For Year of Young People 2018, The Toon returns as a key feature of Youth Beatz 2018 to celebrate its 10th anniversary. The Toon is an issue based drama production taking a look into some of the real life issues faced by today’s young people. Delivered by a partnership led by the Youth Enquiry Service on Buccleuch Street Dumfries, The Toon is a hard hitting and shocking way of providing information to young people 14 – 25 about current issues that may be affecting them or may affect them in the future.
For the tenth anniversary, The Toon is giving young people the chance to meet some interesting characters from Wonderland, World of Wonka and The Toon whilst gaining valuable information on a variety of issues including domestic abuse, knife crime, drugs and alcohol, mental health and bullying.
The Toon will run as tours, giving young people the chance to have look round the fictional setting 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 is an integral part of YOUTH BEATZ 2018, taking place on the 30th June and 1st July 2018. The interactive youth information zone has run for a number of years and has been the hub for getting young people involved in what has been described as “a brilliant way of educating and making you think!”
Young People’s Champion, Councillor Adam Wilson, said “It is important to Dumfries and Galloway Council to recognise and address the issues that are facing young people on a daily basis. The Toon is a fantastic and innovative way of upskilling young people on a true peer to peer basis. Issues covered are hard hitting, but the experience and messages you take away from The Toon are thought provoking and hopeful.”
With the aim of meaningfully raising awareness of a range of issues affecting the lives of young people, The Toon is a fresh take on addressing these issues. To make it available to as many young people as possible in Dumfries and Galloway, the Toon will also run tours through the week leading up to the Youth Beatz weekend both as preview tours and also as dedicated tours for school groups to experience. S3 & S4 pupils from a number of the regions secondary schools will attend The Toon and The Toon’s peer-education approach makes it relatable to the young people attending. Groups of pupils will be taken through the drama tour and then participating in an interactive workshop at the end. The workshops are designed to make sure young people have understood the messages from within The Toon but also allow them the opportunity to de-brief if they have been affected by the experience.
Vice Chair of Nithsdale Area committee, Provost Tracey Little said “Nithsdale Area Committee has always been committed to improving the lives of young people in Nithsdale. We are proud to once again support The Toon and Youth Beatz and the innovative work that happens there to make a difference to the young people in Dumfries and Galloway.”
The young performers and the stage crew, who can be seen throughout the weekend at YOUTH BEATZ 2018, completed a 2 week Performance and Production Course named ‘Toon Camp’, planning the immersive experience and developing the new show and props so new and relevant issues can be explored at this year’s event. The intensive course was packed full of performance training, script writing, costume and set production, as well as vital learning around the issues that the experience will look to explore with those who venture inside on the day. Young people who took part in Toon Camp also successfully completed their Bronze Youth Achievement Award. This is an award that credits the volunteers for the hard work that they have put into The Toon, and is rated Level 4 on the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF).
The Toon Presents The Mashup is brought to you by Dumfries and Galloway Council’s Youth Work Service, working in partnership with Sexual Health D&G, Domestic Abuse Partnership, LGBT Youth, Rape Crisis and Police Scotland.
Funding has this year been secured through Nithsdale Area Committee, Choices for Life, Cashback for Communities, and YoungStart to ensure the experience can be available to more 12 – 25 year olds on the day. So if you are at Youth Beatz and you want to take a step into the unknown, either during the day or at night then The Toon is the place to be.
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