W&T’s Community Comedy Club wins Big Ideas Bonanza!

W&T have shown that laughter really can be the best medicine as its Community Comedy Club wins the Big Ideas Bonanza.

The Big Idea Bonanza – a campaign seeking ideas to improve the health of residents in Birmingham and Solihull – has announced Women & Theatre’s ‘Community Comedy Club’ as the winner of its inaugural award.

W&T’s Community Comedy Club was developed in 2010/11 in partnership with Stanhope Hall Community Centre. It consisted of 4 community comedy courses each culminating in a Comedy Night, where community participants performed their own material alongside a professional headline act  and host Mrs. Barbara Nice, the well loved comedy alter ego of W&T’s Artistic Director Janice Connolly. The courses were very successful with participants reporting raised self esteem and confidence and Comedy Events attracting large audiences and fantastic feedback.

The Big Idea Bonanza prize includes a package of support from The Young Foundation to develop the project further and maximise its potential to:

• Tackle low level mental health issues such as anxiety and depression
• Remove barriers of isolation and loneliness
• Develop new approaches in mental health
• Encourage social inclusion in health, education and the wider community
• Raise confidence and self-esteem
• Provide new opportunities for genuine social engagement

Eleanor Cappell, Social Entrepreneur in Residence at the Birmingham and Solihull NHS Cluster, who managed and ran the Big Ideas Bonanza said  “I and my colleagues at the Young Foundation look forward to working with the ‘Women & Theatre’ team over the coming months developing their ventures sustainability, scalability and impact measurement tools.”

Our Community Comedy Club has been incredibly successful, making a huge impact on individuals’ lives and uniting the Highgate community. We are thrilled to have won this award and have the opportunity to work with The Young Foundation to explore sustainable ways of developing the project, ensuring the benefits of laughter can reach more people in a range of contexts.

Posted: August 17, 2011 in Announcements, Community, Health, Projects, news
Tags: Comedy, Community, new, news, prize

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