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St Patrick's Day Festival Workshops Programme

St Patrick's Day Festival Workshops Programme

St Patrick's Day Festival Workshops Programme

6th-17th March

Venue: Selected schools


WORKSHOPS PROGRAMME
This year as part of the organisational and artistic development of the festival, we are pleased to announce that we will be facilitating a number of arts and cultural workshops It is our intention to use this as a pilot project which we hope to expand over the coming years.

Some of the workshops aims:

  1. To encourage interest through education, in the breadth of Irish/Celtic arts and traditions.
  2. To explore ideas of heritage and myth across cultural backgrounds.
  3. To develop the content of the parade in line with the recent ACE publication ‘On Route – the art of carnival’.
  4. To build lasting relationships with groups throughout the Birmingham area and to encourage creative partnerships and participation in the festival.
  5. To ensure the longevity and sustainability of the festival through developing to meet the needs and interests of new young audiences.
  6. To develop the content and quality of the festival to attract national and international audiences.

In order to meet these aims, the festival is working with a variety of schools including both Irish and non Irish groups.

Workshop 1 – Carnival
Carnival artist Gary Jones will spend a week working with Bishop Challoner Secondary School (Kings Heath, Birmingham) to develop mass section costumes and small scale constructions. These costumes will be showcased in the 2006 St Patrick’s Festival Parade.

Workshop 2 – Carnival
Carnival artist Marianne Taviner will spend a week with St Patrick’s Primary School (Winston Green, Birmingham) to develop mass section costumes. The children will also work alongside a choreographer and the costumes will be showcased in the 2006 St Patrick’s Festival Parade.

Workshop 3 – Music
Irish musicians (from the Comhaltas group) will work with the Cardinal Wiseman Secondary School’s Steel Drum Band. Together they will explore traditionally Irish music on non-traditional instruments, creating a fusion of styles and cultures. Comhaltas will open the St Martin’s Stage on Sunday 12th March, and the Cardinal Wiseman Steel Drum Band will join them for part of this performance.

Workshop 4 – Storytelling
A storyteller and a fiddle-player (from the group Silver Bough) will host a day of storytelling through song and poetry with St Patrick’s Primary School (Winston Green, Birmingham). The workshop will focus on storytelling traditions from the West Coast of Ireland and involve performances to groups of children and will allow them the opportunity to become part of the performance. This will be showcased at the School’s St Patrick’s Festival celebrations on Friday 17th March.