SCHOOL HOLIDAY WORKSHOPS

Creative Holiday Workshops for young people.

Backbone’s Young Creators Camps are unique holiday workshops for young people aged 7 - 12 years. Have fun over the two or three-day holiday camps where young creators explore making stories, characters, costumes, sets, props, craft, and experiment with creative storytelling devices like theatre, circus, dance, film, puppetry, and more.

Set in the beautiful Seven Hill Hub the camps invite young participants to our safe and collaborative environment to explore new forms of creativity, and meet other like-minded young people, all while having a blast!

As one of Queensland's longest-running youth arts organisations, Backbone are the experts in nurturing and developing your Young Creator’s skills in imagination, creativity and collaboration, setting them up with the skills for life.

2025 Dates

December Holidays: 15th - 17th December (Three Day Program). Single day registrations available.

NEXT HOLIDAY CAMP

DECEMBER HOLIDAY SCHEDULE:

DATES: 15th - 17th December 2025

DROP OFF: 9:15am

PICK UP: 4:00pm

Day 1: Story & Character Creation
Day 2: Make Your Own Play
Day 3: Special Excursion with Queensland Ballet*

*Please note, pick up and drop off on Day 3 will be at the Thomas Dixon Centre, West End. Drop off at 11:00am and pick up at 3:30pm.

WHAT TO BRING:

Please bring your own lunch, snacks, comfortable clothes to move in, and a water bottle.

Cost:

THREE DAY EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION: $350 (Book in before 1st December)

SINGLE DAY EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION: $150 per day (Book in before 1st December)

AFTER EARLY BIRD DATE CLOSES (AFTER 1st DEC):

THREE DAY REGISTRATION: $400

SINGLE DAY REGISTRATION: $180

We also offer a sibling discount and have limited hardship scholarship placements available.

Where?:

The Young Creators Holiday Camp will take place at:

Day 1 & 2: Backbone’s venue, Seven Hills Hub; 28 Tallowwood St, Seven Hills QLD 4170

Day 3: Queensland Ballet, Thomas Dixon Centre, West End (406 Montague Road, West End)

Register Now

*See more detailed oultine of workshops below.

SCHEDULE

DAY 1 15/12

1. Story Creation - Learn how to craft a world of your own! Through imagination, narrative and dramatic tension, participants will create their own story and bring it to life with dramatic techniques.

2. Character Creation - Open the costume box and have fun making your own characters to share with your new friends. Pulling from Backbone’s costume collection, you will be given the opportunity to rummage, play and create new characters!

Day 1 will follow this timetable:

9.15AM: Drop Off + Check In @ Seven Hills

9.30AM: Workshop 1

11.00AM: Morning Tea (BYO)

11.30AM: Drama Games/Free Time

12.30PM: Lunch (BYO)

1.30PM: Workshop 2

3.00PM: Afternoon Tea (BYO)

3.30PM: Drama Games/Free Time

4.00PM: Pick-Up

DAY 2 16/12

1. Make Your Own Play! - Create and perform a play with your new friends featuring the wonderful characters you’ve made and stories you've written! It's time to showcase your favourite things you've learned during Young Creators Camp.

DAY 3 17/12

Special Excursion to Queensland Ballet (*later drop off time):

11.00AM: Get dropped off at the Thomas Dixon Centre, West End

11.30AM: Workshop with Queensland Ballet Teaching Artists
12.30AM: Backstage Tour
12.45PM: Lunch (BYO)
1.15PM: Head into the Theatre to see…
1.30PM: Technical Rehearsal of The Little Mermaid

3.30PM: Parent Pick Up from Thomas Dixon Centre, West End

MEET THE TEAM

LEAD FACILITATOR MARTELLE SIMON-GREEN

Martelle Simon-Green is a Meanjin-based theatre maker, who works primarily as a performer and director. Graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Drama & Literature) , she has gone on to create and perform work both locally and internationally. In 2022, Martelle was an Artist in Residence at Backbone, writing and directing a theatrical work titled Pierrot for Backbone Festival and Fringe Brisbane. Martelle has been a performer for physical theatre ensemble NDRNCE, completing a residency at Metro Arts in 2021 for their work Tangerine Hour. In 2018, Martelle and her collaborators developed the Matilda Award Winning piece of immersive theatre La Silhouette (winner: Best Independent Production 2019 Matilda Awards, Nominated: Lord Mayor’s Award for Best New Australian Work). This work was not only presented in Australia (Backbone Festival 2018 and Brisbane Powerhouse Melt Festival 2019), La Silhouette was also presented in the UK at the Homegrown Festival 2019. More recently she has been a director and dramaturg for Dominoes and Rum (dir. Prince Brown) during its 2022 season. Martelle began as a teaching artist with Backbone Youth Arts Young Makers Program in 2021 and is developing a Youth Arts and education portfolio. Currently, Martelle is the Associate Producer and Lead Facilitator for Backbone Youth Arts.

Martelle’s creative credits include (as creator and performer unless otherwise stated): Obstacle (as Co-Director, Backbone Festival 2023), Bloom Girl (As Assistant Director, dir. Elise Lamb, Thomas Dixon Centre 2023), Pierrot (Director & Writer, Backbone Festival & Fringe Brisbane 2022) The Wilted Rose (As 2nd AD, Short Film, Dir. Elise Lamb, 2022), Dominoes and Rum (as Assistant Director, Dir. Prince Brown, 2021-22), An Intimate Evening with The Architects of Sound and Friends (as Producer, Metro Arts 2021), Tangerine Hour (Metro Arts 2021, dir. Gina Tay Limpus), La Silhouette (MELT Festival 2019, Battersea Arts Centre UK 2019, Backbone Festival 2018), STONEWALL (Metro Arts 2018), There’s No Sex ‘til the Third Act (as Director, Anywhere Festival 2018, QUT Showcase 2016), Hot Cult (Anywhere Festival 2017), Yowies! (Visual Bulk TAS 2017), AWFUL/BIG ADVENTURE (Anywhere Festival 2016, Winner of Anywhere Festival Award), 16 Days on a Sterile Hospital Floor (FAST 2016), The Moon Men (Anywhere Festival 2016, FAST 2015) and naïve. (as Writer and Director; QUT Create X 2016, Freshblood Festival 2016).