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‘Awareness Shows’ ™ Suggested curriculum areas include: PE/PD Health / Welfare & HSIE (NSW) or SOSE (QLD) Bookings: Lesley Noakes / Phone: 0411 275 031 / Email: lesley@veryuniqueexistence.com Further Information: Rich Latimer / Phone: 0410 183 670 / Email: rich@veryuniqueexistence.com
“Awareness Shows” TM are educational rock shows toured to High Schools, topics include; social & emotional wellbeing, drink driving, drug & alcohol issues, self esteem, depression, bullying, violence & domestic violence, loss & bereavement, social & environmental consciousness, positive thinking & decision making. They are the only pop/rock delivered, edutainment performance of its kind. Developed in consultation with Paul Johnson co-founder of Brain Storm Productions, this new, contemporary & innovative approach is a first to use music as culturally contextual & real world learning. Selected to be involved with one of the largest positive decision making educational programs in the USA see Every 15 Minutes www.every15minutes.com
Designed to be delivered to all your students from Yr7 to Yr12, maximising school wide learning, impact, & value for money. The whole school community is impacted, instead of just a small group. Students connect the songs to the learning outcomes & the positive messages are reinforced every time they listen to the music! We also maintain communication with students via online social networking.
Costing only $5 per/student, with two payment options: student pays or school pays), the "Awareness Show" is approx 60-70 minutes (fitted into the periods between recess and lunch) music production with 6 staff & professional sound & lighting! The band donates part proceeds from CD & merchandise sales back to the schools welfare department. There is a minimum attendance of 250 students required, however the program is designed as a whole school event, really impacting the whole school community year 7 to year 12 to really effect and change attitudes. In addition 18 year old Taylor Latimer shares his story of life after a drink drive crash.
The most defining & powerful advantage of “Awareness Shows ™” is that students know it is real. The performance is based on real experiences & events, true stories, delivered as powerful songs & learning!
Music is one of the most powerful & influential youth communication tools. Over 95% of students own an IPod or music playing device! When surveyed 100% of students said they “are influenced by music & look up to the artists as role models”& 90% could recite the lyrics to their favourite songs, word for word!
Very Unique Existence is a young, pop/rock band, who focus their music & performances around providing guidance to youth. The bands firsthand experience in a range of issues facing teenagers has prompted them to step away from the traditional, commercial music career path to provide “Awareness Shows ™” to high school students. In addition to providing these “Edutainment Performances”, part proceeds from each Awareness Show is donated back to your school’s welfare department as a part of their “Positive Consciousness Rock” . Rich Latimer (guitar/vocals) is a Student Support Worker at Evans River High where he is running a Positive Behaviour Reward program (PBR) designed to help young people changes their attitudes towards positive decision making. He has guided students in their recovery from drug & alcohol addiction, dealt with drink driving issues & helped students to make safe & positive decisions. In his personal life he has assisted his 18 year old sister to deal with bereavement of the loss of a boyfriend in a post party car crash, & most recently supported his family after his 17 year old brother Taylor was in a drink driving crash that claimed the life of one passenger & left his brother with a brain injury. Wes Seewald (keys/vocals) son of retired Grafton Chief Inspector Arthur Seewald, has been made aware of the tragedy of risky decisions through his father’s police work & personal experiences losing a close friend & former band member in a tragic car crash. Wes helped with the fund raiser for the Kadina High School students who were involved in a fatal car accident. Wes also teaches High School Students piano. Jesse Stanley (bass/vocals) is a dynamic young man whose life experience and the variety of situations he has had to face and make positive choices regarding is a credit to his character and his involvement in this special program. Adam Gardiner (drums) currently teaches High School Students drums & is an active member of his youth & church groups. He is continually involved in youth community events & fundraisers. His family has dealt with serious issues of sibling depression. Taylor Latimer (sound engineer/guest speaker-performer) Taylor survived the drink drive crash; however has a residual brain injury. He has a powerful story to share with young people. Rich his older brother who designed “Awareness Shows” has brought him into the program to give him meaningful employment (as he was unable to finish high school) and to allow his story to impact and save lives! Corey Bulley (chief sound engineer/show MC) Corey is a young man who had walked the edge of drug abuse for many years whilst in the commercial music industry and through positive choice has changed his life. He understands how young people get started, involved and in some cases addicted and is an entertaining and powerful MC.
There are two (#2) Awareness Shows ™ developed initially in consultation with Paul Johnson, co-founder of the highly successful educational performance company BRAIN STORM PRODUCTIONS. The format is a large Educational Rock Concert Performance with professional Audio & Lighting. The 2 Awareness Shows ™ are ideally designed as a set & delivered either in terms 1 & 3 or 2 & 4. They are a whole school event for students from Years 7 to 12. The shows are based around the over arching topic of Student Social & Emotional Well-being, with links to curricular outcomes from the PE/PD Health/Welfare areas. Topics covered include: drink driving, drug & alcohol issues, self esteem, depression, bullying, violence & domestic violence, loss & bereavement, social & environmental consciousness, positive thinking & decision making. The focus is on providing information in dealing with these issues & their impacts in a positive way. The Awareness Show is approximately 60 mins of show time, fitted into the periods between recess & lunch & will consist of music, dialogue, student interaction along with question & discussion time. Students are required to begin entry during the period beforehand to maximise show time and the band will remain into lunch to field questions and spend time with students. Very Unique Existence writes most of the songs from their own personal experiences of the above mentioned topics. The delivery method sees band members introduce topic relevant songs & draws on these topics by way of a short story. Students receive real world information & guidance for making positive choices as well as hearing the songs & lyrical messages. Students will downoad a hand out which includes lyrics of the songs & the key points relating to the educational outcomes of the topic along with other educational resources on the day. In addition other members including Taylor will share powerful stories to reinforce the learning. Traditionally the approach for topics related to drink driving & drug & alcohol awareness involves shock DVDs, talks by Police &/or post crash/drug use speakers. Whilst these approaches are useful, many students find them hard to relate to & cannot directly identify with the message. The engaging delivery method of the Awareness Shows ™ leaves students impacted in a positive & long-lasting way. As an example the program has been picked up for 2010 by the largest positive decision making educational program in the USA www.every15minutes.com to be included in the next round of E15. The band members are young, university trained musicians with successful careers, who students can easily identify with & see as role models. Each Awareness Show is presented in an edutainment pop-culture format that is perceived as non-confronting, non-judgemental, yet very real world & pertinent to current teenage issues. The aim of the Awareness Show is to empower students to make positive, healthy & safe lifestyle choices & offers information in a delivery format that is relevant to the students’ own demographic, being pop/rock music. The Awareness Show is provided in “Lesson Time” & linked to educational outcomes designed to assist teenagers to think about making positive choices, instead of feeling pressured or forced into making decisions.
Bookings: Lesley Noakes / Phone: 0411 275 031 / Email: lesley@veryuniqueexistence.com Further Information: Rich Latimer / Phone: 0410 183 670 / Email: rich@veryuniqueexistence.com
Click here to book for your School or to find out more!
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