Jackass Youth Theatre

Based in Wolsingham Comprehensive School, Jackass Youth Theatre offers high quality experiences for children and young people via theatre skills workshops. These workshops include stage-fighting and script-writing, all of which are run by professional practitioners. Jackass makes theatre which is relevant and enjoyable for participants and audiences, incorporating art-forms such as dance, film and music into its work.

The theatre group has an open-door policy, which ensures that everyone who wants to be involved is included. In the summer it takes theatre onto the streets where more people can see It and aims to raise the aspirations of it's young members. The theatre activities help young people to develop their ability to communicate their ideas, making them more confident and self-assured as they grow into adults.

 

Jackass received a grant of £7,000 from County Durham Foundation to initiate a programme of change within the organisation to enable greater involvement of young members in a wider range of activities.

So far, sixty children and young people have benefited from the project and those taking part were able to make a film using professional equipment.

The project, which ran for 6 months and was facilitated by two youth workers who carried out duties under the supervision of an experienced arts organiser. It included a range of tasks aimed at building capacity and promoting the Jackass Theatre Group to the wider community, via a range of after-school drop in sessions for young people to take part in costume making, digital photography and web based learning. The group also hope that the two youth worker training posts will provide a stepping stone to further employment and training in the youth arts field.

 

Jackass is very keen to support the active participation of all young people who shape the project and develop new ideas to keep activities fresh and relevant to all users. Many of the young people who access the project are at direct risk of social exclusion and find themselves often isolated from projects and services thus limiting their extra-curricular opportunities.

The group provide a much needed outlet for young people to socialise, develop new skills and build new friendships. Over the past 7 years Jackass has grown in capacity and experience, making it a highly valued community resource which is youth led. Julie Ward, group secretary thanked County Durham Foundation for the support which is helping to shape the group's future.

"The funding has made a huge difference! Thank you."