UCAN Summer Fun 2023

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Come and join us!

Date: Saturday 24th June 2022

Venue: School of Optometry and Vision Sciences, Maindy Road, Cathays, CF24 4HQ

Time: 2.00pm - 4.30pm

Join us at Cardiff School of Optometry and Vision Sciences for a fun afternoon of activities; learn new skills and make new friends. The creative activities are free and designed for vision impaired young people and their friends. Minimum age 7.

If you have a UCAN T-shirt please wear it!

For more information or to reserve a place please contact:

Hannah Matthews on 07825 468384 / hannah@ucanproductions.org

or

Enireth Powell-Davies on 0776 1133600 / enireth@ucanproductions.org

photo shows a large circle of UCAN staff, volunteers and members holding the edges of a huge parachute, and making it whoosh up and down. A small group UCAN members and a staff member are sat on the floor under the parachute, smiling and enjoying it

APRIL ACTIVITIES AND UPDATE

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Hello Everyone,

We hope you’re all having a lovely start to April and you all enjoy your plans for the Easter Holidays.

We’ve had a busy March with our activities running both on Zoom and Face to Face. Friday evenings at the OPTOM have been very popular and as part of our Anthem Project, we are exploring the idea of a UCAN Band. We are still encouraging everyone to come to our activities and meet new friends, so please get in touch if you’d like more information.

We are finalising plans for a Half Term session for our under 18’s during the second week of the Easter Holidays. During the holidays we are continuing our Zoom sessions as normal. Full details can be found below. Arts Awards are still underway and we are proud to announce that our first participant has completed and passed their first Silver Level!! How amazing. You can read about Samiya’s experience below.

All the best to you all as friends and members

UCAN Productions

FACE TO FACE WORKSHOPS

UCAN Friday Nights

We're still running our creative sound and music sessions, drama and games every Friday evening. If you are aged 7-25 there are opportunities to work towards an Arts Award with Alex, Alys and Hannah. This weekly session is a great chance to catch up with friends old and new while having fun.

Please contact Hannah - hannah@ucanproductions.org / 07825468384 if you want more information on attending, or you can check our social media for updates.

When: Every Friday 5:30pm-7:30pm (excluding Good Friday the 7th April)

Where: School of Optometry and Vision Science, Cardiff University, Maindy Rd, Cardiff CF24 4HQ

Who: All UCAN participants welcome

Maggie’s Club

Founded in honour of UCAN Board Member, Dr Margaret Woodhouse OBE, known to everyone as Maggie. This event is full of fun, drama, games, sound workshops and arts and crafts.

For more information and to book a place please contact Enireth - enireth@ucanproductions.org

SASI

Come and join Alys every fortnight at the wonderful Sight Life Centre, Cardiff, CF10 1BR. Sessions aim to develop confidence, vocal and self-advocacy skills whilst making friends and having fun.

When: Wednesday 12th and 26th April 11:30am-2:15pm

Where: Sight Life Centre, Jones Court, Womanby Street, Cardiff, CF10 1BR

Who: 18+ years old

UCAN at SENCOM

We have been running after school drama activities at SENCOM with a group of participants working towards an Arts Award. This month marks the final session with this group, but we hope to be back very soon as we have had a great time working with the young people in the South Wales Valleys.

When: Wednesday 26th April 4:00pm-5:30pm

Where: SenCom Centre, (Brecon House, William Brown Close, Llantarnam Business Park, William Brown Cl, Cwmbran NP44 3AB

Who: ages 7-17

ZOOM WORKSHOPS

UCAN with Alys

Have fun and learn new skills through drama. A popular group with lots of drama games, creative and storytelling activities. Alys is one of our trained workshop leaders and has worked with UCAN for many years. Her workshops are all about making new friends and having tons of fun through activities including storytelling and improvisation.

When: Every Tuesday 5:00pm-6:30pm

Who: ages 13-18

UCAN with Jake and Taylor

Our workshop trainers Jake and Taylor run an interactive workshop for our younger participants. Playing games, quizzes and having a laugh is what they do best. It’s a great place to make friends and introduce yourself to drama activities in a fun way.

When: Every Wednesday 4:00pm-5:00pm

Who: ages 7-13

SASI

SASI stands for Self-Advocacy for the Sight Impaired. These workshops aim to help young people grow in confidence and learn transferable skills that they can use in their everyday lives. We do this through drama games and showcasing developed work around improvisation, storytelling, and creativity. Our young people really enjoy these workshops and have created some great work in the past. The SASI group also take part in consultations from organisations that approach us, regarding topics such as accessibility/inclusivity, theatre, and sight impairment.

When: Wednesday 5th and 19th April 11:00am-12:30pm

Who: ages 18+

How to Join!

If you’ve previously filled out the registration form you won’t need to do it again.

If you are a parent who would like your child to join our FREE and fun workshops, please complete our online registration form by clicking here!

If you are 18 years and older please complete the form by clicking here

Once completed, you will then be contacted by a member of the team, who can give you further details about our in person workshops, or assist with using Zoom, either by audio using a mobile, landline, a tablet or computer.

