Category: News

Book now for RicNic’s Fundraising Gala

Hemmingway’s is an immersive fundraising event written, produced, and performed by RicNic Alumni, designed to be a night of twists, turns and lots of fun!

Throughout the course of the evening you will be introduced to a cast of quirky characters, one of whom is a murderer! Together with the cast, you’ll collect clues and solve the mystery together! Plus, you’ll be supporting the work that RicNic does!

This unique gala will be full of mystery, networking, and entertainment that brings together a diverse audience of creative professionals, art enthusiasts, and supporters.

Tickets include a drink on arrival and photography for you/your group, and all ticket sales support the future of RicNic.

Discounts apply for whole table bookings (10 people); perfect for a group of friends or a social event with colleagues.

Early-bird pricing applies until 8th December.

Limited tickets available, book now to avoid disappointment.

Friday 24th January, 7:30pm

The Old Library, Birmingham

Book Now

Join us for a workshop with Jodie Steele

We’re incredibly excited to welcome Jodie Steele to Burton this October Half Term.

Best known for playing Heather Chandler in the UK Off West End and West End premiere of Heathers in 2018, and Katherine Howard in the UK tour of Six, Jodie will be teaching routines from some of her past shows and answering questions about working in the ​performing arts.

Open to ages 13-20

Brewhouse Arts Centre, Staffordshire, DE14 1AA

 Wednesday 30th October, 12-3pm

Reserve your place: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/ricnic

Walsall young people get involved with Hamilton stars!

A huge congratulations to our fantastic Walsall workshop company who took part in two days of creativity, collaboration and fun! Workshop participants created original pieces inspired by historically themed musicals, then performed their work for members of the Hamilton UK tour cast, before working on some Hamilton choreography. A big thank you to Hamilton cast members Sam Oladeinde & Simeon Beckett for leading the choreography workshop and giving an insight into the creative industry.

RicNic delivering free Youth Music Project in Crewe

Crewe Town Council is committed to delivering projects that help to raise the aspirations of young people in Crewe, allowing them to achieve their potential and develop interests in the arts and culture. This Youth Music Project has been designed to facilitate participation in a high-quality, creative activity and offer a valuable learning experience that supports local young talent.

RicNic are facilitating the running of this project, in which participants will be given the opportunity to gain experience in performance and music event production; from planning through to stage tech – for free!

A group of young people aged 16-24 will be supported to create a mini youth festival of music inspired by different genres and represented by song, dance and instrumental performances.

We welcome applications from individuals who will be assigned a group, or from existing groups (e.g. from a school, dance group, amateur theatre company, etc)

How will people get involved?

Young people in Crewe from a variety of different youth settings (including traditionally underserved groups) have been invited to get involved in the project. Three youth sub-teams will be responsible for the design, coordination, management and marketing of the event to showcase local young talent in a variety of ways.

The teams will also be responsible for identifying and programming the event’s acts and activities, which will be drawn from local schools, dance and drama groups, amateur societies and youth groups.

Primary and secondary school children within the Crewe town boundary will also have the opportunity of taking part in interactive workshops in the run up to the event to explore different musical genres and design decorations for the festival venue.

People of all ages will be welcome to take part in the event on the day and come together to support the performers and activities!

Sign up to take part

Creative Team Callouts: https://drive.google.com/file/d/12bVV95zildYjvRldWggWZWDV71i3CrqG/view?usp=share_link

Tech Team Callouts: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yFIUCDnQaIf5b9WxTpbdfLk4c4mJm8pi/view?usp=share_link

Join The RicNic Team

Thanks to recent new project funding, we are looking for two individuals to join our staff team on a temporary basis, helping to plan and deliver our work across the West Midlands, Staffordshire & Cheshire. If you are passionate about the arts & making a difference, we would love to hear from you.

Outreach Co-Ordinator

Hybrid Remote, Part time-Fixed Contract until March 2025
£24,232 FTE / 8 hours per week

The Outreach Co-ordinator will support the delivery of our creative projects across community and school settings in the coming months, leading the delivery of weekly sessions (Friday afternoons) and some school holiday sessions with some our young people, creative workshops in schools, co-ordinating our Community Art Days across local community settings and supporting the administrative planning, delivery and evaluation of our projects. The postholder required to be onsite for weekly, regular sessions in Walsall, West Midlands and able to travel to different workshop locations as and when required.
Full details here: https://www.artsjobs.org.uk/jobs/search/42026

Workshop Assistant

Onsite, Part time – Fixed Contract until December 2024
Up to £11.44 per hour – 2-4 hours per week

Our Workshop Assistant will support the delivery of our weekly drama/creative sessions (Friday afternoons 4pm-6pm) in Walsall during term time. There will be additional hours available to support full-day sessions with our young people during the summer holidays, creating play-in-a-day style workshops for different age groups and to support our Community Art Days which run on weekends or in school holidays across local community venues.

Full details here: https://www.artsjobs.org.uk/jobs/search/42027

RicNic embraces inclusivity, diversity and equal opportunities across our organisations and throughout our projects. We are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, ages perspectives and skills, who respect the views of our participants and the challenges they face. Together we are then able to promote a culture of understanding, learning and collaboration across generations.

