The drama group worked with a writer and an actor to produce a piece of the theatre that resembled old black and white, silent films. The participants worked together to write the play which was about the Queens crown being stolen and even composed a soundtrack to accompany the performance.

The film group worked together to make a film called Cartoon World in which a group of friends would draw things and they would come to life. The group wrote, created the set and characters, starred in and even partly edited the film.

This project concluded with a showing  of all the Little Peoples work, friends and family who came to show their support were very impressed with the work that they had produced.

It was a joy to spend the summer with the pair of them and while they were here they given a real chance to experience different parts of Scotland with trips to the Highlands, Borders, Arbroath and catching the Fringe vibe in Edinburgh. They also made many good friends, with many people inviting them into their homes and the pair had a major impact on the people that they met. This was evident when people descended on the Workshop from all over Scotland to say farewell. All in all it was a great experience for everyone who was involved in their stay.

Below some of the highlights from the trip.

As part of our summer program this year we ran a summer school for 8-12 years olds based on our iGNiTE process.  This was a fun filled week for both our workers and Little People. The group worked really hard to produce a high standard of work based round Dinosaurs. The first group made a film in which they gave their own fictional reasons why the dinosaurs became extinct. The group wrote the story, script and created their set and costumes.  The performance group wrote a comical play titled ‘Come Dine With Me’ about a group of dinosaurs having a dinner party in which the young people were able to display their acting and various other skills including juggling, dancing and telling jokes. The final group created a performance piece which included dancing, a fashion show and the music to accompany it. They created their own dinosaurs, designed t-shirts and masks and a story to accompany each one. They also designed their own set for their performance. On the final day family members and friends attended to see what the Little People had been working on. There was a great buzz in the room as each group got the chance to show their results from the workshop and when it was all done there was nothing but positive feedback given by audience, participants and workers. The workshop was a great success so watch this space for the next Adventures of the Little People.

For some of our new volunteers there was no time to rest as they were given the chance to put what they had learnt at the Summer School into action as we led two iGNiTE’s, Salvation Army in Dundee and City Chambers in Dundee. Our Team in Salvation Army worked with a group of people in Strathmore Lodge to explore the theme of What Dundee Means to Me. They started the project by showing them the work that takes place at Pure Media UK and what was possible for them so feeling inspired they set about making a film of them dancing across Dundee and leaving it open for members of the public to get involved, they also had portraits taken and printed off so they could write what Dundee meant to them and finally one of guys in the group was a keen photographer so put together his own exhibition of Dundee. Our second group worked in City Chambers with a group of young people who are preparing for a meeting with young delegates from Dundee’s Twin Cities. We split into three groups, film, performance and event to also explore the theme What Dundee Means to Me. The film group worked to produce an introductory film to Dundee showing many points of interest accompanied by facts. The performance group created a piece title Dundee a Divided City, they would present different scenarios and the audience had to decide the outcome. The events group organised an event called One City many Discoveries which combined the work from the Salvation Army and City Chambers, it took place in City Chambers and they generated interest by spending time in City Square asking people to design t-shirts with their views on Dundee and interviewing people. These t-shirts were exhibited at the final performance and the audio was mixed with music and played as people arrived. There was a real excitement at the event and the audience enjoyed all the work that was produced. To end the proceedings both groups made their way to city square for once last dance and even members of the public got involved. All this was caught on film so watch this space for the DVD.

Our team of skilled workers and volunteers recently ran a 2 day iGNiTE experience with 70 first year pupils at Jedburgh Grammer School. The pupils were split into three groups and asked to ‘tell the story of Jedburgh’ using various art forms including music, art, photography, dance, creative writing and drama. After two days of hard work and a lot of energy from both pupils and workers three unique performances were created that were performed in front of fellow pupils and teachers. This experience was a rousing success with the pupils creating three great performances from nothing and enjoying the process and the teachers being impressed with all the pupils willingness to perform in public. 

ARBROATH ACADEMY 18-19TH JUNE 

Our iGNiTE schools experiences continued with a two day project in Arbroath Academy in which we worked with 16 fourth year pupils. These pupils worked alongside our team to ‘tell us the history of Arbroath – fact and fiction’. We split the pupils into two groups, the first group told us the fictional history of Arbroath in which mutant smokies lived around the Bell Rock lighthouse and they heard that the monks of the Abbey were trying to take over Arbroath and they wanted to stop them. So the smokies stormed the Abbey and fought the monks till the two merged to become monk fish who are now the residents of Arbroath today. This story was told through animation, drama and dance. The second group told the factual story of Arbroath in which they presented the past, present and future in music, make-up and photography. Everyone worked hard to put on a final performance which was enjoyed by fellow pupils and teachers. This experience was a great success with the participants growing in confidence, enthusiasm and looking iGNiTE experience.