inspiring arts in the communities around our theatres
Since July 2019 we have developed and delivered free bespoke workshops for a variety of organisations including Home-Start and Ark Academy.
Our workshops can explore any theme with a variety of different art forms.
If you have an idea, or a group to provide for, please get in touch.
War Horse Tour 2019Working with the National Theatre on their acclaimed production of War Horse helped us engage with over 2,000 pupils, parents and community groups in Brent. The War Horse programme included a CPD training session for teachers with the NT and Imperial War Museum, a Community Day at the theatre, a devised piece ‘No Man’s Land’ with Brent Youth Theatre, free Page-to-Stage workshops and our incredible two schools-only performances for state school children in the borough supported by the Trust, the NT and John Lyon’s Charity. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with the schools’ performances getting mentions in local press, and even in OFSTED reports.
Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre opened in July 2019 with Dinosaur World Live. The auditorium and foyer resembled Jurassic Park as huge dinosaur puppets roamed at their leisure in the foyer and auditorium. To give the audience a chance to feel part of their world, we offered free dinosaur mask making workshops in partnership with Abundance Arts leading to the “discovery” of 900 previously unseen species. The David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation also set up camp to discuss themes of extinction and to offer the opportunity for audience members to participate in the Pangolin Art Challenge.
Our very first project in July 2019 was in partnership with Elephant West on an exhibition of twenty-two local artists’ works selected from 74 entries from an open call for photographers and digital artists. The open call asked for entries that celebrated the local area and its community.
This was an important way of opening the doors of White City Theatre to the local community. The exhibition opened at Elephant and then moved to our exhibition space in the theatre.
The works was displayed in the foyer of White City Theatre throughout the summer.
Troubadour Trust believes that employment in the creative industries should be accessible to all and we aim to provide courses and training opportunities to highlight some of the more unexpected and unknown jobs in theatre. On the 9th January 2020, we ran our first Theatre Careers Day.
A group of young people from Unlocking Potential joined us for a day of activities and presentations designed to de-mystify employment opportunities in the creative industries.
The group of 16-25 year olds spent the afternoon exploring the roles of site team, front of house, box office, the restaurant, production, programming, lighting, sound, stage management and wardrobe before seeing Fame in the evening.
If you are interested in a career in theatre, but are not sure how to go about it, or would like to just have a look around, get in touch and we’ll see what we can organise for you.
A big thanks once again to @TroubadourTrust @troubadourWPark. Our young adults had a blast on the tour and watching #FAME!
🎭 🎭 🎭
Theatre is for #everyone. #opportunity #theatre #creativity #youngadults #brent #semh pic.twitter.com/XzhJjGf4Gg— Unlocking Potential (@UPUnlocking) January 15, 2020
When The Wedding Singer came to Wembley Park Theatre it put us in the mood to make some music.
So, during February half-term we offered free songwriting workshops. These were suitable for the whole family and hosted by our in-house band. Before the matinees on 15th, 23rd and 24th February the foyer became a hub of creativity with participants choosing chord progressions, suggesting themes and telling the most diastrous wedding stories that they could remember or fabricate. The songs were then performed to the audience of the shows as they arrived, to put them in the mood for the musical stylings of Kevin Hart and Simply Wed.
You can listen to the songs here
Throughout January we hosted A New Direction’s We Belong, an arts enrichment and empowerment programme for children in care, designed to tackle loneliness through building a supportive community and creative platform. The group participated in everything from circus skills to stop frame animation and enjoyed a backstage tour of Wembley Park Theatre before attending a performance of Fame!
To celebrate and explore the set design and geographical location of Fame the Musical we worked with Abundance Arts to offer free street art workshops at Wembley Park Theatre.
Participants explored the aesthetic of graffiti using bright block colours and recurring motifs to represent themes of creativity, dance and music on large modular canvases. It was a great way to brighten up January and transport us to 80s New York for a few hours.
“Theatre & creativity bringing people together! “