This summer, to get you all in the festival mood Newport’s The Riverfront are running a series of ‘Festival Makers’ workshops in collaboration with Citrus Arts, a South Wales based performance company founded by Welsh artists James and Bridie Doyle-Roberts. Festival Makers aims to get people of all ages into the festival spirit and teach them some fantastic new skills through a series of free workshops in the run up to the Big Splash festival.
There are a couple of Circus Skills Workshop on Sunday 30 June and Sunday 14 July from 1.30 – 3.30pm. These workshop enables participants try a range of circus skills from hula hooping to trapezing to tightwire walking. In the workshops there will also be the opportunity to learn some choreography and take part in a special routine over the Big Splash weekend!
For those who may be interested in a career in running events or event security there are the Stewarding Training and High Expectations to High Vis workshops.
Stewarding Training (Saturday 22nd June, 9.30am – 4.30pm) is an entry level accredited course which will give you all the skills you need to steward events whilst High Expectations to High Vis (Tuesday 25 June from 5.00-8.00pm) is a workshop that looks at planning a public arts event, including the practicalities and possible pitfalls.
Further Festival Makers workshops include a Willow Art Workshop (Sunday 30 June, 10.30am-12.30pm) allowing participants to create a shooting star or even a galaxy for display at the Big Splash festival and a Combined Willow Art & Screen Printing Workshop (Sunday 7 July, 10.30am-3.30pm).
Sally-Anne Evans, Community Arts Development Officer at The Riverfront and one of the organisers of Festival Makers comments ‘We are really excited to be able to offer these workshops leading into Big Splash. These workshops are a fantastic opportunity to work with professional artists and gain new skills as well as get involved with Newport’s fantastic festivals which are all unique and offer so much to our city. We are delighted to also be working with other groups, Resilient Communities and Fusion, to offer free accredited Stewarding courses as well as Safeguarding and First Aid.’
All Festival Makers workshops will be held at The Riverfront in the run up to Big Splash on Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 July and have been made possible thanks to funding from Fusion and Resilient Communities. To book a place on any of the workshops, or for more information please email Sally-Anne Evans on sally-anne.evans@newportlive.co.uk.