight into the various career roles within the venues, the skills you need, and advice on how to get your ‘foot in the door’. In little under a month our vlogs have been viewed 5,000 times. 

Lizzie Bea gives her top tips for aspiring musical theatre performers

Have you read our November blog? This month we focused on Lizzie Bea, who is joining us this festive season in the cast of Jack and the Beanstalk.  Well worth a read for any artist thinking about developing a career in Musical Theatre as she speaks about her career development and love for the arts.

Read what Lizzie had to say here: Discover Creative Careers – Lizzie Bea

Access & Inclusion Schemes

Making positive changes with the support of The Octagon & Westlands Inclusion Group

This month, The Octagon & Westlands Inclusion Group met to share their views on the successful ways we support customers, as well discussing how we can improve our organisation to better support individuals with access needs. The Octagon & Westlands Inclusion Group meet 3 times a year to discuss how we can remove perceived and physical barriers that disabled people might face when attending our venues. This group was created to enable disabled people and those with lived experience to be at the very heart of our organisation. This helps us as an organisation identify good practice, deepen our knowledge of disability, equality and inclusion issues experienced by members, participants, volunteers, staff and visitors. We want everyone to feel listened to, valued and included within our venues and across all our Arts Engagement & Outreach activity.

‘Being listened to is one thing, but the speed with which the team puts changes in place and gets things done is incredible - and certainly a rare thing elsewhere! I will continue to use you as a shining example of excellence when talking to other businesses and organisations.’ Member of Inclusion Group

Arts for Health & Wellbeing

Somerset Wellbeing Orchestra project brings joy to participants, supporting and encouraging their wellbeing to flourish

The Octagon & Westlands are working in partnership with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO), ARK at Egwood and The WATCH Project in Chard, to bring this wonderful music making opportunity to Somerset. Over the past 2 months, 14 participants facing challenges with their mental health have been enjoying weekly sessions where they listen to, create, and play music alongside other people in a safe and supportive environment. With the support and guidance of professional BSO musicians, participants are learning new skills, connecting with others and with music, and engaging creatively with inspiring music making activities that support and encourage their wellbeing to flourish.  

‘It is always great to see how much joy everybody is getting from being here’ Project partner

Octagon Academy: Participate

A Singing Cultural Exchange

This month we welcomed 169 young singers, aged between 6 -12 years old, to Westlands Entertainment Venue to take part in an uplifting celebration of African music and culture run by Armonico Consort. Under the directorship of Chris Monks, our very own Octagon Junior Choir Leader, Julie Bartlett, spent time at local schools Milford Juniors, Primrose Lane, Kingfisher, All Saints Church School, Preston CE Primary, Milborne Port and St Michaels Academy Primary Schools, as well as the Octagon Junior Choir, helping them prepare for the concert.  It was an amazing opportunity for the young people to perform with professional singers, musicians and dancers within their own local community.

‘What a joy to see the children enjoying their singing so much.  Such a lot of work gone into it, well done and thanks to all concerned’. Parent

Bridgwater Together celebrates community comradery

We joined in for the Bridgwater Together event which saw local residents come together to celebrate the rich diversity of their community. Traditional music, dance, crafts and food filled the day as hundreds of people attended the event being held in the Town Hall and the Engine Room. As well as a celebration of cultures there were also lots of community organisations there advertising the fantastic opportunities and support, they can provide people in all walks of life. We were there advertising our academy classes, SHiNE Bursary, Buddy Scheme and giving people an opportunity to create a ‘magic bean’ ready for our upcoming pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk.

‘The work you are doing for the community is fantastic’ Member of the community

Creative Learning & Education

Building confidence in both students and teachers

Emma Rice's internationally acclaimed theatre company, Wise Children, returned to Yeovil this month to continue the fantastic work they started in September. Wise Children have been working with local schools as part of our Creative Learning and Education programme. King Arthur's School, Stanchester Academy and Wadham School all received a second in school full day workshop where over 75 students got to experience working with Wise Children and learning their techniques and rehearsal methods. Not only does this help with confidence in the subject, but it has already been noticed and commented on by teachers involved on how they have seen an improvement in their students too. It wasn’t just the students getting workshops this month. In addition, 20 teachers attended a CPD session run by Wise Children in their home venue ‘The Lucky Chance’ in Frome. The session allowed teachers to network and learn devising and rehearsal techniques as well as fun activities to incorporate into their teaching.

 'This is helped put the fun back into devising and strengthening the ensemble through games'  Teacher

To keep up to date with all the activities coming up head over to the What’s On section on our website or check out our Participate page which will link you to all our projects and upcoming opportunities.