Creative Agency Program

 Creative Agency Program

Supports offered

Informed by Dean Walsh’s “Found in Translation” method, our Creative Agency Program is held in the Hugh Bamford Hall in North Bondi.

It is tailored for young people living with disability aged 14 to 20.

New Participants are welcome to join our Saturday morning techniques practice workshop, 9:30am-12pm.

Youth Ensemble members will have exclusive studio use from 12:30-3:30pm. This ensemble accepts new members at discretion of the artistic director.

In addition to regular weekly Saturdays, participants are able to have 1:1 support and join us for holiday intensives.

Schedule

  • Workshops are run Saturdays for 8 weeks from the beginning of School Term

  • Holiday Intensives are 2 or 3 days in length in between term times

  • 1:1s are flexibly scheduled.

Description of Activity

A typical Saturday workshop will begin with a “weekly news” segment where everyone has an opporutnity to talk about something they’ve done during the week. When participants are more advanced with creative method they are also invited interpret an event of their week in improvised movement, sound and/or text.

After this check in, we then focus on developing technique drawn from the Found In Translation syllabus, which includes many exercises of creativity and improvisation methods such as;

  • moving in response to someone else’s movements,

  • responding in movement to different types of music,

  • responding in sound to others’ movements,

  • creating and improvising in simple theatre sets with or without props,

  • drawing images and intepreting them in movement or sound, and visa versa.

There’s a lot of room for fun, social skills development, affirmation and support, in addition to learning/practicing balance, stretching, collaboration, rhythm, speaking, vocal projection, mindfulness and emotional regulation.

The workshops are led by acclaimed choreographer Dean Walsh, who leads a facilitation team including professional artists living with and without disability from multiple disciplines.

We have very limited numbers (we like to maintain a minimum 3:1 ratio).


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To apply to have a place in our 2024 program, please email andrew@weirdnest.com with;

  • the name of the participant,

  • contact details for their parent/guardian,

  • a description of the participant’s access needs if desired, and

  • a few words about what attracted you to apply.

  • If the participant has any background in any creative endeavour, please provide a short description.

To assess workshop support needs and capacity, new participants are accepted for a trial period before we confirm a permanent place in our workshops for them.


Any questions you have are very welcomed. We will be holding an end of year celebration on Saturday 2 December 2023 which will be a good opportunity to meet the community. If you would like to meet us prior to this date, we have flexible schedules and are also open to including observers in our remaining Term 4 workshops.

We are grateful for the supported extended to this program by Waverley Council.