Chol Theatre

We had a blast at the Rotherham Show this weekend! Thank you to everyone who came to see us perform Daughters of the Coal (especially if you braved the rain! 🌧). Well done to our amazing actors who brought the show to life - check out Jess and her fab cornet playing! 🎺🎶

A big thanks to RMBCEvents for having us. See you next year! 😄

On this we're throwing it back to this Yorkshire Evening Post article on how our Imaginary Communities programme can increase literacy attainment, reduce exclusion, and establish a truly creative and cultural education in schools. 📚🖊

Imaginary Communities has been proven to increase attainment and literacy by over 70 per cent! 📖 Vicky Storey, our Evaluation and Learning Lead, explained why: "I firmly believe that inclusion is why this programme has seen such positive results, we work with children who are at risk of exclusion alongside their peers in the classroom; everyone is equally involved. It’s rich contextualised learning, anyone can be what he or she want to be within a devised setting."

You can read the full article at the link here:

Yorkshire-based theatre company says drama classes could help boost literacy With more emphasis than ever on improving school results, Janie Readman asks whether making a song and dance out of lessons could actually help improve SAT scores

We’re here with our fabulous show ‘Daughters of the Coal’

We have shows at 11.50am and 2.50pm today and tomorrow - catch us in the Cholavan next to the Clifton Park museum eco tent in the ‘Made in Rotherham’ area!

We hope to see you there 🤩

Rotherham Show Arts Council England

Ever wondered what it's like to be a Chol Young Artist and Producer? Our new blog will tell you all you need to know! 🎭 🎬

Kerry joined Chol as a Young Producer for one of our latest projects, Angry Girls, and learned so many new skills, like marketing, staging a show, and running creative workshops! She writes about her experiences and the other brilliant Young Artists/Producers she got to work with.

You can read it at the link here: https://wearechol.co.uk/category/news/

Our museums partnerships have been absolutely brilliant this year, partnering with Kirklees Museums & Galleries to explore how Chol’s unique Imaginary Communities approach could enable children to develop a love of history and widen their knowledge of the past. 🏛🎨🔍

Lauren, our Schools and Education Lead, writes all about East Bierley Primary Schools visit to Bagshaw Museum and how she used our ‘Equal Playmaker Strategies’ to encourage students to work together, create a shared world, and even make their own exhibition!

You can read about it at the link here: https://wearechol.co.uk/category/news/

What a fab day!

📣Important location update📣

We have moved our summer camp location from Savoy Square to Cleckheaton Memorial Gardens. We know the weather isn't exactly on our side, but don't worry - we've got plenty of exciting activities planned, and we'll do our best to keep you dry and having fun! 🌧️

Pack your raincoats and let's make the most of our last summer camp of the holidays! Hope to see you at Cleckheaton Memorial Gardens! ☔️🎉

The Childrens Art School

"On Friday 2nd August, the whole Chol team sat down with our amazing board of trustees in Sheffield Workstation for our annual Board Away Day. It was a hot day at the end of a hot week but we were determined to bring the whole team together to take a look at where Chol is, where it’s come from, and where it’s going."

Check out our latest blog by Young Artist, Kerry, about our Board Away Day where we discussed strategy, the arts and education landscape, and Chol's future. 🎨💡📈 You can find it at: https://wearechol.co.uk/chols-board-away-day-ice-lollies-and-strategy/.

☀️ We’ve only got three Maker World summer camps left! ☀️

We’ve had such a fun time using the Cholavan to bring drama, storytelling, games, and more to North and South Kirklees.

Come join us for FREE family fun and healthy snacks - no need to book, join drop in!

You can find us at:
🎨 Firth Park, Heckmondwike on Monday 19th August
🎭 Gregory Fields, Kirkburton on Wednesday 21st August
🖌️ Savoy Square, Cleckheaton on Thursday 22nd August

Chol stands in solidarity with all those affected by the recent violence and riots.

We are deeply appalled by the Islamophobic and racist riots occurring across cities in the UK. We stand firmly against these abhorrent actions, which are driven by intolerance and hatred.

Chol makes work with a diverse range of communities across Yorkshire, bringing everyone together to build a society around kindness, fairness, and humanity, valuing everyone equally. We want to make it clear that everyone, including asylum seekers and refugees, belongs here. These communities enrich our society and contribute significantly to our economy.

We unequivocally condemn these riots and stand in solidarity with all those affected.

Chol stands in solidarity with all those affected by the recent violence and riots.

We are deeply appalled by the Islamophobic and racist riots occurring across cities in the UK. We stands firmly against these abhorrent actions, which are driven by intolerance and hatred.

