Positive Mindset Creative Arts Festival

Drama Category Information Package

(Eligible to Secondary Students Only) Creativity Connectedness Conversations

First a bit of background…

The Positive Mindset Creative Arts Festival aims to raise community awareness, enhance mental health literacy and reduce the stigma associated with mental illness and addiction issues in young people. The competition also hopes to allow primary and secondary students to connect with one another, enhance their help-seeking behaviour and provide the opportunity to express their creativity in a meaningful way. It is envisaged that the festival will continue to run each year to enhance the use of creativity in engaging and connecting our young people, in order to create positive conversations about the issues of mental illness and addiction problems.

…here’s what you’ll need to do

We want you to research, write and perform a 5-10 minutes drama piece on a mental health topic.

Each participating school will act out their drama piece in an

audition at a mutually agreed time during the ‘Audition Fortnight’ (29th Aug – 16th Sept) at their own school.

Each school will perform in front of a panel of judges. Three finalists are chosen to compete in the Grand Final event, to be

held at the Logan Entertainment Centre on the 11 October 2016.

In the Grand Final judges select the top three performances

and the associated schools will receive a trophy and a

comprehensive mental health resource package that can be used to benefit the students and school community. The participating students will receive a medallion and a framed certificate.

All schools and/or participants will receive a Certificate of Participation from Metro South Addiction and Mental Health Services.

Artist in Residence Program Schools can elect to obtain additional support from a QUT drama student(s), providing mutual learning opportunities for both the school students and the university students to work together on a drama piece. Please contact Jennifer Gibson below for more information.

Jennifer Gibson │Stakeholder Relations Manager Creative Industries Faculty Queensland University of Technology Z4 The Hut, Musk Avenue│Kelvin Grove Qld 4059 P: 3138 0515 │M: 0429 080 227 │ j11.gibson@qut.edu.au

Winners will receive

• Trophy for your school

• Comprehensive mental health resource package

• Certificates and medallions for participants

Guidelines for Competition

• Your play must be between five and ten minutes on any of

the attached list of mental health disorders/themes.

• Your play must be ready by the 28th August 2016.

• There can be up to two entries from each school.

• A basic script must be available electronically prior to the

audition. The script is not part of the judging process however it will enable the mental health professional to better comment on the play as well as to ensure accurate mental health information in the play during the script writing and research stage.

• Your play can be part of an assessment piece or extra-curricular tasks.

• Do not have more than 10 actors in the play or 8 actors with

speaking parts (remember you only have 10 minutes).

• There can be up to three students engaged in a supportive role (e.g. lighting, assistant to the drama teacher) as an official participant of the competition. (We’ll have a team to help you out with this as well.)

• Focus on promoting mental health! This may include

exploring the causes, experiences and outcomes of mental illness or looking at themes of help-seeking behaviours, support systems and the recovery journey.

• Any dramatic mediums are welcome. This may include mime, solo, ensemble, dance, singing, comedy, realism and abstract.

• Judging criteria will be based on:

- mental health theme (promotion of good mental health and reduction of stigma associated with mental illness)

- production/drama/direction/delivery - entertainment value and audience response

• Plays will lose points if it goes over the ten minutes timeframe

• Props/set design/ lighting etc should be kept to a minimum due to limited time to change set up between performances (two mins). The schools are able to appoint a representative to support with sound and lighting delivery.

Don’t Forget To Research Research Research! Schools are recommended to research their plays. Some suggested approaches are:

1. Choose a topic/theme and research it, such as via quality Internet websites (such as Beyond Blue, SANE Australia, The Black Dog Institute, headspace, Reach Out etc), read books on the subject etc.

2. Discuss with the school guidance officer, chaplain, counsellor or school based health nurse for their advice and assistance.

3. A mental health professional or students from the Queensland University of Technology can be allocated to each school after the Registration Form has been faxed back to the Festival Coordinator. They can help provide feedback, psycho-education, additional educational material and support for the schools to ensure accurate and relevant portrayal of mental health and mental illness.

