Learn a range of fun new skills through Chichester Festival Theatre's workshops

Louise Rigglesford, senior community and outreach manager at the CFT, is delighted at the response so far – a great way for the theatre to stay in touch and for people to continue to access many of its exciting creative opportunities.

“The reason we had to do this is the reason that we do the jobs we do. I believe that all people that work in theatre and in the creative arts are people that know the benefits that theatre and the creative arts can bring, that they can bring joy and well-being and that they can also help us express things we find it difficult to express.”

And arguably, that makes access even more important in times of crisis.

“The reason for our LEAP remote sessions is that we usually see 65,000 people in the course of a year, putting together the youth theatre and the adult programme and all the outreach work. It is a huge number of people that we see regularly, and then with the shutdown all of a sudden these were individuals that we were not going to be in contact with in quite the same way.”

It therefore became a question of finding new ways to make the connection.

“We have all been using Zoom with each other and it has been a steep learning curve, but once we had got over the first initial bugs, we were able to turn our attention to how best we can use it to reach out to the people that we usually see and still being able to offer them our creative talents and also get them to use their own creative talents. And that’s where the idea for the remote sessions has come from.”

Offered by Chichester Festival Theatre’s Learning, Education and Participation (LEAP) team, the workshops take the form of remote 30-minute sessions on subjects ranging from creative writing to puppetry and crafts to dancing. All sessions will be via Zoom, the free-to-use video conferencing solution (and if you’ve never used it before, there’s an introductory session to walk you through it).

The LEAP creative workshops are all free and open to everyone, of any age. However participant numbers are limited so booking is essential.

Practice Zoom – Monday April 27, 4pm: If you are new to using Zoom and want an opportunity to practise joining a meeting, join Louise in a 30-minute session where she will explain the basic functions of the platform and answer questions.

Craft Activity: Bug Hotel – Monday, May 4, 4pm: Learn how to make a wildlife-friendly bug hotel for your garden.

Puppetry at Home: Object Manipulation – Wednesday, May 6, 4pm: Anything can be a puppet: a shoe, a cushion, even a tea towel. Join professional puppeteer Romina Hytten as she shows you the simple techniques used to breathe life into everyday objects.

Dance: Musical Theatre Dance – Tuesday, May 12, 4pm: Dance away the lockdown blues with a boogie around your own home. Join members of the LEAP team as they teach a short musical theatre dance routine. No experience necessary.

Craft Activity: Marble Maze – Thursday, May 14, 4pm: In this session, members of the LEAP Team will help you to stretch your puzzle muscles and make a Marble Maze.

Puppetry at Home: Paper Puppets – Monday, May 18, 4pm: Professional puppeteer Darcy Collins shows you how to make and operate your own simple paper puppet at home.

Creative Writing: Duologues – Wednesday, May 20, 4pm: Ever wanted to write a play, but not sure where to start? Simple writing exercises will help you to write a short piece of dialogue between two characters.

“We sat down and we talked about our individual skills,” Louise said, “and we decided what we would be focusing on, and then we put the programme together. We hope that people are looking forward to it as much as we are. There is definitely a real appetite for this at the moment and we are looking forward to flexing our creative muscles.

“Obviously it is going to be a while before we can be back together again in terms of making theatre, but if there is a positive side to all this, it is that we are finding new ways of staying in touch with people.”

And the chances are some of the ways might continue when we all open up again.

“A lot of the work we do is with the more isolated people, and these could be fantastic tools to use to reach out to people.”

One of the challenges will be to find ways to reach isolated people who are not up with the modern technologies.

“That’s definitely something we are going to be wanting to think about.”

Book your place here: https://www.cft.org.uk/whats-on/leap-remote-creative-workshops-at-home

Shakespeare’s Globe makes productions available to watch for free during lockdown

How you can still enjoy Sussex delights... from the safety of your armchair

Up close but safe: enjoy collections online at Royal Pavilion & Museums in Brighton

Chichester orchestra records its own lockdown song

Coronavirus: top ten tips for boredom-busting during quarantine

Sussex's future stars switch to online drama fun

Singer and pianist Joe Stilgoe live-streams daily message of hope during the coronavirus crisis

Music "more important than ever" in our time of crisis, urges West Sussex Music

Coronavirus: live streaming for Sunday morning services at Chichester Cathedral

Coronavirus: Festival of Chichester 2020 cancelled

*************

A message from the Editor, Gary Shipton:

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news, I am asking you to please purchase a copy of our newspapers.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspapers.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

Stay safe, and best wishes.

Gary Shipton

Editorial Director