UCAN'S ARTS AWARDS PILOT PROJECT IS COMPLETE!

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UCAN have completed the final day of our confidence-building Arts Award activity course for VI pupils in Cardiff.

We had a wonderful time meeting the young people, and they all did so well taking part in imaginative physical drama games, creating a 7 minute sound story as a group, generally getting stuck in and being very creative - and most importantly, becoming more confident and making friends. Participants have earned themselves an 'Explore' level Arts Award, to be presented by the Lord Mayor of Cardiff in May!

Delivered in partnership with the Cardiff Vision Impairment Team

Learners are roaming around the space, smiling and playing a drama game with Hannah

The camera looks down on a circle of learners (and Hannah) who are lying face down on the floor and forming a circle with their hands as part of a focus game

2 learners are sat facing each other and recording an interview on microphones, while another learner looks on smiling

learners are sat in front of the sound technology station, using microphones and sound effect equipment

2 learners are sat chatting with Allie, who is working with UCAN

A group of learners are sat in a small circle passing a ticking toy bomb around as part of a word game. One is sat apart - she's out!

Learners are standing, sitting or kneeling, facing Hannah, as part of a game - some have their hands up

A learner is playing with the Maschine music device and smiling at the camera while others play a drama game behind her

UCAN’s Arts Award Pilot Project continues

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Back at Ysgol Gynradd Groes-wen this week with our wonderful Arts Award group of creative learners, working on sound stories, physical games and confidence building. Time flies when you're having fun (and learning at the same time)...

learners are smiling and playing drama games with UCAN trainers, with teachers and 1-to-1's laughing and smiling in the background

More circle game action

pupils are sat smiling and listening as Alex tells them about sound technology

A learner is triggering musical sounds on the 'Maschine' music production hardware

UCAN's School Arts Awards Pilot Project at Ysgol Gynradd Groes-wen

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Creative Learning for Vision Impaired pupils

UCAN are currently engaged in a 6-session pilot project, delivering creative learning activities to a group of VI pupils from Cardiff schools. Each week we are going into the amazing new-build school of Ysgol Gynradd Groes-wen, to develop confidence and provide rich creative learning activities, while enabling the participants to acquire an accredited Explore level Arts Award, moderated by Trinity College London.

We’ve done loads already! Lots of collaborative drama games and exercises which encourage collaboration and imagination, followed by our trademark workshops based around stimulating imaginative engagement with music and sound technology. The pupils have been experiencing the amazing creative potential of voice recording and sound manipulation, as well as working collaboratively and expressively in creating their own ‘Sound Story’ - which is currently shaping up to be a spooky but funny ghost story!

Feedback so far has been tremendous, with observers and 1-to-1’s noticing significant and rapid improvements in confidence, engagement and collaboration, in EVERY participant.

"I can't believe the change. I've seen her open up in a way I've never seen before. I'm going back and signing her up for drama club - she loves it!"

"When F came to us, we thought he was going to be permanently non-verbal. To see him collaborating, sharing his ideas and even recording and performing for others today is incredible. He's so lucky to have this opportunity to show what he can really do."

There’s a lot more to come in the remaining sessions, and we’re excited to continue this work with the participants, and prove the amazing power and potential of creative learning - plus, we’re having great fun too!

Please enjoy some images from the sessions.

A pupil is sat, smiling and holding a microphone, ready to record

VI pupils are in various poses lying, crawling or standing - some are laughing

Pupils are sat in chairs in a circle with Alex from UCAN - everyone is laughing AND SMILING

ONE pupil watches another pupil as she plays a musical keyboard on an iPad app

Activities and Updates for March 2024

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Hello everyone,

Happy St David’s Day to you all.

We’ve had a great February with our workshop program. Half term was a blast! We even had some new faces to join us, so we hope everyone who came to the sessions had a great time.

We’ve also kicked off our pilot project for Cardiff schools - UCAN Arts Award - and the group is having a great time, learning about the creative arts and having fun!

This month we are continuing our workshop program as usual. Along with this we will be running more creative workshops during the Easter Holidays, and we’ll have an update on the dates very shortly!

As always a big thank you to everyone who supports UCAN and the work we do. Also a big thank you to our funders!

All the best

UCAN Productions

EASTER HOLIDAYS CREATIVE FUN

We are going to be holding several workshops over Easter!

With drama games, sound activities, storytelling and making new friends we’d love to invite UCAN Participants to join us.

We’re finalising the last details and will be releasing the dates shortly, so stay tuned for a further announcement!

In the meantime, if you’d like further information on UCAN and what we do then you can contact Hannah, our Peer to Peer Engagement Officer, via email hannah@ucanproductions.org or phone 07393365531.

 

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 / 07393365531 if you want more information on attending, or you can check our social media for updates.

When: Every Friday 5:00pm-7:00pm.

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 is held one Saturday a month. With fun, creative activities for sight impaired children and young people with additional needs. These workshops are led by the UCAN team and involve fun games, sound, music and tactile art.

When: Saturday 16th March 2024 2:00pm-3:30pm

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

Who: Children and young people who are vision impaired with additional needs.

