If you have kids or ever find yourself being responsible for them having a smashing time, then you’re going to want to take five minutes and allow Ben Dickenson, executive producer of City of Dreams (What. A. Job. Title) to tell you all about a crowd of excellent stuff coming to Newcastle Gateshead for the under 25s this summer. #SpoilerAlert: It sounds M I N T.
#MakeSomethingBrilliant has all the chances of being, well, brilliant
#MakeSomethingBrilliant is a new programme of creative activities for children, young people and families happening this summer in Newcastle Gateshead.
Led by City of Dreams, #MakeSomethingBrilliant runs every day during the summer holidays, it offers more than 45,000 opportunities for under 25s to grow their skills and talents.
The programme includes experiences in drama, dance, music, art, filmmaking, writing, improvisation comedy, technology and more, run by organisations including Baltic Centre for Contemporary Arts, Dance City, Great North Museum, Live Theatre, Newcastle Improv Festival, and Sage Gateshead.
We have been developing the programme for some time, bringing on board the city’s most iconic venues, making sure there is something to interest everyone, and trying to remove the barriers that sometimes stop people taking part. Two-thirds of events are free, many others low cost.
It is the only programme of its kind in the UK and we are excited to bring it to Tyneside during summer 2019. Here’s a few highlights:
• NewcastleGateshead’s first ever creative skills “Spy School” run by Northern Stage
• A week of music and fun to help you move like your favourite pop stars at Dance City
• The North East premiere of The Unknown, a high-tech interactive theatre production guiding you through Ouseburn, brought exclusively to the region by Manic Chord Theatre and Seven Stories.
• A creative writing summer school led by New Writing North
• Filmmaking challenges at Theatre Royal and animation bootcamps at Tyneside Cinema
• Construction skills with LEGO and saving the environment with slime jars at Discovery Museum
• Improvisation comedy workshops with the ever-popular The Suggestibles at Alphabetti Theatre.
• Make yourself a superhero with daily science activities at the International Centre for Life
• Weekly workshops in skills for art led by leading visual arts practitioners at BALTIC
• Theatre making workshops with award winning directors, actors and writers at Live Theatre
City of Dreams is a partnership of more than 50 arts, culture, heritage, science, education and community organisations, aiming to earn Newcastle Gateshead a reputation as the best place to be young. It is a big ambition, but one we really believe we can achieve.
There are 165,000 under 25s in the area. A third of them grow up in poverty – one of the highest percentages in the UK. We also beat most cities for numbers failing to achieve five good GCSE’s, living in local authority care or who have special educational needs. Our young people face big challenges.
Young people doing their thing at Dance City
At the same time, we have one of the most diverse creative sectors in the UK. Newcastle Gateshead Cultural Venues, a partnership of 10 large organisations who initiated City of Dreams, boasted 4.2m attendances a year.
We have world-class museums and science centres, outstanding art galleries, internationally famous theatres, a dance development organisation, a very cool independent cinema and a national centre for children’s books. We also have the fastest growing creative and digital sector in the country, with start-ups and new jobs emerging all the time.
We believe creativity can be life changing.
Following a mass consultation with children and young people we launched a 10-year strategy in September 2018. They are full of creative ideas and talent. #MakeSomethingBrilliant was their concept. They do not just want to see a movie, a music gig, or enjoy the latest digital inventions. They want to make their own.
Newcastle Gateshead has a proud history of creativity and innovation. It is in our blood, and it is the engine of our economy. We want every young person in the city to have the best opportunities to grow their own ideas and talents.
#MakeSomethingBrilliant is a citywide and summer-long chance to do exactly that, opening the doors of creative organisations and cultural venues to the makers, inventors and artists of the future.
View the full programme for #MakeSomethingBrilliant here.
Find out more about City of Dreams at www.cityofdreams.org.uk
Follow them on Twitter @cityofdreamsNG
Find our more about Newcastle Gateshead Cultural Venues.