The Millennium Forum today welcomed the North West Regional College as new Principal Partner of the hugely successful ‘Happy Stage’ project. The project enables local young people to explore topics around mental health through the arts.  The ‘Happy Stage – Your Forum, Your Stage’ project, with New Principal Partner NWRC, invites all those aged between 12 and 18 with an interest in performance (acting, singing and dance) to participate in this year long project.

Participants will work alongside key health professionals and professional arts facilitators to produce a piece that will be showcased in various venues within the local community.  Already, several key professionals have been confirmed to take part including Gary Rutherford (ARC Fitness), Brenda Shankey (Mindfulness Coach), Ciara Mc Callion (acting facilitation) and Claire Harkin (Dance Facilitator). Others will be announced shortly.

Happy Stage – Your Forum Your Stage is a year long, all-inclusive youth drama project aimed at young people between the ages of 12 to 18. The project is designed to harness the creative potential of drama, dance, song and peer learning to explore and address the vital issue of young people’s mental health.

The heart of the project lies in the creation of a unique drama and music performance that will not only be a therapeutic outlet for the participants but also serve as a powerful tool for raising awareness and helping others facing similar challenges.

The Millennium Forum is now inviting young people aged 12 to 18 to participate in this transformative journey. If you or someone you know is interested in exploring positive mental health through performance, gaining self-confidence, building new friendships and collaborating with arts and health professionals, then ‘Happy Stage – Your Forum Your Stage’ is the perfect project to get involved with.  The Forum is particularly keen to welcome those young people who have never been involved in performing arts previously as this will be a unique opportunity for them to learn new skills from the outset.

This exceptional project is entirely FREE for participants and it will take place in convenient 8-week blocks. The first block is set to commence on Wed 2^nd October. Weekly workshops then run on Wednesdays (6pm-8pm) and Saturdays (12noon-3pm) each week at the Millennium Forum and various other locations to be announced.   Places are limited and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

This project is kindly supported by North West Regional College, Ulster Garden Villages, A&B NI, Find Insurance, The Sandwich Co and Alchemy Technology Services.