Hundreds of children from schools in North Wales came together at the William Aston Hall in Wrexham over two days in March to perform and sing in a brand new arts collaboration project called “AmaSing Fusion”.
A combination of live dance, drama, art, music and poetry, this is a new project that celebrates differences, diversity and multiculturalism and aims to support and inspire a broad and balanced curriculum and personal, social and health education in schools. The project will reach over 3,000 children in North Wales, Cheshire and The Wirral during 2020.
The creative and inspiring programme involves different communities, cultures, needs and ages working and learning together. It builds on people’s well-being, self-esteem and confidence and champions the equality act, celebrating that everyone is unique and special no matter what they do or where they come from.
William Aston Hall
Participants were offered an opportunity to perform with a professional band in a professional venue (The William Aston Hall, The Storyhouse in Chester and The Floral Pavillion in New Brighton).
The performers took part in various music, dance, art, drama and poetry workshops over a series of months. In the music workshop, they worked with AmaSing Musical Director and composer Andrew Smith and created a song called Gyda’n Gilydd (Together). This song is not just being sung by the 3,000 children involved in the project, but has also reached schools in South Wales and abroad in Australia, Georgia and India.
Another one of the songs, Inner Beauty in Me, was created by children and adults with learning difficulties and was sponsored by Rawson Digital. Lumisi, another sponsor, created an amazing film which provided a backdrop while the children performed the song live.
Workshops
In the art workshops which were sponsored by Oliver and Co Solicitors, children created amazing portraits of children and refugees from around the world. These were made into digital art for the shows and formed a fantastic film which played while the children sang What A Wonderful World.
For the dance, drama and poetry workshops, children worked with arts specialists House of Dance, Una Meehan and The Literacy company. Films were created about these workshops by Canteencreate and were shown at the shows too.
The projects have been sponsored and supported by many groups such as Rawson Digital, Oliver and Co Solicitors, MBNA, Recognition Express, Lumisi and The Philip Barker Creative Centre.
During the shows, the children performed 12 songs accompanied by the AmaSing professional live band, many of which had been written especially for the project and which all celebrated being unique. Children from The Castell Alun High School, The House of Dance and The Wrexham Co-operative Choir astounded the audience with their talents too. It was an extravaganza of musical talent.
Amasing
AmaSing was formed in April 2017 by Rachael Borman, a full-time primary school teacher in Chester. It is committed to organising and developing exciting and inspiring creative community projects and performances linked to singing, music and arts.
AmaSing has recently won Cheshire West Voluntary Arts Awards for Music in 2019 and two of the directors have won the Cheshire West Inspirational Teacher Award and Best Head Teacher Award 2019 for their work with arts in schools in Cheshire.
Through their projects in 2019, they enabled 25 teachers and 25 student teachers to be trained and become arts advisors. They also supported 35 schools to gain Artsmark status and 800 children obtain the Arts Award Discover level. They have raised money and awareness for charities like Chester Zoo, Macmillan Cancer Support, Young Minds UK and Dementia UK.
AmaSing works with educational establishments, arts organisations and art specialists to develop and enhance children’s wellbeing, confidence and self-esteem. It also supports professional development for teachers and trains them to deliver song, music and arts in the daily school curriculum and allows students and teachers to work with professional artists – this helps to keep performing arts alive in schools.
More Accessible Arts
It aims to make the arts more accessible to children from all walks of life and show that communities can work together to create something that everyone can be proud of. Workshops are run in schools, hospitals, elderly residential homes and universities.
Rachael says “We have been running these projects in Chester for three years, but this was the first time we have run it in Wales. The children, staff and families have all been so amazing and supportive of each other and the pieces they have created in the workshops are now being sung by children all around the world.
“It was so wonderful to hear hundreds of children singing our songs – they were all superstars and I can’t wait to run another project in 2021 and open it up to more schools and communities in North Wales.”
You can visit their website and Twitter account for more information on the projects they run.
Feedback
“What a brilliant day and night. Everything went smoothly and it was a very slick show. Very professional all round.”
Mrs Debbie Eccles – Headteacher, Victoria CP School
“I was amazed by how well everything pulled together on the night, culminating in a fabulous show. Our children really enjoyed it and got such a lot out of taking part.”
Lisa – Alexandra CP School
“A huge thank you for all your hard work and enthusiasm. My children absolutely loved every minute and we’ve had lovely comments from our parents who came too. It was such a fab night and I can only imagine how much hard work and effort it took to put it all together.”
Sarah – Deputy Head, Ysgol Sant Dunawd
“We loved it. Thank you for inviting us to perform and we would love to do it next year. It’s been a fab two days – well done to all your team.”
Sharon Nesbitt – Performing Arts Teacher, Castell Alun
“Thank you for all your hard work; the children had such a wonderful afternoon and evening. It was brilliant and we were proud to be a part of it.”
Ceri – Deputy, Acrefair School
“The Amasing concert was fantastic and the children had a brilliant time. The parents have all told me how super it was so well done to you and the team.”
Rob – Head Teacher, Borras Park School
Check out AmaSing Fusions’ website, here.
