The Toon is an issue based drama production taking a look into some of the real life issues faced by today’s young people. Based within Dumfries and Galloway Council’s Youth Enquiry Service on Buccleuch Street, The Toon as a hard hitting and shocking way of providing information to young people 12 – 25 about current issues that may be affecting them or may affect them in the future.
Similar in concept to the Youth Beatz attraction World of Wonka, The Toon will give young people the chance to meet some interesting characters whilst gaining valuable information on a variety of issues including suicide, sexual exploitation, bullying, drugs and domestic abuse.
The Toon will run as tours, giving young people the chance to have look round the fictional town and meet different characters in different situations. Young people will then go into a workshop with dedicated youth works where they will have the chance to further explore some of the issues faced in The Toon.
The Toon was designed and written by a focus group of young people over a residential weekend and a 6 day intensive ‘camp’. During camp, young people participated in a range of workshops including acting, voice training, special effects make up, script writing and set design as well as gaining more information and knowledge on the issues being covered in The Toon.
The Toon is brought to you by the Council’s Community Learning and Development Service Nithsdale, working in partnership with Youth Work Nithsdale, Police Scotland, Domestic Abuse and Violence Against Woman Partnership, and Sexual Health D and G.
Cllr Tom McAughtrie, Chair of the Council’s Community and Customer Services Committee said;
“The Toon is a great way of getting information over to young people about issues affecting them. It’s important to our Council that young people are properly prepared for adulthood and providing them with the right information and advice is one of the main ways of doing this. I would encourage any youth groups or uniformed groups to book a place and attend one of the shows that local young people are putting on”
Bobbi Cherry, Aged 17 who is a volunteer said;
“The Toon residential and camp helped build on my confidence and helped the group bond. The issue based workshops helped us learn about situations that happen within our local community. The Toon will hopefully be a good way to raise awareness to other young people”
Funding has this year been secured through The Young Start Big Lottery Fund and CashBack for Communities.
The Toon will be officially open for tours from Wednesday 27 May and run until the end of June.
Places need to be pre-booked. Contact [email protected] or phone the Oasis Youth Centre on 01387 260243 for more information or check us out on Facebook: The Toon.
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