 

UCAN After School

We will be running after-school drama activities with a group of participants based in the South Wales Valleys. The sessions use our creative arts methods to continue to build physical and vocal confidence in young vision impaired people, and there are opportunities to work towards different Arts Awards levels. The location changes, so please contact hannah@ucanproductions.org to find out where we will be running these sessions.

When: Wednesday 13th March 2024

Who: ages 7-17.

 

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 13th March 11:30am-2:15pm.

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

Who: 18+ years old.

 

Then and Now Project: Exploring the Lives of Blind People in Wales

Funded by the Heritage Lottery, this is an inter-generational project that explores the history of blind and partially sighted people, and the people and organisations who have been instrumental in improving the lives of blind people in Wales from the early 1800's to the present. The aim of the Then & Now Project is to build a collection of recorded stories, plays, discussions and interviews that will document people's oral history and historical stories.

If you would like to find out more information, or would like to get involved please contact Alys on alys@ucanproductions.org

When: Wednesday 6th and 20th March 2024

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

Who: 18+ years old.

 

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.These workshops are particularly beneficial for those who cannot attend face to face workshops or are keen to learn more about UCAN.

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

Who: ages 13-18.

 

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 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 07393 365531 or email hannah@ucanproductions.org

February Activities and Updates

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Hello Everyone!

We hope you are all doing well.

Our team at UCAN Productions has been busy getting back to workshops and planning activities for half term. You can find information regarding all our activities in the Workshop section, and details for half term in the Updates section.

January was a great start to the year for us. Along with getting back to running our activities, we were delighted to be invited to ‘Symphony of the Soul’, a music and poetry evening, celebrating classical Indian Music, organised by Cllr Jasmin Chowdry, Club 1400 and Saudha, held at The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff. This evening was an event in honour of The Lord Mayor of Cardiff and UCAN as her chosen charity. Three of our UCAN representatives performed at the beginning of the concert. We then had the opportunity to meet the First Minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford along with our friend Alex Wharton, Children's Laureate Wales.

We also have an exciting new UCAN Arts Award Pilot Project starting this month.  More details can be found in our Updates section below.

Then and Now Project: Exploring the Lives of Blind People in Wales

This project, funded by the Heritage Lottery, is progressing really well. Since the beginning of the project we have had guest speakers such as John Sanders,Trustee of Sight Life, and Meinwen from St Fagans National Museum of History Archives. We’ve also been devising different creative outputs for our final pieces of work.  

As always we would like to take this time to thank all our members, extended UCAN family and funders.

All the best

UCAN Productions

UPDATES

February Half Term Fun

Come and join us this February Half Term for 2 days packed full of fun creativity, drama and sound activities with the UCAN Team!

When: Wednesday 14th and Thursday 15th February 2024, 10am-3pm

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

Who: UCAN Participants aged 7-18

To sign up to one or both days please email Hannah, our Peer Engagement Officer at hannah@ucanproductions.org or call 07393365531

 

UCAN Arts Award Pilot Project

We have an exciting new UCAN Arts Award Pilot Project which will work with vision impaired children and young people from across Cardiff. The aim is that all the young people involved will obtain an Explore level Arts Award by the end of the project.

The project will be led by Alex Rees, our Creative Lead in Sound and Music, We can’t wait to get started on this exciting adventure and promise to keep you updated on our progress throughout February and March.

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 / 07393365531 if you want more information on attending, or you can check our social media for updates.

When: Every Friday 5:00pm-7:00pm.

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 is held one Saturday a month. With fun, creative activities for sight impaired children and young people with additional needs. These workshops are led by the UCAN team and involve fun games, sound, music and tactile art.

When: Saturday 17th February 2024 2:00pm-3:30pm

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

Who: Children and young people who are vision impaired with additional needs.

 

UCAN Cwmbran

We are running after-school drama activities with a group of participants from the local and surrounding area. The sessions use our creative arts methods to continue to build physical and vocal confidence in young vision impaired people, and there are opportunities to work towards different Arts Awards levels.

When: Wednesday 28th February 2024

Where: Sight Cymru, Bradbury House, Park Rd, Pontypool NP4 6JH

Who: ages 7-17.

 

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 28th February 11:30am-2:15pm.

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

Who: 18+ years old.

 

Then and Now Project: Exploring the Lives of Blind People in Wales

Funded by the Heritage Lottery, this is an inter-generational project that explores the history of blind and partially sighted people, and the people and organisations who have been instrumental in improving the lives of blind people in Wales from the early 1800's to the present. The aim of the Then & Now Project is to build a collection of recorded stories, plays, discussions and interviews that will document people's oral history and historical stories.

If you would like to find out more information, or would like to get involved please contact Alys on alys@ucanproductions.org

When: Wednesday 7th and 21st February 2024

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

Who: 18+ years old.

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.These workshops are particularly beneficial for those who cannot attend face to face workshops or are keen to learn more about UCAN.

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

Who: ages 13-18.

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 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 our workshops and answer any questions you have.

Alternatively call or text Hannah on 07393 365531 or email hannah@ucanproductions.org

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