Chol makes work with a diverse range of communities across Yorkshire, bringing everyone together to build a society around kindness, fairness, and humanity, valuing everyone equally. We want to make it clear that everyone, including asylum seekers and refugees, belongs here. These communities enrich our society and contribute significantly to our economy.

We unequivocally condemn these riots and stand in solidarity with all those affected.

We unequivocally condemn these riots and stand in solidarity with all those affected.

☀️ Summer fun in the Cholavan ☀️
Our FREE Maker World summer camps are back! We will be travelling to 9 locations across North and South Kirklees bringing storytelling, arts activities, music, and more! 🎨🎶 Follow the link in bio for more information 🔗

Fabulous fun in the sun! We’re here until 3pm - but don’t worry if you’ve missed us today - you can catch us at another venue in Kirklees through August ➡️ https://wearechol.co.uk/ignite-your-imagination-fun-free-arts-activities-across-kirklees/

Chol Theatre are here at today! Find them in the park for FREE drama & art workshops!

☀️ Summer fun in the Cholavan ☀️
Our FREE Maker World summer camps are back!

Chol and The Childrens Art School are travelling to 9 locations across North and South Kirklees bringing storytelling, arts activities, music, and more! 🎨🎶

Follow the link for more information ➡️ https://wearechol.co.uk/ignite-your-imagination-fun-free-arts-activities-across-kirklees/

🌟​​Chol at the UKLA Conference! 🌟

In early July, Chol had the pleasure of attending the 2024 UKLA International Conference in Brighton, where teachers, researchers, artists, and writers are brought together to explore literacy education. We got to bring the joy and magic of Imaginary Communities, our action-research drama education project, to the conference.

First, Carly-Ann Clarke, Dr Becky Parry and Dr Vicky Storey delivered our research report, ‘Stretching the Fabric Thinly: Agency and Care in Drama Pedagogy’, illustrated by Ruth Dyer. The report covered how the equal playmaker approach enables children to become increasingly caring and engaged learners, as well as highlighting our emerging findings about agency and valuing children’s ideas and experiences.

Next, Carly led a workshop with Lisa Stephenson from Leeds Beckett University, all about rewilding the curriculum and story making approaches, based on the pedagogies and research findings of a two-year project led by Story Makers Company. During the workshop, participants heard from artists and teachers engaged in embedding the approach and got a playful opportunity to experience pedagogy from across the project, led by Chol.

The conference was a brilliant opportunity to explore how we can be playful in the classroom and how teachers’ and children's creativity can let imagination soar! 📣To read our report, send us an email or DM to get it sent to you. 📣

Our third and final partnership between primary schools and museums saw Year 5 students from Kings Oak Primary School visit The Cooper Gallery. Students were invited to build an island that they had previously imagined in a session with our Schools and Museums lead, Lauren. 🏝 Using inspiration from the variety of pictures and sculptures on display, the students imagined, planned and then built different parts of their island through the art of collage! ✂️🖌️

Some more pictures from East Bierley Primary School’s visit to Bagshaw Museum with Chol! 🏛🎨🔍 Year 4 were inspired by Ancient Egyptians and created a number of items that became offerings to ‘The House of Stories’. These included:

🐪🐘🐅 Small clay statues of animals similar to the Egyptian Shabti
💎 Jewellery inspired by the vivid colours and patterns in the museum
✉️ Postcards about their favourite places
🌠 A wish in a bottle in a secret code the class created, inspired by Egyptian hieroglyphics

The students finished the day presenting their offerings in a celebration ceremony.

Another imaginative adventure in ! East Bierley CE (VC) Primary School visited Bagshaw Museum to curate their own exhibit, The House of Stories. ✨📚

Lead by our Schools and Education Lead, Lauren, Year 4 solved clues, created secret codes and curated the exhibit with items that are special to them. ‘The House of Stories’ will be temporarily on display at Bagshaw Museum, so go and check it out! 👀

This is our second partnership between primary schools and museums to offer cultural experiences for school children. 🏛️🎨🔍 Next up, Kings Oak Primary Learning Centre visit !

🚨 Exciting News! 🚨 We’re partnering with the fantastic In Place of War for an incredible online residency about creative climate activism: 100 Creative Agents of Climate Change! 🌍🎨✨

Calling all change-makers (aged 18-30)! Join a global movement to create powerful campaigns against climate change. Here’s what’s in store:

🎨 Two-week Online Residency: Co-curated by young people, for young people.

🌱 Skills Development: Dive into climate literacy, cultural leadership, and creative activism.

💡 Create Impactful Projects: Engage your community with innovative ideas.

🤝 Mentoring & Funding: Get support and up to £1,500 to bring your projects to life.

Interested? We’d love to hear from you! DM us for more information.

