The performance fundraiser ‘A Night to Shine’ raised money for Orca, a local charity which supports young people in performing arts.
‘We raise money to help young people attend dance, acting and music lessons so they can reach their potential in performing arts, but lessons are very expensive so that can be a limiting factor,’ said Orca director and company secretary Jennie Phillips.
‘How it works is people approach us saying that they have lessons or would like to have lessons with a certain group or school, and we assess that and then fund the lessons.’
The charity was started in 2008 after Pauline Telford and Dennis Burns were invited to the British All Winners Festival to perform the Extraordinary Revelations of Orca the Goldfish.
They started fundraising for the trip and ended up with money left over, and decided to use it to set up Orca to support young people in performing arts.
The showcase featured students from Thirst, Music Box, GATE, Starlight Dance, Academy of Dance and Theatre Arts, the School of Popular Music, Avril Earl, Nicole Wyatt Music, Cheshire Dramatic Arts, B-Creative, the Irish Dance Academy and the Guernsey Institute, school choirs from St Sampson’s and Elizabeth College, plus highlights from this year’s Eisteddfod. Cheshire Dramatic Arts also previewed its upcoming production of Hadestown.
‘There is so much talent on the island,’ said Ms Phillips.