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NANDA OPEN FORUM
WEDNESDAY 16 JULY 2008
To Nanda Members
Following the Forum on the 16th July 2008 members of the Council had an informal meeting to consolidate their thoughts. They have noted the comments and observations of the members on that evening and will be acting on them as soon as possible. We hope you will realise that it will take time to implement all your requests but we hope to make a difference soon.
We start at the next Council meeting in September with decisions on the Youth festival and the One Act festival and will be looking to organise some workshops early in the new year. Another priority will be the web site, as it is very obvious that communication is a major problem.
Please let us know what you thought about the forum, if it was worth while. It may be good to hold another one at some time in the near future.
To those who attended thank you for taking the time out to come. Your contributions were very much appreciated. The turn out was encouraging and it was useful for groups to meet each other.
See you all soon.
Joan Wildgust
Chairman
Forum Details and Topics of Discussion
The Chairman, Joan Wildgust, opened the proceedings by welcoming NANDA members. who came from ten local drama groups, to the meeting.
The President, Roy Ainscough, gave an introductory talk on NANDA`s various activities and the ways it could offer help to local societies-
- What Voice? - NANDA has contacts with local and national government and can represent local groups.
- Festivals - Three festivals are organised by NANDA throughout the year - the Play of the Year, the One Act Festival and the Youth Festival. In addition, there is a playwriting festival, held every three years. NANDA is hoping to seek sponsorship from local businesses for the development and enlargement of the Youth Festival.
- NANDA issues various publications: - One Act Plays, sketches, historical and archive material to name a few.
- Training/workshops - these are organised for the benefit of members. The last one was on directing.
- Theatre luncheons: - where visiting actors are invited to give a talk. The last one was with Prunella Scales and Timothy West.
- Insurance: - NANDA members get a reduced rate.
- Archive Storage: - The records of groups which have folded can be stored in the Dan Shaw Archive at the Archive Office.
- Assets Repository: - Groups which have folded can lodge their remaining funds with NANDA and can regain these funds at a later date if they restart. Similarly, props, costumes etc can he stored or donated to other groups, if the group wishes.
- Website/Newsletter: - the newsletter is published quarterly and contains news and articles about various societies in the Notts area. It is hoped that the website - www.nanda.org,uk - will be further developed in due course to offer even more help to Societies, and that other societies will link their websites to NANDA's
- NANDA hopes to foster mutual support between societies.
The biggest problem is communication - ie making more people within each society aware of the benefits of NANDA.
. Hayley Masom (East Leake Amateur Players) spoke about her group's involvement with NANDA and how it has helped.
ELAPS was formed m 1998 with 7 members and has grown steadily through the years. NANDA has helped the group in several ways.
Through their involvement in the Youth Festival they have expanded their youth group, They have gained more members and audience through parental involvement.
One of their members entered the playwriting competition and has gone on to write more.
Play of the year competition and dinner; they have regularly entered the competition and find that the dinner and awards ceremony is an enjoyable social occasion.
The group sends at least one representative to Council meetings They found that by this involvement they have learnt from other groups and that the support has helped them develop and thrive.
Martin from West Bridgford Dramatic Society
West Bridgford have built their own theatre and their group puts on 3 plays per year.
Theirs is a successful and thriving group and they are happy to give help to other groups, by sharing experiences and talents. Martin has found useful information on the website www.amdram.co.uk
One of the main themes to emerge was the problem of communication. When there has been a mass mailing to groups, the information has not been passed on to members. It is hoped that with improved website links between groups and links to the NANDA website, more members will have access to information.
This would also provide useful details of plays which are being performed through the calendar, which could then be included in the newsletter (via Hayley) and put on the website(via Mike)
Groups should also be encouraged to swap leaflets advertising their forthcoming productions.
It was suggested that the open forum attendees could arrange to visit another group which had not attended.
Another solution to the communication problem would be for groups to send a representative to Council meetings, either by appointing a NANDA rep or for a different person to attend each time.
Many groups expressed an interest in workshops and suggested topics included:- makeup, directing, acting, special effects. The problem was picking a night when people could attend; it is virtually impossible to pick a night suitable for everyone. A solution would be to hold the same workshop on 2 or more nights or at a weekend.
A more ambitious idea would be to hold a multi-workshop weekend. lt was hoped that group members with specific talents could volunteer to hold a workshop.
A problem facing a lot of groups was the difficulty of finding a venue for their productions, and the cost of hiring a venue. Could groups with their own auditorium offer help to those without? Could groups share actors (this has been done already between some groups) and technical expertise?
Joan Wildgust (Chairman) finished by reminding everyone of the AGM on Sunday 11 January 2009 (venue at the LaceMarket) and asking two questions -
What can NANDA do for you? And .... What can you do for NANDA?