CAST is the CREATIVE ARTS SCHOOLS TRUST. We are a non-profit UK based charitable company committed to delivering high quality creative courses for young people in learning environments worldwide where there is little or no of provision, whether because of inadequate resourcing or availability of trained staff. We seek to promote the development of communication skills and confidence building in young people through drama, music, movement, dance and film.
CAST is the brainchild of actor-director David Morrissey, who decided to start a drama workshop project after a visit to Lebanon where he witnessed the lack of creative learning for young people in Palestinian refugee camps. This led to the creation of a pilot scheme in October 2009. That project proved to be a great success and led to a further teachers training workshop in March 2010. The intention now is taking similar projects other regions that have a need for such resources.
CAST seeks to give a voice to young people’s feelings, concerns, fears, and aspirations so that they may convey that to the rest of the community. It also aims to create self – sustaining projects by initiating training with teachers and youth workers so that the work can be continued on a grassroots level.
Please Visit Our Site at www.creativeartstrust.org.
Inspiration
5 – day Drama/ film based workshops.
These are full-day sessions for students aged 11-18. In 4 groups of 20 and working primarily with two artists, they devise, write, design and create an original piece of drama, integrating music and movement. The results are shared as a performance to the community on the fifth and final day. The film media course will run in parallel alongside the drama workshop allowing students to learn both the creative and practical aspects of film making. The students will make a 10 min film, taking turns both in front and behind the camera.
Challenging expectations
Special Needs workshops
Young people with learning disabilities are rarely seen in some communities; CAST believes that it is important for young people to be given a voice. It has been well-evidenced that drama-based therapy, delivered by empathic and specialised facilitators, is empowering and effective for young adults at a crucial stage of their social, physical and mental development. At CAST we believe that individuals with special needs have learning differences, not disabilities, and we aim to give them the skills and confidence to manage these challenges.
Sustainability
Teacher Training.
Local teachers and youth workers can take part in a 3 day intensive course, giving them the skills to facilitate creative learning for their students .The course enables them to explore interactive and empathic ways of learning and is uniquely linked to their teaching practice. This is followed by a re-cap day at a later date where the teachers have the opportunity to examine those methods that have worked for them, and be mentored further. These teachers can then choose to assist on one of the 5-day Youth workshops, fully supported by the course facilitators. There is also an online forum available through the CAST website for teachers who have been on the course to share thoughts and ideas.
The eventual aim is for these communities to create their own drama centres with local practitioners running their own projects without the need for CAST’s involvement creating work for, with and through the local community. It is hoped that the forum will also provide links between these communities and provide inspiration and ideas for each individual project.
Artists’ Network
At the heart of our organisation are the artists who deliver the work – each are experienced practitioners in their own fields, both as creatives and as educators. Teams are built from a wide spectrum of specialisms and are created for the artists to get as much from working with each other as with the participants. The care and development of this network of people is also vital, and we have all our facilitators supported by a drama-therapy mentor.