‘Story Squad’ and ‘Illuminate’ the Blackpool Grand Theatres two-holiday projects for Blackpool young people, shining a light on their talents, their stories, and building a range of life skills that strengthen resilience and wellbeing. 100-young people made masks, sang, acted, made new friends, and created a ‘new Blackpool’.

Blackpool’s Grand has had an incredibly busy half term working with 100 talented children and young people from their ‘Story Squad’ project! Creating new short stories, written new lyrics for musicals, made masks, improvised with the musical theatre students at Blackpool and the Fylde College and at during this incredibly difficult time, had fun! For four days the hugely talented young ‘Story Squadders’ worked together, sang together, shared ideas with each other and created new endings to familiar musicals.

(C) Blackpool Grand Theatre

Learning songs from Matilda, The School of Rock and Encanto then consideration of their ideas about the characters, themes and what they might change!

Celine Wyatt Head of Creative Learning, Blackpool Grand Theatre said “One of our aims is to forge powerful partnerships and build long-lasting relationships so that we can offer opportunities for children and young people to enjoy, participate and learn through theatre. For us, putting their creative voices front and centre, as well as jointly creating platforms for sharing that work is key to our approach and how we develop projects. We are grateful to our partners and funders who have shown so much commitment to this work.”

Blackpool Grand’s long and positive partnership with Blackpool and the Fylde College has resulted in a great creative collaboration. The young people worked and performed in the college’s studio and learned acting and singing tips from the students and lecturers.

You can visually see the theatre puts great value in its local, regional and national partners to help find new creative ways to connect young people to the wider opportunities for learning in Blackpool. Introducing them to the Blackpool and the Fylde college campus, lecturers and students helps them associate with the creative courses they can participate in.

(C) Blackpool Grand Theatre

Seamus Fox, Musical Theatre Lecturer, Blackpool and the Fylde College. “It has been fantastic working with the Grand Theatre, the training, the coaching of the students and opening up new ways of connecting with our community.”

The Story Squad participants included young people from The Magic Club, BoatHouse Youth, Blackpool Young Carers and The Grange Youth Project.

A youth Worker at The BoatHouse Youth said “Storytelling, singing, mask making and performing. Young people reported a real boost in their confidence.”

Phill Fairhurst, Creative Learning Producer, Blackpool Grand Theatre followed with “Story Squad gives young people a voice and a platform to share their creative ideas and imaginations. What a wonderful week was had by all.”

Part of the project includes participants attending David Walliam’s biggest book and stage hit Gangsta Granny, a wonderful story that will inspire their next holiday project this Easter with local artists Sarah Jane Lockwood and Brendan Bunting.

Blackpool Grand Theatre’s ‘Story Squad’ project is generously funded by the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation and is part of the Grand’s Story-Led Resilience Programme ™ (©Blackpool Grand Theatre 2017)

(Main image (C) Blackpool Grand Theatre)