Learning-disabled children make music thanks to cash grant to Theatre Royal, Wakefield

Youth Music Fund have awarded Theatre Royal Wakefield a grant of £29,887, which will allow young learning-disabled people in the region to engage in creative music-making sessions.
Cash grant to Theatre RoyalCash grant to Theatre Royal
Cash grant to Theatre Royal

The project, Music-Making for Theatre, will bring together learning-disabled young people aged 14 to 25 through taster sessions, skills-focussed holiday residencies and weekly training and rehearsals. Participants will develop music and performance skills, compose original songs and will perform onstage.

Rhiannon Hannon, head of learning and participation at Theatre Royal Wakefield, said: "This project will really widen pathways for learning disabled young people across Wakefield and beyond.

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"As well as getting the chance to develop a theoretical and practical understanding of music and performance, the sessions will be fun and social, allowing participants to meet new people and engage with their local theatre, perhaps for the first time.

"For the Theatre it’s a chance for us to integrate work by people with learning disabilities across the organisation."

Theatre Royal Wakefield runs bespoke training and skills programmes throughout the year, including Performance Academy, for young people aged five to 18 and a young theatre makers company, In On The Act, for 18 to 30 year olds.

The theatre also works to improve mental wellbeing across a number of identified at-risk groups including young people from low-income families, socially isolated older people, asylum seekers and refugees.

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The Youth Music Fund allows the theatre to expand their existing offer for learning-disabled young people. The theatre currently runs a project called Chime, which provides workshops especially designed for young learning-disabled people with a passion for music and performing.

For more information on how to sign up, email Maria Thelwell, project manager on [email protected]