SCHOOL HOLIDAY CAMPS

Creative Holiday Workshops for young people.

Backbone’s Young Creators Camps are unique holiday workshops for young people aged 7 - 11 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.

2024 Dates

December Holidays: 16th-18th December (Three Day Program)

NEXT HOLIDAY CAMP

December HOLIDAY SCHEDULE:

DATES: 16th - 18th December

DROP OFF: 9:15am

PICK UP: 4:00pm

Day 1: Costume creation and place making.*
Day 2: Storybook making and make your own play.
Day 3: Movement Class + Coding to MOVE with Queensland Ballet and Christmas Crafts!

WHAT TO BRING:

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

Cost:

THREE DAY REGISTRATION: $350 - includes lunch on each day (BYO snacks)

SINGLE DAY REGISTRATION: $150 per day - includes lunch (BYO snacks)

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

Where?:

The Young Creators Holiday Camp will take place at Backbone’s venue, Seven Hills Hub; 28 Tallowwood St, Seven Hills QLD 4170

Register Now

*See more detailed oultine of workshops below.

SCHEDULE

DAY 1 16/12

1. Costume 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 inspired by the costumes!

2. Placemaking - Engage your imagination and make your very own playtime wonderland using materials found at Seven Hills Hub! Imagine the best cubby house, or a miniature town, you will create fantastical structures made for exploring.

Each day will follow this timetable with unique workshops daily.

9.15AM: Drop Off + Check In

9.30AM: Workshop 1

11.00AM: Morning Tea (BYO)

11.30AM: Drama Games/Free Time

12.30PM: Lunch (Provided)

1.30PM: Workshop 2

3.00PM: Afternoon Tea (BYO)

3.30PM: Drama Games/Free Time

4.00PM: Pick-Up

DAY 2 17/12

1. Storybook Making - Make your own picture book OR comic book and have fun learning about the world of storytelling! You will learn how to make different kinds of zines and how to use them to tell your stories.

2. 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 18/12

This December Holiday Camp features TWO special guest workshops from Queensland Ballet on wednesday december 18th.

1. Challenge your body to move like a ballet dancer – Queensland Ballet Teaching Artists will guide children through a ballet-inspired warm up before introducing the story of The Nutcracker. We will then learn two different dances from the ‘land of the sweets’ – seeing how high we can jump, how fast we can move, how long we can balance and how slowly we can control our movements. We’ll finish this first workshop with some ballet-inspired art making – you become the designer for a special item of costume!

2. Coding to MOVE guides students through a ballet-inspired physical warm-up. This activity incorporates numeracy, language, and simple mathematic cues as they move through some of the fundamental codified technique of the genre. Student dancers then meet Wendy or Wallace, our programmed, dancing robots and see them perform programmed movement that can be matched to visible sequences cards. Students then work together, led by their QB Teaching Artist, to experiment with creating movement based on pre-programmed or ‘coded’ instructions and will eventually apply spatial and dynamic manipulations to their improvisations. This workshop culminates in a presentation of student work to celebrate learning and skills.

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).

FACILITATOR MAISIE CROSDALE

Graduating from QUT with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Drama) with Distinction, Maisie Crosdale is an emerging Independent Theatre-Maker, Producer and Performer. Maisie has a background in classical ballet and contemporary dance and is now reconnecting how movement and theatre can work collaboratively —namely through Physical Theatre and Visual Theatre. Maisie is currently training with Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre Company, working as a facilitator with Zen Zen Zo's Teaching Team and in 2022 completed the company’s internationally renowned Creative Internship Programme. In 2022, Maisie produced and performed a new work in Brisbane and Moreton Bay’s Anywhere Festival, titled A Matter of Material – a non-verbal Puppetry and Object Theatre work focusing on sustainability and environmental conservation, which received the 2022 Queensland Communify Award. Maisie also worked with Dead Puppet Society in their 2022 Academy, Lab Programme - working with BLAT Productions as Movement Director and Puppeteer to curate a work titled Ta-Da!, which debuted at the Brisbane Powerhouse.

Maisie has also explored the world of academic research, working across two projects with QUT and Dr David Megarrity as a Research Assistant. Firstly on a project titled Sideshow where she researched the importance of authentic, young people's voices in playwriting and research, through a series of interviews with Empire Theatre Youth Arts in Dalby. Secondly, with David Megarrity’s Bear With Me by Tyrone and Lesley. A project at Metro Arts, where Maisie interviewed children, aged 3-8, and their beloved teddy bears - empowering children to be experts of their own imagination’s and articulate their identities through the form of plush toys.

FACILITATOR JAYCOB BEVEN-DELANEY

Jaycob Beven-Delaney is a Meanjin/Brisbane based artist specialising in children’s theatre and his own independent work. For almost a decade Jaycob has been working for Cheeky Monkey Club performing for children across South East Queensland through public performances and festivals. Through his independent work he has created several shows ranging from the parody satire, Jack Sharpe and the Curse of the Forbidden Fruit and the improv comedy, Harold’s Christmas Wishlist. Jaycob has also become a valued collaborator, working on projects like Juniper's Kiss List and Pierrot (2022).