YOUNG CREATOR WORKSHOPS
Backbone Young Creator Workshops are an energetic, curious and supportive environment for Young People aged 8 to 18 to nurture and develop their imagination, creativity and collaboration skills.
Established in Brisbane over 35 years ago, Backbone has a deep history of engaging the creativity of Young People. We foster this creativity through a unique participant-led approach that centres on young artists finding their own voice, and placing them in an uplifting space with dedicated teaching artists who work professionally in the performing arts industry.
Our workshops are designed to empower young artists with the tools to tell their own stories and create their own work, to give young artists the agency to make their own creative decisions and fuel their passion for the performing arts and storytelling.
We know the valuable skills people learn through the creative arts are for life. Backbone Young Creator Workshops nurture their creativity, skills in collaboration and public speaking and boosts focus and dedication. Backbone’s Young Creator Workshops are an excellent way for young people to engage with their peers, while developing their creative & performing skills.
At Backbone, you don’t just join a drama class, you join a community!
Term 1 2025 begins Saturday 1ST OF FEBRUARY!
Registrations are open now.
SKILL BUILDERS
Ages 8-11
Saturday 11:30AM – 1:00pm
Working with Backbone’s teaching artists, Skill Builders will take their performing skills and confidence to the next level by learning how to apply their imagination to create and perform their own stories, from their own perspectives. These energetic and educational workshops are tailored to meet the needs of each young artist while ensuring playfulness and inclusivity. Skill Builders allows young people to explore their creative potential through creative play, text & speech, movement, performance, and more.
Term 1 will focus on Movement and Meaning through exploring new movement and body and spatial awareness. How can we tell a story with our actions and movement?
2025 TERM dates:
Term 1: Saturday 1st February - 29th March
Term 2: Saturday 26th April - 21st June
Term 3: Saturday 19th July - 13th September
Term 4: Saturday 11th October - 6th December
Cost:
$390/term or commit to the whole year for $1,360 ($200 discount).
We offer a discounted rate if you book for Young Creator Workshops AND our Youth Drama Troupe.
We also offer a sibling discount and have limited hardship scholarship placements available.
Where?:
Workshops will take place at Backbone’s venue, Seven Hills Hub on 28 Tallowwood St, Seven Hills QLD 4170
YOUNG MAKERS
Ages 12-18
Saturday 1:30PM – 3:00PM
Participants in Young Makers will develop the skill set to collaboratively devise new work that speaks to the issues that matter to them most, highlighting collaboration as a key creative tool and life skill. With Backbone’s experienced facilitators, Young Makers will explore acting, writing, dramaturgy, and directing.
Term 1 will focus on Movement and Storytelling, providing young artists with contemporary performance teachings that will develop their movement skills and body and spatial awareness to improve their acting & performance skills.
2025 TERM dates:
Term 1: Saturday 1st February - 29th March
Term 2: Saturday 26th April - 21st June
Term 3: Saturday 19th July - 13th September
Term 4: Saturday 11th October - 6th December
Cost:
$390/term or commit to the whole year for $1,360 ($200 discount).
We offer a discounted rate if you book for Young Creator Workshops AND our Youth Drama Troupe.
We also offer a sibling discount and have limited hardship scholarship placements available.
Where?:
Workshops will take place at Backbone’s venue, Seven Hills Hub on 28 Tallowwood St, Seven Hills QLD 4170
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).