Northern Trust performing arts

Transcript

00:00We're really, really excited to launch our new contract of provision and partnership

00:11between the Northern Trust and two voluntary providers in the delivery of Performing Arts.

00:16This will be delivered as part of our Day Opportunities programme. This is for service

00:21users with a learning disability to access Performing Arts across three localities in

00:26a centralised location to promote community access. These sessions will be delivered weekly

00:32by professional tutors who will support and engage our service users, who will deliver

00:37and work towards annual productions which will be open to friends, families and carers

00:42and their colleagues across the organisation. And this will celebrate the achievements of

00:47us all working together to achieve something great through the use of the arts.

00:51It's great to get this programme off the grind. I think it's the first in Northern Ireland for

00:56learning disability being able to go to a Day Opportunity in Performing Arts.

01:02It's great. This ties into our strategy within the Trust. We have an arts and wellbeing strategy

01:09and the main aim of that strategy is to get people to engage more within the arts and to

01:15increase access to the arts. For those service users that will be taking part,

01:21it enables them to connect with other people, reducing social isolation and also helps to

01:27keep them active and involved in the community. They will have opportunities to dance and increase

01:32their physical activity, also have an opportunity to learn new skills in drama and dance and also

01:40be able to perform in the local community and open that up to a wider audience.