Worcester-based Vamos Theatre company have announced a major nationwide project working with fostering agency Regional Foster Families

UK’S LEADING MASK THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCE MAJOR

NATIONWIDE TRAINING AND ENGAGEMENT PROJECT WITH 

FOSTERING AGENCY REGIONAL FOSTER FAMILIES (RFF)

Worcester-based Vamos Theatre company have announced a major nationwide project working with fostering agency Regional Foster Families (RFF).

Starting in March 2020, and running over 18 months Vamos Theatre, the UK’s leading mask theatre company will be delivering their workshop Listening with Your Eyes in each of seven regions across the UK.   The workshop practically explores the many ways in which people make connections, with the emphasis on the non-verbal.

It looks at the impact of body language, mood, eye-contact, touch, and gesture, and shows how tone of voice can change the meaning of the words we say.   Listening with your Eyes offers an opportunity for participants to see the powerful effect of non-verbal techniques, and their benefit in helping us make real and honest connections, particularly with more vulnerable members of our society.  RFF will be inviting all its foster carers, staff and foster panel members as well as other relevant professionals to attend the workshops.

Vamos Theatre’s Artistic Director Rachael Savage said “Listening with your Eyes has proved invaluable to a wide range of professions for whom connection with the public is central, in particular those working in the Health and Care sector.  We are particularly delighted to have formed this new partnership with RFF, a wonderful example of how powerful the arts can help to promote a caring culture”

Running alongside this training, Vamos Theatre will be delivering a second nationwide project, providing mask making residencies for foster children and birth children aged over eight: the residencies aim to provide a creative means of engaging children’s views, building a participative dialogue about their experiences, and finding out more about how RFF can improve its services and supports.

The project is being co-ordinated by the Compliance and Safeguarding Manager Jess Albrechtsen at RFF who adds “We are really excited and proud to be working with this talented and empathetic company.  Throughout the duration of the project there will be feedback opportunities for all involved on both an individual and group basis.

What we are hoping to achieve through the project is twofold: Firstly, to provide our foster parents with a unique learning experience that supports them in caring for the children they foster. Secondly, to use the hopes and dreams of the young people expressed through the creative process in the mask workshops to formulate an action plan for each region. This will then be used to improve both individual young people’s lives and the fostering service as a whole.

We really want to try and do things differently and creatively and we believe collaborating with Vamos Theatre is a fantastic opportunity to achieve this.”

Other work with Children Looked After (CLA) includes a commission for a new interactive, playful Walkabout for Virtual Schools Worcestershire, along with further mask making residencies for CLA children in Worcestershire, Staffordshire and Shropshire, supported by Virtual Schools Worcestershire, Virtual Schools Staffordshire and Shropshire, and Artslink.

For more information about how Vamos Theatre’s Listening with your Eyes workshop can benefit those working with young people, please contact the Learning Department learning@vamostheatre.co.uk