Outreach
Cool Fusion has reached delivery agreements with four organisations to deliver workshops and involve people who might not otherwise feel able to connect with expression and performance: a sense that they can do by witnessing how it works, by talking about their experiences, by making their own work and in some cases presenting it as part of a Cool Fusion performance. Cool Fusion Team members are bringing to bear wide experience in teaching and mentoring from a range of groups such as The Academy of St. Martins-in-the-Fields, the Southbank Bernstein project and Ramajam.
Regenerate-RISE, Putney www.regenerate-rise.co.uk
Composer Martin Jones will lead a seniors’ reminiscence session, using video footage and other resources, starting from his evocation of Roger Bannister’s Four Minute Mile, and talk about how he developed his piece. Percussionist Adam Payn is taking this further to help participants make their own music, sharing selections from his vast arsenal of instruments.
Paddock School, Putney www.paddock.wandsworth.sch.uk
Artistic Director John Holland demonstrated a range of wind and percussion instruments, to show how they work and can be made to convey different images in sound, to young people on the autistic spectrum, who tried out for themselves some instruments they may not have met before.
PIP – Pursuing Independent Paths, Westminster www.piponline.org.uk
Writer Linda Redshaw with composer Andy Bungay, working with two firestarting dramatherapists, are feeding into sessions where this seasoned, resourceful group of dancers and mimes break into song and are making their own mini-musical for the Westminster performance. A small group of CF performers will accompany this piece.
Kids Company www.kidsco.co.uk
Composer Andy Bungay and percussionist Adam Payn, working with groups in Lambeth and Camden and KC’s staff , are facilitating young people to make their own sequences of rhythm, movement and visual realisation with the aim of presenting them in the performances in their boroughs. KC also has an illustrious performing tradition among its teenagers, some of whom have, for example, become indie and urban singer/songwriters through its mentoring scheme; but the specific aim of the CF projects is to extend that opportunity for its younger students who bring a different and distinctive energy.
The most popular starting template on our Outreach Menu, interpreted in strikingly diverse ways was ‘Make Some Noise’ – whether you’re 7 or 87, it’s more than a number – and in our meetings the assertive team spirit has hit the ground running. Through their motivation, to which we aim to add our Cool Fusion, these segments haev become dynamic experiences in their own right.
Media
Cool Fusion has formed a creative relationship with Noel Bell to chart the creative process and talk about the wider context of the project. Blogger, broadcaster and psychotherapist in training Noel Bell has previously interviewed an eclectic range of guests. Click here for his previous podcasts.
We are also talking with an independent production company about the possibility of a TV documentary about Cool Fusion including filmed performances.
Cool Fusion is also updating regularly on social media: Facebook, YouTube. Please join and follow our online networks as well as visiting the site regularly for more detailed information.
