Gwneud, Make, Do is a brand new creative and inclusive, comedy teaching facility that offers a specialised and focused creative space allowing access to professional development and training.
Comedians (and former teachers) Kiri Pritchard-McLean and Katie Gill-Williams are delighted to announce that they are bringing a specialist Comedy School to Llangefni, on the island of Ynys Môn in North Wales. Gwneud (Welsh for “make” or “do”), Make, Do was born out of a shared passion to develop and enhance the considerable comedy talent in North Wales and the school aims to be a place for creativity to be harnessed and for talent to be developed and encouraged. Kiri says, “as a native Gog I know how vital a sense of humour is to our nature and culture. But I also know that as an area and even a country we have lacked an infrastructure to support such talent. Wales has a problem with talent drain over the border and young creatives in particular end up choosing between doing what they want or living where they want and Gwneud, Make, Do wants to be part of a movement to change that”.
Sessions will be led by comedy practitioners and experts in their field who are working in the industry. Specialisms will include; stand-up, sketch, improvisation, comedy drama and musical comedy. In addition, Gwneud, Make, Do will develop “offstage” skills for those who don’t want to be on stage such as producing, writing, and directing.
The school has a clear end goal: to enable those seeking employment in the arts to have opportunities closer to home. With the overall aim of meaningful, skilled, long-term employment. Strong links to Machynlleth Comedy Festival, BBC Wales and S4C, means that students don’t always have to leave Wales in order to gain industry experience.
Gwneud, Make, Do is not just for those who wish to work in the arts, but also as a safe space to engage with others in a supportive, nurturing environment. In each class there will be fully subsidised places for people from low income backgrounds and marginalised groups. Our subsidised places are a way of bridging a gap for those who have felt that the arts isn’t available to them; it absolutely is.
Katie says “ North Wales is rich in creativity, and it’s going to be a joy to curate a space for that. If you’ve always wondered about comedy, performance, writing or the creative industries, Gwneud, Make, Do is that open door.”