Wyvern Theatre DVD-Launch Pix

John, Marcus and Mike introduced the film to an invited audience of all the dads, partners & families, parents-to-be and other guests including staff from U-Too, Swindon Children's Centre and Swindon YOT.

The DVD was launched with a screening of the main 28 minute film 'Dads Matter Too'.

Special Guest, The Right Hon Michael Wills MP presented each Dad with a limited edition boxed copy of the DVD and CD, and spoke about the film, being a father and the importance of fatherhood.

There was an opportunity to discuss the film and talk to the Dads involved.

Young parents completing their Arts Award stayed on to put the finishing touches to their portfolios and share skills including poetry and rapping. The work's now complete and will be presented for moderation on the 3rd July.

The Four Musketeers

Here's the Wiltshire Times article. It has generated a number of responses on the paper's website, most of them demonstrating the sort of prejudice that we assumed already existed. We now have the evidence!

OBG - Our Big Day!

The sky is blue, it's not raining and there's already been a piece on BBC Wiltshire Radio this morning. Mike and Steven went into the studios in Prospect Place on Thursday, and took the film with them. Mike was interviewed, Steven made sure Mike didn't say anything he shouldn't, and they left the film behind so that the BBC could take some of the sound track off it to play during the interview. So, at 7.15 this morning, Den's Dad Rap had its first air time, and clips of Marcus, Lisa and Karl were heard. You all sounded great! Well done!

U-Too Dads interviewed

Chris was interviewed by GWR for Fathers' Day and felt he gave a good account both of the DVD and himself.

And yesterday four of the Wiltshire dads, who were helping Nicola Balmer from the Wiltshire Teenage Pregnancy Team review the Dads bit of the Wiltshire Guide for Young Parents, were interviewed by Charley Morgan for the Wiltshire Times, and photographed. So the handsome faces of John, Marcus, Steve and Stuart will grace the pages of the paper on Friday.

Tate Modern Trip

As part of our work for the Arts Award we decided to be a bit adventurous and take a trip to London to visit the Tate Modern...

Jackie applied to the Arts Award Access Fund to cover the cost of transport and we were really pleased to be successful. In the end a few people couldn't join the trip because of children being poorly, so they visited Swindon Art Gallery with Mike instead.
So 6 young Dads and Mums, a 6-day old baby, Kevin and Jackie set off early on Saturday 14th June by train to London.. We negotiated the underground (a first for some) and arrived at Blackfriars to walk across the river to the Tate.

We decided to try out the multi-media tour as a good introduction to the permanent collection, and everyone looked around all 6 main galleries. The multi-media tour was a good start, but the interactive learning areas in the foyer of each floor proved more engaging! We saw a real range of artwork, and had some interesting discussions as we looked around at things like Carl Andre's floor elements and the 'pile of bricks', Joseph Beuys' installation with a VW camper van and sledges and the huge metal thunderbolt, Richter's large abstract canvases with layers of colour, a wall of poetry, and various film installations including the naked boxer.
The group made notes as a reminder about the things they'd seen.
Then we had another look at the huge urban art commissions on the outside of the building, and did the streetart walking tour too. We extended our visit by an extra 2 hours so we'd have time to see all the street art, which was most people's favourite art of the day.

On the train home Charlotte recorded discussions about the trip, as her 'apprenticeship' task for the Arts Award, and to make a record for everyone of their review.
Thanks to Lisa for photos of the day.

"Really really good"

We sent a review copy of the film to Adrienne Burgess of The Fatherhood Institute and here's what she says: "I think it's really really good ... I think people could buy and use it." So we hope the film will have the impact we want it to have.

Final Workshop 7th June

The final workshop went well, although a few people couldn't attend today as some children have been unwell.

The focus for the day was to complete any work outstanding, work on the portfolios for the arts award, and share a variety of presentations and leadership skills.
Everyone worked really hard making presentations about the research they'd done into arts heroes and heroines, selecting still images from the video footage, printing photos, photographing, filming, and reflecting on what they've done over the last few months of workshops.

We're looking forward to our trip to the Tate Modern next weekend; we'll be making a video review of the day on the train coming home afterwards.

Congratulations!

Mike presents a Level 2 Parenting Certificate.