At the North West Cultural Education Awards, organised by Curious Minds in April, Ludus Dance was proud to be listed among the awards finalists at the prestigious event at the Preston Guild Hall.
About the Awards
The event ‘shone a light on best practice’, and those who have gone ‘above and beyond’ in their work, to bring the benefits of great art and culture to the region’s children and young people.
As well as honouring the North West’s cultural education stars, the awards brought together teachers, cultural organisations, artists and influencers from across the North West to celebrate their involvement in the Cultural Educational Challenge.
Ludus Dance’s success
In this first year of the awards, our work with children and young people was shortlisted in the Arts Partnership and Comino Creative Career Champion categories.
Arts Partnership
The Arts Partnership Award recognised outstanding partnerships between an education setting and an arts organisation. Ludus Dance was shortlisted for its project Words on War with Dowdales School in Dalton on Furness. Developed through the Curious Minds SLiCE programme, the project used dance and live performance to improve literacy skills, working with over 120 primary and secondary schools across Cumbria.
Comino Creative Career Champion
This award recognised a school or cultural organisation working to support young people into creative careers. As an organisation that develops and champions work for, by and with children and young people (CYP), Ludus Dance’s flagship Ludus Youth Dance Company offers high quality technical training, in contemporary dance technique, physical theatre and performance skills for young people aged 14 to 21 years. Ludus Dance’s Youth Forum provides further opportunities for young people to get involved in the arts by being mentored through a bespoke series of activities to develop non-cognitive and hard skill sets. And we put creating opportunities for early career dance artists, and supporting a thriving arts and dance ecology in the North West high on the agenda.
The awards organisers said: ‘It was truly uplifting to see so many of our friends and colleagues from the cultural and education sectors come together to celebrate the expert and exceptional practice continuously delivered in the North West.’
