Malton School’s Academy of Performing Arts has been awarded £2,400 funding from We Are IVE this academic year.

We Are IVE is the Arts Council Bridge organisation for Yorkshire and the Humber, working closely with individuals and organisations across the arts sector to make sure all children and young people have access to great arts and cultural opportunities.

Working closely with IVE, Malton School’s Academy of Performing Arts has used the funding to access bespoke arts practitioner support.

Over the course of this academic year, the aim is to provide all GCSE and A level arts students at Malton with the opportunity to attend at least one workshop to support their coursework and exam preparation.

This term, Stevie Cairns, an arts and dance practitioner, has visited school twice working closely with Year 12 and Year 13 students as they prepare for one of their Performing Arts study units.

The aim of her workshops was to encourage students to develop their second area of specialism as they planned and created a fairy story to tour around local primary schools.

Bringing all her experience and passion to the workshops, in the first session Stevie encouraged students to explore different art forms, and in the second session worked with students to consider the broader context in which they would be presenting their performance.

Stevie studied for A BA Honours in Dance before taking up an internship at Dance4 in Nottingham. She then spent 15 years teaching dance and performing arts in a range of education and community settings.

She now works freelance as well as holding the position of Cultural Education Manager for the Doncaster Cultural Education Partnership.

A music focussed workshop will take place later this month,, again as a result of the We are IVE funding.

Jon Lee, Drama Teacher, said: “It has been fantastic to be able to welcome arts practitioners into school to work directly with our students. As well as bringing a wealth of experience and learning which our students benefit from, they are also able to share their personal stories of working in the arts sector, again encouraging and inspiring our students.”

For more information about We Are Ive, visit: https://weareive.org/ive-studio/bridge-organisations/