Latest News from Minerva HQ

Go International With Minerva Arts

Last summer we were very pleased and proud to learn that we had been successful in being awarded our first Erasmus+ project, working alongside partners in Italy, Greece and Portugal to deliver the GROW project. This is a performance residency project where 8 artists from each of the partner territories will have the chance to spend 10 days in Melissa, Southern Italy, living and working together to create performance based on myths and legends about the genesis of the world. 
We have 4 places on this project up for grabs currently and are opening up the applications process to you! If you are based in Cheshire, Merseyside or North Wales, an artist in any medium (but bear in mind this project does have a performing arts focus) and aged between 20 and 30 then you can apply. The project is all expenses paid so we will take care of all accommodation, travel and food for the duration of the trip. 
If you would like more information, you can find it here https://drive.google.com/open?id=1WwQ7MGOmq2dMr2KY50WY7BtmpVa2vNCF and you can apply here https://forms.gle/WFGGqtdi9xrivyML6. 
​If you would like to ask any questions then please get in touch via our contact page here. 

Youth Theatre Is Back!

Happy New Year!! We have returned to work at all our Youth Theatres for the new term now and are well underway with the work towards our latest projects. There are, of course, always spaces available so if you would like to come along for a taster at any of the groups then just get in touch via our contact page here. You can find out all about the different groups we run on our Youth Theatre page. 
This year we are working towards a headline collaborative show in Malpas, returning to the Sandbach Transport Festival and bringing three of our Chester groups together for the first time to create a brand new version of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, supported by our Art = Action project. Keep you eyes peeled on our social media feed to keep up with all our fab projects. 
We are lucky this year to be supported by Sanctuary Housing, The Robert Clutterbuck Trust, the Yapp Foundation, WH Smith Foundation and #iwill and we hope that more funders will continue their support throughout the coming year. 

'Our Lache' Heritage Project Concludes 

Throughout Autumn term 2019, Minerva Arts was thrilled to be working with St. Clares Primary and Lache Primary to develop a brand new piece of theatre all about the history of Lache. The project concluded just before Christmas 2019 with two performances, seeing the work shared with over 100 people! The children did a fantastic job of getting to grips with the key themes and stories within the heritage theme and putting their own unique spin on things. The next step is getting the Explore Arts Awards moderated and hopefully looking at revisiting the project with a new group of young people in Autumn 2020.

Art = Action Funding Success!
In October we were informed that we had been successful in achieving funding from the #iwill programme. This is a national programme framed around Social Action, projects that support young people to make change in their community through campaigning, research and being creative. Our project is called Art = Action and will see our Youth Theatre groups in Lache and Kingsway undertake a research project and work with local experts and groups to create a piece of theatre based around their chosen social action theme to help change perceptions or raise awareness. 
Stay tuned to the website, social media and our blog site http://minervatumbles.tumblr.com to see updates from the project when it launches in January. If you would like anymore information about this or any of our work, please Get in Touch. 

Anniversary Celebrations!!

To celebrate our 10th Anniversary, Minerva Arts is held our first ever Fundraising Event on the 26th October at Tarvin Community Centre. We were supported excellently by the centre themselves, The Ottomen caterers, the Cestrian Community Players, Natalie Pierce Jones and Will Jones, our lovely former Youth Theatre member who's case study can still be read on our Youth Theatre page. Steph wrote a blog about the celebrations and the opportunity to reflect on the last ten years which can be read on our Tumblr here. 

Fundraising

We have recently stepped up our efforts to diversify our revenue streams to support the huge expansion that we have had in 2018. Part of this is starting out in the world of online fundraising. We are now live on shopping platform Easyfundraising and donation platform Local Giving. You can find out more about our fundraising efforts and see how you can get involved and support our work on our brand new Fundraising page right here. We will be instigating several other new initiatives throughout 2019 so watch this space!

Minerva Arts is a Company Limited by Guarantee No. 8098260 and a Charity Registered in England and Wales No. 1149379