Programme News
Naturally, due to COVID-19 we have had to stop all in person youth work and as a result, have been running a brand new online programme. Our first online term saw us hosting creative writing workshops with our Writer’s Zoom, one off masterclasses in everything from poetry and drama to choirs and line drawing in our Teach Me Tuesday sessions and of course, our CREATE Cafes continued every Friday on Zoom where we’ve had quiz nights, socials and even a Disney theme (seeing our creative assistant dressed as a Dalmatian has been a real personal highlight for me)
Throughout the Summer, we’ve been looking at how we can prepare our young people for life beginning to return to normal for them as they go back to school and so, we’ve been journaling together in our Noted. sessions and looking at different techniques and coping mechanisms for when life can get overwhelming. As you’re reading this, we’ll be coming to the end of our No Words Wasted week where we’ve been exploring the power that words have in our art and in our communities through a variety of creative mediums and tonight, we’ll be finishing off with another one of our Online Open Mic nights.
The past few weeks, our wonderful youth work team has been working hard to plan our Autumn programme which will be starting the week beginning the 24th of August. Teach Me Tuesdays are returning on the 25th August at the new time of 7-8pm. We will be hosting one-off masterclasses over zoom with a variety of artists. Our new term of sessions is bringing origami, drama, manga drawing and more!
Every Wednesday from August 26th – September 30th, we will be hosting online graphic novel workshops exploring the life of sword swallower Delno Fritz who settled in paisley and set up one of our very first music halls. The young people will have a chance to learn about Paisley’s rich cultural history and create their very own graphic novel with professional graphic novelists, Metaphrog.
Metaphrog are Sandra Marrs and John Chalmers, winners of The Sunday Herald Scottish Culture Awards Best Visual Artist. They have received multiple Eisner Award nominations and critical acclaim for their Louis series and Louis – Night Salad was Highly Commended for the Scottish Children’s Book Awards. These workshops will be hosted on zoom with Metaphrog and our team of trained youth workers. Watch our promo video as John and Sandra explain it better than I ever could!
And of course, Our CREATE Cafes Online will continue as usual on Zoom every Friday from 7.30-9pm. There will be quiz nights, craft sessions, open mic nights, games and more!
It would be so wonderful to see some new faces on our Zoom calls so if you or someone you know might be interested, give us a message on any of our social media (@createpaisley everywhere) or email our Youth Development Worker Bríd.