In 2023, Chol collaborated with local schools and museums to offer enhanced cultural experiences for school children. 🏛️🎨🔍 This year, we are developing this programme further, partnering three ‘Artist in Residence’ schools with three local museums to collaboratively develop an immersive learning experience, led by our Schools and Education lead, Lauren Ash.

The first partnership saw Wilberlee Junior and Infant School visit Tolson Museum to build on previous school lessons about the Suffragettes and explore local Suffragette legend, Dora Thewlis. The children explored historical campaigns and modern issues around democracy and designed their own protest to march around the museum grounds to ‘Save our world and stop the pollution’. 🪧🌍 This was delivered in true Chol fashion through our equal players methodologies, which is Chol's unique approach to co-creation.

Later this term, East Bierley Primary School will visit Bagshaw Museum to delve into the ancient Egyptian pyramids and create their own 'House of Stories'. 📚 The Cooper Gallery will receive a visit from Kings Oak Primary Learning Centre where the artwork in the gallery will inspire a drama based adventure. 🖼️ Here’s to more exciting learning and cultural experiences ahead!

This fantastic creative opportunity with Showroom Cinema is still open! Their BFI Film Academy Summer Residential is open to indie film fans between the age of 16-19. By taking part in this residential training scheme, you'll gain experience and insight into indie cinema through workshops delivered by industry professionals. You'll even get to put on your own film festival at Showroom Cinema! Apply by 1st July.

https://www.showroomworkstation.org.uk/bfiacademy2024/residential

Applications are open for the 2024 Residential at Showroom Cinema. It's a brilliant opportunity for young people, passionate about film. You'll learn all about indie cinema, including film programming, distribution and marketing.

Plus, you'll get to put on your own film festival at the Showroom! 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝗯𝘆 𝗝𝘂𝗹𝘆 𝟭: https://bit.ly/44QoWzZ

First show down!

Don’t worry if you’ve missed it - we’ve got 3 more shows at 2pm this afternoon & again at 11am & 2pm tomorrow Clifton Park Museum

Hope to see you there 🤩

We loved working on this project with The Childrens Art School 🤩

⚡️ We had the most fantastic day on Saturday at WOW Rotherham⚡️

We met some truly inspiring people who generously shared their stories with us about memories in ’84. Thank you to everyone who came and visited us!

Another special moment was when the legendary Jude Kelly herself came to hang our in our trusty old Cholavan. We were so starstruck that we forgot to take a picture! 👀

For those who missed the event, you can still be a part of the experience by listening to our digital sound gallery of stories. These audio pieces offer glimpses into memories and experiences of the past when people proudly came together to look after one another and honour their traditions. Through these stories, you will hear from a time that still resonates with so many today. You can check it out here - https://wearechol.co.uk/soup-kitchen/

A huge thank you to WOW Rotherham for hosting us and providing such a fantastic platform for voices to be heard and stories to be shared. We are deeply grateful for the experience✨

📣 Step back in time and immerse yourself in the power of resilience and community at Minster Gardens! 📣

Join us for ‘We Are Women, We Are Strong’ - our new living installation, serving up local stories from the heart of the 1984/85 mining strike 🪧

We’re joining WOW Rotherham this Saturday to journey through time, where memories and experiences intertwine to honour the spirit of our community 🥣💬

Engage with the tales of solidarity and strength, as we revisit a pivotal moment in our history. Through audio pieces and authentic paraphernalia, witness how our community stood tall, supported one another, and upheld timeless traditions.

🗓️ 11th May 2024
⏰ 11am - 4pm
📍 Minster Gardens
🫰 FREE, Drop-in

Follow the link in bio to find out more about the fantastic programme of events happening this Saturday 🔗

👀 A sneaky peek from our Imaginary Communities Think In event in Barnsley in April 👀

The most inspiring teachers, headteachers and artists came together from places across Yorkshire to share and reflect on the impact of our residencies in schools this year 💭

We are filled with so much gratitude to everyone who came and shared with generosity of spirit, embracing our silly games and helping to create our own unique imaginary world 🙏

The day was rich with insightful conversations and meaningful connections which we cant wait to share with you in a blog coming soon ✨

🌟 Calling storytellers of Rotherham! 🌟
We’re on a mission to capture the spirit of the community during the Miners Strike of ‘84. We would LOVE to hear your stories: the friendships forged, the unwavering pride, and the challenges faced during this historic time.

Were you part of the strike community or know somebody who was? We’re particularly keen to hear tales from the Soup Kitchens - how people rallied to feed bodies and nurture hope.

Your stories will become part of a living library, preserving the voices and memories of the South Yorkshire miners’ strikes.

Got stories, memories, recipes, or photos to share? Please get in touch with Carly at [email protected]

🌟 Eid Mubarak to all our friends celebrating around the world! 🌙✨
We are wishing you a day filled with joy, love, and blessings, from all the Cholettes ✨