Suggested Topics The topic can be any specific disorder or a general mental health theme. It can address the promotion of mental wellbeing or aim to reduce stigmas associated with mental illnesses.

Specific Disorder • Anxiety Disorders:

- Social Anxiety - Generalised Anxiety Disorder

- Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - Panic disorder - Agoraphobia - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

• Substance Use • Alcohol use • Adjustment Disorders • Oppositional Defiant Disorder or Conduct Disorder • Major Depressive Disorder or Post Natal Depression • Bipolar Disorder • Schizophrenia or psychosis • Post Natal Depression • Dissociative Disorders • Eating Disorders:

- Anorexia Nervosa - Bulimia Nervosa - Binge Eating Disorder

General Mental Health Theme • Addiction

• Self-harm

• Coping and resilience

• Dealing with bullying and cyber-bullying

• Resilience

• Recovery

• Self-esteem

• Grief and loss

• Caring/helping/living with someone with a mental illness (e.g. family member or a friend)

• Living with a family member with a mental illness

• Helping and supporting a friend with a mental illness

• Mental health issues in rural areas

• Multicultural mental health issues

• Aboriginal mental health issues

• Mental health issues associated with identification as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersexed, queer or sistergirl.

If you have any other ideas/topics that are not listed above, please discuss it first with the

Festival Director, Adam Lo on 07 30894100 or Email:

adam.lo@health.qld.gov.au please put ‘Positive Mindset’ in the subject line.

Positive Mindset Creative Arts Festival Drama Category

School Registration Form *Complete and email/fax to Adam Lo - Festival

Coordinator Email: adam.lo@health.qld.gov.au, please put ‘Positive

Mindset’ in the subject line Fax: 07 30894105, attention to ‘Adam Lo’

~ LAST DATE TO PUT THIS FORM IN: 26 AUGUST 2016 ~

School: Name of Key Contact Person (e.g. teacher) : Mail Address: Phone Number: Fax Number: E-mail Address: Initial Play Title (this can be finalised later): Mental Health Theme or Type Addressed: Terms of Entry We agree to participate in the Positive Mindset Creative Arts Festival 2016 and have a drama play ready to be viewed by the 28th August for the audition round. If selected into the final five, we agree to attend the Grand Final at Logan Entertainment Centre. We agree to have our play performance photographed and videotaped by the organisers if required, which might be used as promotional materials and other future productions. We may elect to complete relevant pre and post questionnaires to help evaluate the process of participating in the Creative Arts Festival and for other research purposes (information will be provided to participants if this occurs). We are aware that we may be asked to perform the play again at future events (up to a maximum of two times), such as at the Brisbane Festival Each participating student will be required to provide a signed consent form by a parent/guardian, which is to be submitted with this registration form.

Participant Name Sex Age Signature

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11.*

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(*) Supporting Role

Principal/delegate signature: Name: _______________________________________ Date:

Please direct enquiries to: Adam Lo, Festival Director

Occupational Therapist, Early Intervention Officer (Development & Engagement) Coordinator

Child and Youth Academic Clinical Unit Metro South Addiction and Mental Health

Telephone: (07) 3089 4100 Fax: (07) 3089 4105

Email: adam.lo@health.qld.gov.au, please put ‘Positive Mindset’ in the subject line

Positive Mindset Creative Arts Festival Drama Category

Parent/Guardian Consent Form

School: Grade: Student Name: Student Date of Birth: / / Address: Parent/Guardian Name: Phone Number and Emergency Contact Details: I hereby give consent for __________________________________________________________________________________ (name of child) to perform and participate in the Positive Mindset Creative Arts Festival, which may include the Grand Final event at the Entertainment Centre in October 2016. I understand that audio/visual and photographic recordings will be made on the day to be used for future educational and promotional purposes. Signature of Parent/Guardian

Date___________________