Alternatively call or text Hannah on 07825 468384 or email hannah@ucanproductions.org

ARTS AWARDS UPDATE

In a previous mail out we gave an update on our Arts Awards and the progress we’ve been making with our participants. Overall those who have been involved have really enjoyed the experience and are very happy with the Awards they have received. We thought it would be great to showcase one of our participants who has recently completed and PASSED their Silver Level Arts Award. Samiya has written a piece about her own experience and how she’s found it useful. We would also like to share her theatre blog page with you all to check out and read the reviews she’s done.

a photo of Samiya, who has curly brown hair and wears glasses holding an arts award certificate and smiling

SAMIYA’S EXPERIENCE

I really liked doing my Silver Arts Award over the past few months, after I completed my Bronze last year. The research aspects allowed me to find out about different careers in the arts and pathways to get there - as well as interviewing arts professionals to find out about their jobs. I wasn’t aware how many different ways there are to secure a career in the arts, and just how many people a theatre needs to run smoothly! I also enjoyed researching different educational establishments that offer arts courses such as the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. It has helped me to think about the future

I also really enjoyed the leadership project. For mine, I helped Alys and Alex lead some creative workshops at SENCOM in Cwmbran last year. I really enjoyed warm ups/drama games and sharing my passion for drama with others. I think this has given me a real taster in what it's like to be a workshop practitioner, in case I decide I want to become one in the future - which I do! In fact, I’m helping lead UCAN’s after school SENCOM workshops every other Wednesday, and I helped out during half term!

Overall, I really enjoyed doing my Silver Arts Award. In terms of the amount of work that’s required, it’s a huge step up from Bronze - but my assessor, Alys, was really supportive throughout and gave me lots of advice. It was also really flexible, so I felt free to work at my own pace. Doing this has really helped me to think a bit more about my future, and the arts related careers that are open to me. But at the same time, I’ve developed skills (such as communication, leadership and organisation) that will be useful in virtually any career that I may choose to do!

UCAN Receives ATSAIN funding

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Image - Celebrating funding from the Anthem Atsain Fund - With thanks to Youth Music and Welsh Governments for supporting Atsain

UCAN is thrilled to announce that we have been awarded an £8,400 'Atsain' grant by Anthem Music Fund Wales. 

This project will develop and expand UCAN’s music participation work with vision impaired members (aged 25 and under). It will enable us to develop new best practice guidelines and techniques to share with partners and networks, explore new ground in music technology accessibility, and deliver accredited Arts Awards to participants. 

We are indebted to our partners:

Members will have full choice and control over the direction of their musical projects and development. We will also support members in collaborating on each others’ projects and sharing skills.

If you’d like to get involved, or just find out more, please contact Alex Rees - alex@ucanproductions.org

Seasons Greetings!

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Seasons Greeting Everyone,

The holiday season is upon us and UCAN Productions are wishing you all a very Merry Christmas. Whatever your plans are this year, we hope you all have a wonderful time and stay safe. 

UCAN will be running workshops up until the 17th December this year. A list of all our workshops can be found below. As we’ve been continuously running workshops since March 2020, we have decided to take a much needed break. 

We will be closing the office for two weeks on the 23rd December 2021 and will return on the 5th January 2022. But don’t worry, we’ll be keeping you updated and sending our workshop plan for next year on January 1st 2022, so don’t forget to check your emails as we will have some very exciting news to announce!  

We want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported us this year, those who have participated in our workshops and activities, all our workshop leaders and volunteers who help to make each workshop fun and engaging - you’ve all done an amazing job this year. Also thank you to our funders - BBC Children in Need, Wales Council for Voluntary Action, The National Lottery Community Fund - without your support we would not be able to engage and work with children and young people with visual impairments. Finally, a massive thank you to those in UCAN Productions who work behind the scenes to make all our activities and opportunities possible. 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

UCAN Productions

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What Workshops are We Running?

Face to Face: 

SASI Face to Face (Self Advocacy for Sight Impaired)  Age 18 +

1st and 15th December

Come and join Alys every fortnight on a Wednesday at the wonderful SightLife Centre, Cardiff. Come along and improve your confidence, learn new improvisation skills, but most importantly, have fun and make new friends. 

Online:

UCAN with Alys  (Age 13 -18 years)

Tuesdays: 5:00pm - 6:30pm

Have fun and learn new skills through drama. A popular group with lots of drama games, creative and storytelling activities.  Alys is one of our trained workshop leaders and has worked with UCAN for many years. Her workshops are all about making new friends and having tons of fun all through fun activities including storytelling and improvisation.

UCAN with Jake and Taylor (Age 13 and under)

Wednesdays and Fridays: 4:00pm - 5:00pm

On a Wednesday have fun and games with the legend that is Jake! Registered blind, Jake is a professional Actor, Filmmaker and Comedian. Always popular, these twice weekly workshops are great fun. Activities include games, treasure hunts, drama, and lots of laughing! Join Taylor for a Friday funday workshop with even more fun games, tongue twisters and special activities like scavenger hunts, and quizzes. Taylor has worked as a trainer for UCAN for many years and is working his way to stardom as an actor.

SASI (Age 18+)

Wednesdays and Fridays: (11:00am - 12:30pm)

SASI stands for Self-Advocacy for the Sight Impaired. These workshops aim to help young people grow in confidence and learn transferable skills that they can use in their everyday lives. We do this through drama games and showcasing developed work around improvisation, storytelling, and creativity. Our young people really enjoy these workshops and have created some great work in the past. The sessions on a Friday also involve consultations from organisations that approach us, regarding topics such as accessibility/inclusivity, theatre, and sight impairment.

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How to Join!

If you’ve previously filled out the registration form you won’t need to do it again.

If you are a parent who would like your child to join some free and fun workshops, please complete our online registration form by clicking here!

If you are 18 years and older please complete the form by clicking here

Once completed, you will then be contacted by a member of the team, who can talk you through how to get on zoom either by audio, using a mobile or landline, or by using a tablet or computer.

Alternatively call or text Hannah on 07825 468384 or email hannah@ucanproductions.org