This summer, to get you all in the festival mood Newport’s The Riverfront are running a series of ‘Festival Makers’ workshops in collaboration with Citrus Arts, a South Wales based performance company founded by Welsh artists James and Bridie Doyle-Roberts. Festival Makers aims to get people of all ages into the festival spirit and teach them some fantastic new skills through a series of free workshops in the run up to the Big Splash festival.

The first of these workshops is a Circus Skills Workshop on Sunday 16 June from 10.30am-3.30pm (also Sunday 30 June, 1.30 – 3.30pm and Sunday 14 July, 1.30 – 3.30pm). This workshop enables participants try a range of circus skills from hula hooping to trapezing to tightwire walking. In the workshops there will also be the opportunity to learn some choreography and take part in a special routine over the Big Splash weekend!

There will be a Flag Making Workshop on Tuesday 18 June, 4.00-6.00pm to design and create colourful and vibrant flags inspired by nature that will be on display at The Riverfront over the Big Splash weekend. This workshop will cover basic skills in screen printing, stencil making and sewing.

For those who may be interested in a career in running events or event security there are the Stewarding Training and High Expectations to High Vis workshops.

Stewarding Training (Saturday 22nd June, 9.30am – 4.30pm) is an entry level accredited course which will give you all the skills you need to steward events. This qualification provides the knowledge of how to prepare for events, control entry and exit of customers, identify and deal with crowd problems and respond to emergencies and provide a good level of customer service. Subjects covered include preparation for spectator events, control of spectators at events, assessment of crowds and responses to potential crowd problems and response to injuries, illnesses and other emergencies.

High Expectations to High Vis (Tuesday 25 June from 5.00-8.00pm) is a workshop that looks at planning a public arts event, including the practicalities and possible pitfalls. This session covers case studies of arts festivals and gives understanding the of considerations for audience behaviour, audience expectation and experience, as well as considerations for Health & Safety and risk assessment.

Further Festival Makers workshops include a Willow Art Workshop (Sunday 30 June, 10.30am-12.30pm) allowing participants to create a shooting star or even a galaxy for display at the Big Splash festival, a Screen Printing Workshop (Sunday 14 July, 10.30am-12.30pm) where you can create your own design to be used as festival décor on flags, bunting and banners, and a Combined Willow Art & Screen Printing Workshop (Sunday 7 July, 10.30am-3.30pm).

All Festival Makers workshops will be held at The Riverfront in the run up to Big Splash, and have been made possible thanks to funding from Fusion and Resilient Communities. 

To book a place on any of the workshops, or for more information please email Sally-Anne Evans on sally-anne.evans@newportlive.co.uk.