Last weekend, our Young Corn Exchange group delivered their first ever outdoor event to an audience of 200 in the grounds of St. Nicolas' School in Newbury.
Last weekend, our Young Corn Exchange group delivered their first ever outdoor event to an audience of 200 in the grounds of St. Nicolas' School in Newbury.
The YCE are the Corn Exchange’s Events Management Collective who work with Corn Exchange staff and industry professionals to put on up to three events a year, and this was their biggest, most ambitious project to date.
Members of the group were supported by our Learning & Participation Department, 101 Outdoor Arts Creation Space staff and a variety of industry professionals through the whole creative process of devising, designing, casting and delivering a new production.
YCE member Scarlett Quittenton developed the storyline from the group’s initial ideas around the themes of Memory and Greenham Common with the support of Kris Huball, the Corn Exchange’s Creative Learning Practitioner, and member Adam West wrote an original musical score which was sung by St. Nicolas’ School Choir.
YCE members also took on key roles during the running of the performance, including operating lighting and sound equipment and stewarding.
This was a huge undertaking for the group, and member Charlotte Gilliam told us: “We aimed to create a thought-provoking piece about morality and how important it is to stand up for your own beliefs. At times we found the project very challenging, as we have never done anything like this before but the process has also been a really fun challenge at the same time!”
The Corn Exchange is extremely proud of the group for their achievement, and look forward to their next event which will be delivered in February 2017. A full review of the event can be found in this week’s Newbury Weekly News.
“It was brilliant, my kids loved it! It was great something like that being at a level they understood and they were full of it talking about it all the way home then enthusiastically relaying it all to daddy. My daughter is in fact sat looking at the programme again at breakfast this morning and is taking it to school to tell her class about it!”
Audience Member
“May I say that it was a pleasure to be part of this event and a credit to all involved”
Howard White, Freelance Photographer DZPhoto
“I was hugely impressed by the commitment of everyone involved, especially during the set-up at St. Nic’s school which was done under the most trying conditions - I thought it would never stop raining - a tremendous effort.”
Mike Huxtable
“Really enjoyable event. It was professional and I was kept wondering about what would happen next”
Audience Member
“My son attends St. Nic's School and it was a fantastic use of the playground. The actors were great, such an intimate experience”
Audience Member
Image credits: Miriam France, Miranda Quittenton, Kieran