Review of PANDA's Young People's Project
Nicky Hatton, PANDA's Project Officer for Young People, reports back on her work to date.
PANDA’s young people’s project comes to an end this May after a jam packed 6 months of consultations and practical workshops with young people from all over Manchester. Throughout the project I’ve been working with young people, teachers, parents and youth workers to find out what PANDA should be offering to 14-21 year olds who are interested in the performing arts. We’ve hosted several events, such as the ShowStarter Young People’s Day at the Zion Arts Centre, which was a great opportunity for young people to meet up with local artists and companies, and to tell us what they want from PANDA.
Young people take part in a dance class at the ShowStarter Young People's Day.
Consultations with Newall Green High School and Tameside Youth Service have helped us to pilot a range of services and have also been vital in ensuring that our new provision caters for a wide range of young people from different backgrounds. We’re also really pleased to be developing a strong partnership with Full Circle Arts and look forward to working together in the future.
After piloting a new practical style of ShowStarter sessions in high schools PANDA is designing a programme for 13-17 year olds that looks at the range of performing arts careers in the sector and different routes into employment. Young participants told us how hard it was for them to get work experience placements in the arts and PANDA is now in the planning stages of a work experience brokerage scheme that will enable young people in the North West to take on a two week placement in the area that they’re most interested in.
Over the next year we plan to develop ShowStarter as a unique service for young members, with a special microsite, membership scheme and a range of services designed specifically for young members. I hope to be back at PANDA over the summer to build on these project outcomes and develop the new services.
A massive thank you to everyone who has participated in the project so far. Keep your eye on the PANDA website and Network Newsletter for updates on the ShowStarter microsite and opportunities for young people.
My role as Project Officer has ended for now but we’ve applied for some funding to keep the project going and I hope to be back very soon. In the meantime I’m off to Oldham Theatre Workshop but will still be keeping in touch with the PANDA team. If you have any queries relating to the project or would like to contact me, do get in touch via Rachel on 0161 274 0626 or email rachel@panda-arts.org.uk
Bye for now
Nicky