North Wales’ only free arts and literature festival for children gets underway this weekend at Venue Cymru in Llandudno. The take pART festival will feature a whole host of activities for youngsters who may be feeling a bit flat after Christmas.
SPARK! will perform and host workshops during take pART. Image: Alex Alevroyiannis
Now in its fifth year, the weekend-long event aims to provoke interest in the arts and get children feeling creative. Last year 4,000 young people got involved, and organisers are hoping to build on that number in 2014.
West End star Connie Fisher, one of the festival’s patrons, is hosting an interactive performance workshop to demonstrate techniques to build confidence and help every performer while they are under the glare of the stage lights. There will be different workshops for different age groups taking place on Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 January.
Keen artists can benefit from a workshop with Korky Paul, illustrator of the popular children’s book Winnie The Witch, which will see Korky reading aloud from the books and showing how fun reading, writing and drawing can be.
Fans of Jeremy Strong, award winning author of the My Brother’s Famous Bottom series and The Hundred-Mile-An-Hour Dog books, can find out just where he gets his ideas for his host of quirky characters in a special session on Sunday.
There will also be a Horrible Histories workshop with the Birmingham Stage Company, exploring the crimes committed in Tudor times with the chance to take part in a trial and discover the punishments that lay in store for those who were found guilty.
Other events include workshops in dance, comedy, West End stage, radio, photography, graffiti and graphic design. There will also be Lego building on a giant scale, clog, ballet and break-dance sessions, circus skills classes, lessons in beat-boxing and rap, storytelling and puppetry sessions and the chance to build nest boxes for endangered swifts with the Small World Theatre Company.
Visitors should also make sure they don’t miss the beautiful live music, light and movement show by SPARK! It promises seven mysterious characters composed of light and sound who will transform the landscape around them through high impact drumming, dynamic choreography and beautiful lighting design.
take pART is on 11 and 12 January 2014, from 10am - 4.30pm.
For the full line-up visit www.takepartllandudno.co.uk or www.cymerwchranllandudno.co.uk
