Creative Holiday Workshops for young people.
Backbone’s Young Creators Camps are unique holiday workshops for young people aged 7 - 11 years. Have fun over the two or three-day holiday camps where young creators explore making stories, characters, costumes, sets, props, craft, and experiment with creative storytelling devices like theatre, circus, dance, film, puppetry, and more.
Set in the beautiful Seven Hill Hub the camps invite young participants to our safe and collaborative environment to explore new forms of creativity, and meet other like-minded young people, all while having a blast!
As one of Queensland's longest-running youth arts organisations, Backbone are the experts in nurturing and developing your Young Creator’s skills in imagination, creativity and collaboration, setting them up with the skills for life.
2024 Dates
June Holidays: 24th - 26th June (Three Day Program)
December Holidays: 16th-18th December (Three Day Program)
Image by Nick Bleeker.
NEXT HOLIDAY CAMP
JUNE 24th - 26th
JUNE HOLIDAY SCHEDULE:
DATES: 24th - 26th June 2024
Day 1: Costume creation and outdoor place making.
Day 2: Storytelling and character exploration.
Day 3: Puppet-making then make your own play!
WHAT TO BRING:
Please bring your own snacks, comfortable clothes to move in, and a water bottle.
Cost:
THREE DAY REGISTRATION: $350 - includes lunch on each day (BYO snacks)
SINGLE DAY REGISTRATION: $150 per day - includes lunch (BYO snacks)
We also offer a sibling discount and have limited hardship scholarship placements available.
Where?:
The Young Creators Holiday Camp will take place at Backbone’s venue, Seven Hills Hub on 28 Tallowwood St, Seven Hills QLD 4170
MEET THE TEAM
LEAD FACILITATOR MARTELLE SIMON-GREEN
Martelle Simon-Green is a Meanjin-based theatre maker, who works primarily as a performer and director. Graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Drama & Literature) , she has gone on to create and perform work both locally and internationally. In 2022, Martelle was an Artist in Residence at Backbone, writing and directing a theatrical work titled Pierrot for Backbone Festival and Fringe Brisbane. Martelle has been a performer for physical theatre ensemble NDRNCE, completing a residency at Metro Arts in 2021 for their work Tangerine Hour. In 2018, Martelle and her collaborators developed the Matilda Award Winning piece of immersive theatre La Silhouette (winner: Best Independent Production 2019 Matilda Awards, Nominated: Lord Mayor’s Award for Best New Australian Work). This work was not only presented in Australia (Backbone Festival 2018 and Brisbane Powerhouse Melt Festival 2019), La Silhouette was also presented in the UK at the Homegrown Festival 2019. More recently she has been a director and dramaturg for Dominoes and Rum (dir. Prince Brown) during its 2022 season. Martelle began as a teaching artist with Backbone Youth Arts Young Makers Program in 2021 and is developing a Youth Arts and education portfolio. Currently, Martelle is the Associate Producer and Lead Facilitator for Backbone Youth Arts.
Martelle’s creative credits include (as creator and performer unless otherwise stated): Obstacle (as Co-Director, Backbone Festival 2023), Bloom Girl (As Assistant Director, dir. Elise Lamb, Thomas Dixon Centre 2023), Pierrot (Director & Writer, Backbone Festival & Fringe Brisbane 2022) The Wilted Rose (As 2nd AD, Short Film, Dir. Elise Lamb, 2022), Dominoes and Rum (as Assistant Director, Dir. Prince Brown, 2021-22), An Intimate Evening with The Architects of Sound and Friends (as Producer, Metro Arts 2021), Tangerine Hour (Metro Arts 2021, dir. Gina Tay Limpus), La Silhouette (MELT Festival 2019, Battersea Arts Centre UK 2019, Backbone Festival 2018), STONEWALL (Metro Arts 2018), There’s No Sex ‘til the Third Act (as Director, Anywhere Festival 2018, QUT Showcase 2016), Hot Cult (Anywhere Festival 2017), Yowies! (Visual Bulk TAS 2017), AWFUL/BIG ADVENTURE (Anywhere Festival 2016, Winner of Anywhere Festival Award), 16 Days on a Sterile Hospital Floor (FAST 2016), The Moon Men (Anywhere Festival 2016, FAST 2015) and naïve. (as Writer and Director; QUT Create X 2016, Freshblood Festival 2016).
FACILITATOR MAISIE CROSDALE
Graduating from QUT with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Drama) with Distinction, Maisie Crosdale is an emerging Independent Theatre-Maker, Producer and Performer. Maisie has a background in classical ballet and contemporary dance and is now reconnecting how movement and theatre can work collaboratively —namely through Physical Theatre and Visual Theatre. Maisie is currently training with Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre Company, working as a facilitator with Zen Zen Zo's Teaching Team and in 2022 completed the company’s internationally renowned Creative Internship Programme. In 2022, Maisie produced and performed a new work in Brisbane and Moreton Bay’s Anywhere Festival, titled A Matter of Material – a non-verbal Puppetry and Object Theatre work focusing on sustainability and environmental conservation, which received the 2022 Queensland Communify Award. Maisie also worked with Dead Puppet Society in their 2022 Academy, Lab Programme - working with BLAT Productions as Movement Director and Puppeteer to curate a work titled Ta-Da!, which debuted at the Brisbane Powerhouse.
Maisie has also explored the world of academic research, working across two projects with QUT and Dr David Megarrity as a Research Assistant. Firstly on a project titled Sideshow where she researched the importance of authentic, young people's voices in playwriting and research, through a series of interviews with Empire Theatre Youth Arts in Dalby. Secondly, with David Megarrity’s Bear With Me by Tyrone and Lesley. A project at Metro Arts, where Maisie interviewed children, aged 3-8, and their beloved teddy bears - empowering children to be experts of their own imagination’s and articulate their identities through the form of plush toys.