Independent Living Skills (ILS) students at Coleg Gwent’s Crosskeys campus have been learning performing arts skills with the help of a new drama club run at the campus.
The venture, run on a voluntary basis and in partnership with a local community project, has proved so successful that ILS students are planning to raise the curtain on their first production in April.
The new drama club, working in conjunction with the Campuses’ performing arts department, and the Education Through Restoration (ETR) Project at Fourteen Locks Canal Centre (Rogerstone, Newport), has enabled Independent Living Skills (ILS) students to try out their acting, singing and dancing skills, and has been a great success, with the first theatre production planned for April.
The production is based around community work that ILS students are taking part in throughout their course with the Fourteen Locks Project. The group are painting mural backgrounds for their show in April based around the history of canals, which will then be shared with the local community in the Fourteen Locks visitor centre.
The enterprise has recently won £300 of funding from GWIRVOL, an organisation which supports young people volunteering in Wales, and the money will go towards costumes and mural materials.
ILS Tutor Victoria English said: “The project will benefit the students through being able to participate in a real drama production which very few would be able to access mainstream.
“We’re delighted to be working with the Fourteen Locks on this project, and students are relishing the opportunity to learn new skills and express themselves.”
Fourteen Locks ETR Project Education and Access Consultant, Tom Maloney, has worked with ILS students from Coleg Gwent’s Crosskeys Campus for about two years, and is delighted with the development of the new drama project.
He said: “Students and staff have really taken all aspects of the canal – its history, environment and future – to their hearts. We’re really grateful for their hard work and support, and look forward to their production.”