Unit 3 - Community arts project

Monday 6^th March

Today we went to Lord Scudamore Academy as the start of the community arts project. We went to the school for a production meeting to establish what our roles are going to be, meet everyone who is going to be involved and to grasp an overall idea of the piece and what it will entail. Prior to the meeting I had read through the casting, schedule and the draft script so that I had some idea as to what the community project is about. My role in the meeting was to listen and contribute to what was being said about the event and I also had to take notes from the meeting so that we were able to reflect on and remember what has been organised. Here is an agenda which Estelle, who is the writer and executive director of the performance, put together for today’s production meeting.

Agenda for the morning:
Casting
Schedule (including extra rehearsals – maybe one Sunday props-making, key stage 2 song and all recording sessions)
Budget
Costume
Transport for recording
Technical requirements
Publicity
CDs
Chaperoning for performances
Site visits/rehearsal

Here are the notes which I took down during the meeting.

Notes from production meeting           06/03/17

Rehearsals
3^rd April – Monday morning as normal going into the school
4^th April – possibly able to attend but not absolutely necessary
25^th April (Tuesday after Easter holidays) – whole day needed to rehearse on site at the left bank.
27^th April (Wednesday after Easter holidays) – may not be able to attend

Casting

Drama club – stones, leeches, toads, boy

Year 5 – dog walkers, dogs, bird watchers, skipper, piper, joggers, fish, kingfisher, flounder, Mrs Pike and minnows

Year 4 – little pebble

Everyone – fishy dance

Budget

Applied for 2 types of funding

Community foundation – applied for £2500 and still waiting on response

NS Cook funding – applied for £3500 and still waiting on response

Lowest budget of £500 to spend on costumes and props

Costume

Research into these ideas for costume:

Black balaclavas (leeches)

Hoodies in the colours of stones and pebbles – light pink, grey, brown (stones)

Shimmery silver material (minnows)

Sweatbands/headbands (joggers)

Big lips (leeches)

Ideas for costumes for:
Kingfisher
Toads
Mrs Pike
Leeches

All children wearing black trousers or leggings

Black t-shirts (leeches)

Tech

Backing track for the song to be played throughout the building

Song will be sung live to the backing track

Publicity

Estelle to get in contact with the Hereford Times

As you can see from these notes, there is a lot of work to be done within such a small space of time. Attending the production meeting has enabled me to grasp a clearer understanding of my role within the community project and what the next few weeks will include. We have been set research tasks to carry out which we will then feedback to Sophie, Rachel and Estelle next week. This research will help Sophie, Rachel and Estelle as it is something less for them to worry about.
Here is a picture of me and Emily stood out the primary school after the production meeting:

A community arts project aims to bring people in a community together through art. In this case, we are bringing people together in the local community through drama, dance and music. However, a community arts project can also bring people together through other forms of art such as writing, drawing, sculpting, etc. This community arts project is bringing many different people together in the local community. It is bringing Lord Scudamore Academy’ staff and students together with the Royal National College for the Blind’ (RNC) staff and students. Also, local theatre practitioners and organisations that all help to make this project a success. 
What is the project?

The project this year is called ‘River’s Deep – If these stones could speak’ and it is about the stones and creatures that live in the Rover Wye which runs through Hereford. The piece will be performed as part of Hereford's River Carnival. The script includes characters such as stones, leeches and toads. The script will be performed at the Left Bank which is a building that is used for wedding receptions, functions, etc. The performance will start at the top of the building and work its way down. This symbolises the stone (one of the main characters) sinking in the river. One of the main aspects to consider about this performance is that all of the audio will be pre-recorded. The children will record this audio in the recording studio here at college on a Wednesday afternoon. The audience will be wearing headphones throughout the performance so that they are able to hear the children. This idea was proposed when feedback from last year’s performance included that the audience had difficultly hearing the children at some points throughout the show. Having the audio pre-recorded will allow the audience to hear everything that the children are saying and therefore will be able to follow the story better. This type of performance is known as an immersive performance because the audience will be wearing headsets, therefore this will cut them off from the rest of the world and get them to listen to the audio and watch the children perform.