National Youth Theatre Company Answers International Call to Build Theatre for Children In Ecuador

June 24, 2012 - PRLog -- On Monday 2 July, 19 year old National Youth Theatre Company (NYTC) member Gretchen Habermann, a Bachelor of Performance student of Wollongong University, will accompany NYTC Regional Coordinator Paula Rundell-Gordon and fellow NYTC member Julia Halsey on a life-changing trip to Ecuador, South America to help the small community of Baños build and fit out a theatre and help deliver arts education to the children of Baños.

In response to an international call for support, NYTC representatives Ms Habermann, Ms Rundell-Gordon and Ms Halsey will volunteer their time and expertise to help this small community have greater access and exposure to the arts, and in particular theatre, and to be able to share their theatrical experiences with young people in and around the Baños community.

Ms Habermann said “Baños is a far-cry from Wollongong or Albury, my home town, there isn’t a theatre or a cinema in the tiny city which is located high in the Ecuadorian Andes and the community is sustained predominantly by the tourist industry.

“It’s exciting for us to be able to contribute and enhance their community just by volunteering. We’ll be conducting workshops and being actively involved in the installation of the theatre. It’s a fabulous feeling to know that our work will enable their community to benefit from the theatre education, productions and film screenings we take for granted here in Australia” she said.  
   
Ms Rundell-Gordon who is also a director on the board of the National Youth Theatre Company Foundation said, “I have travelled extensively in South America and am excited to be bringing our NYTC  students to volunteer their skills and expertise and to learn new things from other volunteers.

“As a teacher, I know the importance of the arts in helping build communities like Baños.  The Arts helps to improve literacy, enables people to tell their stories and share stories with each other and importantly, this in turn helps generate employment in a poor country particularly one who is so dependent on tourism for survival” she said.

Founder and Chair of the board of the National Youth Theatre Company Foundation, Lindsay Farris said, “NYTC has always been about introducing the arts and nurturing performance skills in young people.  So when we learned about the need of the Fundacion Arte del Mundo, A children's arts and literacy charity that offers free after school programs for the children of Baños, we wanted to help.

“We’re delighted to have the opportunity for NYTC to support this initiative.  Paula is an incredible teacher with extensive experience and knowledge across all elements of theatre and performance, while Julia and Gretchen (both students and members of NYTC), have developed skills through the NYTC workshops that will enable them to teach the children and young people in Baños drama and performance skills,” Mr Farris said.

Anyone can get involved and help by making a donation.  There are a number of opportunities.  From buying a brick for just $25 which will be displayed in the foyer with the name and country of the donor or, you can just make a donation with money raised contributing to the construction and lights, curtains, costumes etc.

To help volunteers to build the theatre, please visit: http://www.artedelmundoecuador.com  
For information on how to become a member of NYTC please visit: http://www.nytc.com.au
 
-ENDS -

To arrange an interview or for more information contact: Insight Communications


JOURNALIST NOTES

NATIONAL YOUTH THEATRE COMPANY & NATIONAL YOUTH THEATRE COMPANY FOUNDATION

The National Youth Theatre Company Foundation exists to support the National Youth Theatre Company in creating equal opportunities for all Australian youth to benefit from the Arts through theatre production, welfare programs and ongoing professional development.

The National Youth Theatre Company (NYTC) is dedicated to the innovative, ongoing development and sustainability of Australia’s diverse cultural landscape with a particular focus on young and emerging Arts practitioners. NYTC achieves its objectives through three unique cultural, social and professional development streams.

Organisational Aims & Objectives
NYTC aims to be Australia’s most innovative youth theatre company with a national focus dedicated to the preservation of Australia’s unique artists and cultural identity. Our objectives are realised through NYTC’s three practical development streams:

1.   Theatre Production, Professional Development and Training: Equipping emerging artists with performance, production and practical skills to implement and actualise imaginative ventures with sound business foundations to preserve sustainability and cultural growth;
2.   Drama Welfare, Personal Development and Self-Expression: Providing individuals and communities with tools for self-expression and social wellbeing through drama exercises, programs and development initiatives designed to break down emerging and established social inhibitors; and
3.   Professional Practice: Providing the framework for Australian audiences, artists and their companies to communicate, educate, and share networks, tools and resources to effectively collaborate to generate financially viable work and sustain cultural progression.

Through the National Youth Theatre Company Foundation you can make a tax deductible donation to support our work in Australia. It can be a one-off gift, regular gift, bequest or a major gift. All donations contribute to the ongoing development of NYTC in providing opportunities for young Australian artists and the development of Australia’s cultural identity.  For more information visit http://www.nytcfoundation.org.au

HELP BRING THE ARTS TO BAÑOS

Our Plan
To convert our garage into a community theatre (and cinema) for the town of Baños and spread the love of theatre and the arts.  BRING THE ARTS TO BAÑOS!! We have over 30 volunteers from all over the world hoping to come to Ecuador over the summer and help us build a theatre and inaugurate it with a community-based performance.

Our Story
We are Fundacion Arte del Mundo.  A children's arts and literacy foundation in Baños, Ecuador. We offer a free after school program for the children of Baños.  We also offer English classes for children and adults.  We are completely independent, we have volunteers who come from all over the world to help us run our program and we fund our foundation through a small donation they make to cover their rent to live in our housing. For more information about who we are visit our website: http://www.artedelmundoecuador.com

The Impact
There is no theatre in Baños, a city of over 20,000 people.  Our project will be providing a space for us to use to run theatre workshops for the community, provide the community with performances by performers from all over Ecuador and other countries (who often come to us as we are an arts foundation), initiate community performances and storytelling events and run weekly cinema nights.  Currently there is no cinema in Baños either and we have a projector that was donated to us by some volunteers.

What We Need
The money donated will go towards:
•   Replacing the roof
•   Materials to close in the side of the garage to make it an enclosed, sound proof and weather proof space
•   Paint, wood and building materials
•   Building a covered entrance area and foyer for the theatre.
•   Fabric for curtains
•   Lighting rig
•   Lighting and sound equipment (we are trying to get the majority of this donated however we will need to purchase what doesn’t get donated)
•   Transportation for donated items (shipping costs from other countries, trucks to our town)

If you have theatre or technical theatre skills (or carpentry/electrical skills) and would be interested in the 3 x week volunteer program over the summer to help on this project please contact artedelmundo21@gmail.com