THANK YOU OPSOC

You’d think that the students studying here at Cardiff University’s Optometry would have enough work on their plates to get on with, but throughout the year Laura Preece and Jemima Morgan have been putting on countless fundraisers to raise money for UCAN on behalf of OPSOC (The Optometry Students’ Society). They made and sold pancakes, organised a raffle at the University Black Tie Event, The Eye Ball, and sold tickets to an evening of cosmetics shopping. We couldn’t believe it when they came by the office with a cheque of £855! We are humbled by their efforts and wish them all the best in their final year of university – THANK YOU FROM EVERYONE AT UCAN!

First Training Workshop in Palermo, Sicily.

November was an incredibly exciting time for the UCAN Team, as we delivered our very first drama workshop at the Istituto Dei Ciechi, Via Angio in Palermo.  Very happy to contribute to the first training week of Vision Erasmus project.  http://www.vision-erasmusplus.eu/

Massive thank you to our partners and to the wonderful young people from Palermo.

Making Digital Work

On September 30th, The UCAN Go team were given the opportunity to speak about the UCAN Go app at the NESTA, Making Digital Work Conference, at The Birmingham Rep. If you are interested in indoor navigation please download the app which is currently available for the Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff and The Torch Theatre, Milford Haven, and hopefully, coming to a new theatre near you soon!

Exciting New Project

In September, we started our exciting new project – UCAN Create, a professional development training programme which is delivered in partnership with the innovative company Yellowbrick. http://yellobrick.co.uk/#stage-section

The first challenge for this project was to devise a performance that would encourage young people to engage with science. The end result was a fantastic day where over 180 young people were actively involved.  The UCAN Create team created a narrative which allowed the participants to become secret agents of M.E.T.S (Ministry of Enlightened Theory and Skill), and encouraged them all to interact with the various science exhibitions. A fantastic and engaging time was had by all. The project was funded by Arts Council of Wales and Cardiff University.  

A Great Success

UCAN’s latest production has been a great success. The BBC Performing Arts funded project played to a packed house at the Bute Theatre, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff.  Feedback from the audience included ‘Amazing and captivating performance by the whole cast’  ‘ All kinds of awesome’  ‘They were all so accomplished and cool!’ Special thanks to Joseph Wait, Tom Nevens, Mared Jarman and Sophie Staniland, who worked tirelessly with Musical Director, Alex Rees to create an original soundtrack for the production, including Titania’s Lullaby Song’ with words by William Shakespeare.