Summer Holiday Creativity with Guildhall Young Artists
Summer Holiday Creativity with Guildhall Young Artists
During August, our Guildhall Young Artists (GYA) centres in Norwich and Taunton both ran holiday courses for children and young people. Take a look behind the scenes at what these courses involved, and what the participants produced during these inspiring weeks of creativity.
GYA Taunton
47 participants attended our Taunton centre for a week of creativity and collaboration across music, drama and printmaking.
A particular highlight was the brilliant percussion workshop given by Andy Gleadhill, an award-winning musician, author, composer and ethnomusicologist.
His high energy delivery and infectious enthusiasm had everyone captivated.
Drama students on the course worked together to perform a scene from Alice in Wonderland. The lighting for this performance was also designed by students, under the direction of Guildhall School lighting lecturer, Nick Peel.
While students who opted in to learn printmaking created some bold, brilliant prints of their own design.
The week culminated in an impressive concert, showcasing the music, drama, crafts and more that the students had produced during the course. This was a celebration of fun, friendship and artistic collaboration, all of which were important ingredients of this outstanding week.
An amazing week! It has opened his eyes to new areas of the performing arts and boosted his confidence. He has loved connecting with other like-minded children.
- GYA Taunton parent
GYA Norwich
Over at our Norwich base, students aged 8–16 from across Norfolk joined together to create a magical performance that incorporated music, drama, costume and set design, in the course of just four days.
The performance was based on the story of a group of children in France in the 1930s just as WW2 broke out, who ventured deep into the countryside, where they discovered caves adorned with ancient paintings and their ancestors’ handprints.
The students devised the action in the performance using improvisation and physical theatre, and the actors and musicians interacted on the stage.
The participants designed, built and decorated the set and lighting, and created their own costumes. They created sound effects, composed and performed an original soundtrack which included some timeless French folk songs.
The course culminated in a showcase to friends and family. Many of the participants had not met or worked together before but new friendships, as well as a wonderful supportive ensemble, were built over the course of the week.
On Saturdays throughout term time GYA Taunton and GYA Norwich offer an exciting range of music and drama classes, one-to-one instrumental, vocal and drama tuition and performance opportunities for children and young people up to the age of 18.
Part of Guildhall Young Artists, Guildhall School's network of centres that provides inspiring performing and production arts training for children and young people. Find out more.