Schools’ Outreach Programme

The outreach programme of the Broadway Arts Festival is our opportunity to connect with young people giving them direct access to professional artists, new experiences and expert tuition. 

Thanks to the generous support of our Festival Benefactors and the continuing success of the festival, 2022 & 2023 saw a significant expansion of the outreach programme to include not only the two Broadway Primary Schools but also Chipping Campden Secondary School and Prince Henry’s High School, Evesham. In consultation with the teachers we organise and fund creative and performing arts activities and workshops all year round reaching over 1500 school children and teenagers in the area.

Professional artists bring something extraordinary into the classroom, offering high quality creative experiences that can unlock new ideas and interests. The arts have the capacity to lift the spirits and engage; they leave us feeling free, refreshed, and optimistic. These days, particularly for the children of the pandemic, that’s the holy grail everyone is after.

If you would like to support our outreach work, please consider becoming a benefactor.

Frantic Assembly’s ‘Othello’

Graffiti art murals designed by competition winners at Chipping Campden School

2022/23 Schools Outreach 

  • The festival arranged and financed a trip for Prince Henry’s A-level theatre studies students to see Frantic Assembly’s award-winning and electrifying Othello at the Oxford Playhouse  (Read their review of the experience).
  • St Mary’s primary school (who discovered 30 ukuleles gathering dust in a cupboard) were visited by The London ukulele project. The children loved “having an instrument each the whole time, and not having to share! “and after their workshops, each class performed as a ukulele band in front of the rest of the school. The school now employ a local ukulele teacher to tutor the Y5/6 class every week.
  • Every child from St Mary’s and Broadway First took part in musical theatre workshops with Emma from The Star Project learning songs and choreography from Matilda the Musical and Mary Poppins. They left the premises singing and dancing to “Revolting Children”, “Naughty,” and “When I grow up” and “a Spoonful of Sugar” after sharing their scenes with each other and the staff.
  • Having taken 55 GCSE drama and A-level theatre Studies students from Chipping Campden to Warwick Arts Centre in November to see a production of Gecko’s “Kin”, the students then spent a day with Geko performer Miguel, learning some of the creative tools used by the company in the devising of their rich physical and emotionally inspired vocabulary.
  • Every year 8 student at Chipping Campden School and every Year 9 student at Prince Henry’s (more than 500 students in total) enjoyed Samba Drumming workshops and more advanced sessions were delivered for Year 10 GCSE and Year 12 A-level and BTEC music students at Prince Henry’s.
  • 86 GCSE Art and Textiles students from Prince Henry’s High School participated in a day of illustrated interactive design talks led by art historian Lizzy Rowe from Magic Lantern. The day was structured as a mixture of small group talks and supported practicals to help spark ideas for the students’ creative summer projects.

2021/22 School Outreach

All four schools pulsed to the energetic rhythms of Brazil’s Rio Carnival with fast & furious samba drumming workshops led by musician and band director David Walter. In Chipping Campden this workshop was delivered to 150 students as part of their Y8 music scheme of work on samba rhythm. 

In the spring term, theatre practitioners Playbox and Divergent Theatre took every primary school pupil beneath the surface of their curriculum with tailor-made activities to bring their topics to life, while internationally renowned Frantic Assembly shared their physical approach to devising with 40 A-level theatre studies and dance students from Chipping Campden and Prince Henry’s.

Our Artist in Residence Nick Logan, conducted a masterclass in portraiture for A level art students at Prince Henry’s, and Honeybourne Pottery led Potter’s Wheel taster sessions for year 7 gifted and talented students at Chipping Campden.

Movement Director Steve Kirkham from Frantic Assembly with A level Dance & Drama  students at Chipping Campden School

During festival week 2021 performance poet Joshua Seigal had every class in the two primary schools enthralled with his comedic word-wizardry and showed the children how to create and recite their own poems. The children also became art detectives under the guidance of art historian Lizzy Rowe fromMagic Lantern who transformed their classrooms into a pop-up art gallery, sharing stories and jaw-dropping facts about artists – from Vincent Van Gogh to Banksy – and discussing how to interpret their work. Completing the week’s activities, internationally renowned painter and colourist Antonia Blackencouraged the younger children to paint with joyful abandon and amazed KS2 by painting a still life display, from scratch, in an hour, whilst recounting a lifetime of globetrotting adventures and answering questions. Antonia kindly signed and gifted her paintings to the schools.

  • We arranged for graffiti artist Jamie from Street Style Surgery to create three murals for the art block at Chipping Campden School with youngsters from year 7. The whole of the Y7 cohort were invited to submit designs on the theme of art and inclusivity as part of a competition. From eighty entries, three were selected to be re-created on a giant scale. Under Jamie’s guidance, 50 students from Y7, including the competition winners, were given the opportunity to work alongside him using graffiti art techniques, including spray painting, to create the final murals. These artworks will adorn the stairwell leading up to the art department
  • Artbase spent a day each at our local primary schools guiding children from reception to Y6 in the painting of a playground mural at Broadway First illustrating school values, and a literary-themed mural for St Mary’s new library.

The new mural in the playground at Broadway First

  • The Globe Players performed their play What You Will for 55 children from Broadway First school. Four actors galloped hilariously through Shakespeare’s plays giving the children and their teachers an appreciation of why Shakespeare remains the most famous playwright in the world.The actors then treated 207 GCSE drama and English literature students from Prince Henry’s to a condensed text-study version of Romeo and Juliet. As well as playing multiple roles with absolute conviction, the actors also slipped seamlessly between scenes and explanations of the text and afterwards, stayed on to discuss the play and the characters in a 20 minute Q&A session.

Throwing a pot with Honeybourne Pottery at Chipping Campden School

Samba Drumming at Prince Henry’s High School Evesham

Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose by John Singer Sargent

Broadway Platinum Jubilee

As part of the Broadway Jubilee celebrations, the primary school children decorated paper lanterns supplied by Broadway Arts Festival using the colours and images from the famous John Singer Sargent painting Carnation Lily, Lily, Rose painted in the grounds of Russell House, Broadway in the late 19th century. The schools joined other organisations in Broadway village to lead a once-in-a-lifetime Platinum Jubilee Parade down the High Street carrying their LED-lit lanterns.

The children were given a lively and engaging talk about the world famous Sargent painting by art historian Karen Bloch when they were handed their lanterns to decorate at school.

If you would like to support our outreach work, please consider becoming a benefactor, applications for 2022 are now open.

The children of Broadway parading with their decorated paper lanterns leading the procession down the High Street