Summer Student Exchange with Uplift Performing Arts
Uplift Performing Arts are proud to announce that Uplift Performing Arts and the Danville Sister City Committee in Kentucky have planned the first Summer Student Exchange, supported by Mid and East Antrim. The exchange project will see seven students from the community of Danville, Kentucky come over to Northern Ireland and experience the culture and history of this fantastic country. The Sister City committee has been linked with Carrickfergus from 2009 and has provided various opportunities for adults to visit and build relationships while exploring the heritage of Carrickfergus.
In 2012 the Sister City committee nominated Elizabeth Orndorff, a local play-write and director to come to Carrickfergus for a month. During her time here, the Mayor at the time, Alderman Billy Ashe contacted Ryan Moffett from Uplift to ask if the company was producing a show during Elizabeth’s stay. Elizabeth was invited to attend the production, ‘Showtime’ at the Belvoir Players Studio in Belfast and Elizabeth fell in love with the energy Uplift brought to the stage and how they developed young people in the arts. This relationship then blossomed, Uplift was invited to run summer camps at the West T Hill Community Theatre and have been for over 8 years. Whilst in Danville, Ryan Moffett met Milton Reigelman, who is a member of the Sister City Committee and Milton pitched the idea of bringing students from Danville over to Carrickfergus and vice versa.
Plans to run the project were originally meant to go ahead in 2020, but due to the pandemic we were unable to make this project work. Two years later and we have a fantastic group of students from Carrickfergus going over to Danville, Kentucky from the 30th July to the 9th August. The students attending from Carrickfergus are Carter Magowan, Christian Perry, Ciara Campbell, Elly Kwok, Keira Aiken, Robbie McMinn and Rose Keatley. Not only will students from Carrick be visiting Danville, we will also welcome seven students from Danville to Carrickfergus from the 22nd July to the 30th. This is a fantastic opportunity to explore a new country, soak up a new culture and build new friendships. We look forward to providing this experience each year.