Please contact [email protected] with any questions.
To apply please send a CV and cover letter, or a video application telling us why you would like to be considered to the same email address.

Weekly Creative Sessions in Walsall for ages 5-11.

RicNic are running new weekly creative sessions in Walsall for ages 5-11 years. Taking place every Friday during term time from 4pm, sessions are held at Manor Farm Community Association.

Thanks to our recent funding from the Inclusive Communities Fund, we are able to offer all sessions free of charge this year but will be accepting donations to help us continue into next year.

To register for a place please email [email protected]

Places are limited and must be booked in advance.

Introducing “Show Me” – a short film by RicNic

“Creativity is contagious, pass it on” – Albert Einstein.

For 2 days, RicNic brought together a young team of writers, artists, performers and film-makers to create a short film exploring the impact of the arts. Show Me highlights what a young person might be able to achieve in the future if given space to think and work creatively from an early age.

Directed by Ella Sutton

Funded with support from Consolidated Charity Burton

Produced and performed by participants at RicNic

Big Give Arts For Impact

Help us to unlock £2.5k of match funding next week

We’re very excited to let you know that RicNic has been selected to participate in the Big Give’s Arts For Impact campaign, which brings charities like ours together with corporate donors and funders to create match-funding pots for creative projects.

We are aiming to raise £5k towards the delivery of RicNic’s Own The Stage programme, taking theatre workshops to young people of all ages across country.  We have a match-funding pot of up to £2.5k pledged from the Creative Futures Fund, so every donation we receive via BigGive.org during the week of 19th-26th March 2024 will be DOUBLED! 


Can you help us raise £2.5k and unlock all of our match funding?

Whatever you can give, no matter the size, every donation will make double the
difference in supporting us to deliver Own The Stage over the coming year.  

You can read more about the campaign and our work here!


What can you do now?


● Add a calendar reminder to your diary for 19th March 2024, including this link
https://donate.biggive.org/campaign/a056900002SM9JDAA1. The donate button will appear on this page when the campaign starts at 12pm (midday).
● We’d doubly appreciate it if you could share the campaign with your friends, family
or social networks – anyone who may be interested in having their donation doubled!

Thank you so much for your support!

Where The Bees Fly – Schools Choir Opportunity!

As part of our Where The Bees Fly project, two members of our team have been busy delivering workshops in local schools. Jess and Sophie have been teaching music from the show to pupils from years 3 to 6 of Churchfield school in Rugeley & are currently taking bookings in more schools in the Walsall area. Pupils have learnt the song Silent Riot which they’ll be singing during the show, and we’re incredibly excited to have them joining in as part of this production.

We would also like to open the opportunity to take part in the children’s choir to our website audience, so if you or anyone you know would like their child to gain the opportunity to perform to family & friends in a brand new piece of musical theatre for the community, please fill out the form below, which contains all the information about rehearsal videos, costume etc. We can’t wait to see you there!

https://forms.gle/LQpWQNzLv9RJvets5

Tickets are now on sale for Where The Bees Fly and selling quickly. You can purchase yours now through this link. https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/the-lamp-arts-centre

Summer Productions 2023

Our incredible Production Teams are working hard to bring their shows to a stage near you this summer across 4 locations! Please continue reading to find out about each of these productions and if you wish to book tickets to any of these shows, please visit https://ricnic.org.uk/events/ and click ‘register for event’ to book yours!

RicNic Alumni – Oxford

Our first ever RicNic Alumni Fundraising Cabaret is taking place in the heart of London. We are proud to present En Femme En Homme! After much work behind the scenes, Sas Morgan and River James are pleased to be presenting this brand new cabaret, bringing together an incredible cast of previous RicNic participants. Tickets for this one-night-only event are selling quickly. Head to our Whats On page and get yours now before they’re gone!

RicNic Hampshire

Following last year’s success of Spongebob the musical, RicNic Hampshire are thrilled to announce their upcoming production of Disney’s High School Musical, returning as a branch once again to Hangar Farm Arts Centre in Totton, Hampshire on the 10th-12th August 2023. Bringing the beloved movie franchise to life on stage, the show features all the catchy tunes and energetic dance numbers that made the movies so popular. It’s a fun-filled, family-friendly production that’s sure to be a hit with fans of all ages.

RicNic Staffordshire

Hot off the press, we’re incredibly excited that RicNic Staffordshire will be staging GREASE! this August summer bank holiday at The Brewhouse Theatre, Burton on Trent for those last few ‘Summer Nights’ of the year! If you think you were ‘Born to Hand Jive’ make sure you book tickets to head back to 1950s Rydell High with this beloved musical & experience the friendships, romances, adventures, and of course all those unforgettable rock ‘n’ roll hits that make GREASE! one of the world’s most popular and enduring musicals.

RicNic Cheshire

This year RicNic Cheshire are excited to be performing The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at Malbank School & Sixth Form, Nantwich, Cheshire on the 24th-26th August 2023. This Tony Award-winning musical comedy follows a group of eclectic contestants as they compete in a spelling competition. Filled with hilarious moments and catchy tunes, the show is a crowd-pleaser for all ages. We can’t wait to S-E-E you there!