Kids Aloud - Broadcasting out from 'The Box'

Imagine a city…… the cultural capital of the universe…… picture its bustling and busy streets….. its loyal citizens going about their day to day business….. rushing to and from. Imagine at the centre of this Utopia a gigantic screen, sending out a daily offering of hullabaloo. Suddenly one day, a child's voice speaks out, loud and clear………. she is exited, but confident, her message heard by an audience of 88,844 people is 'Do The Right Thing'.

The Greenhouse Multi-Cultural Play and Arts Project worked with four groups of young people aged 8 - 14 to help them plan and develop their own film ideas. Over a period of 2-3 months two of the groups took part in weekly workshops after school and at weekends.

They undertook all aspects of pre-production, production and post production film making and saw their ideas turned into cinematic reality when their films 'Do The Right Thing' and 'Our Backyard' were premiered in 'The Box' at Liverpool's FACT cinema complex. The films were also shown as part of the Liverpool Children's Festival, on the BBC Big Screen and at National Museums of Liverpool's Treasure House Theatre.

The two other groups of young people took part in a series of script writing workshops. The children had so many ideas that they submitted them to the 'First Light Studio Awards'. Based on the strength of the scripts The Greenhouse Project was awarded a further budget of £20,000 to enable the groups to make their films. So the Ragdoll Foundation's contribution helped secure the future of children's filmmaking in Toxteth.