The creative industries have been hit hard by the impact of Covid-19. Every cloud has a silver lining, and something that has warmed us to the core is how local communities have rallied around and supported small, independent and local businesses.

It’s important as ever to continue that narrative, to help steady economies and ensure the creative industries can continue to thrive. The Village School is a small family-run business and only work with independent individuals and businesses to deliver our courses. Our aim is to provide a sustained and regular income to our mentors that will help them to continue to do what they do best in the real world.

Every course booked is a show of support and recognition of the importance of the arts and creative industries.

Perhaps you’ll know of our other company, Rogue Village, an arts and events organisation based in Scotland that produces immersive theatre, street food festivals, pop-up cinema and innovative marketplaces.

The event industry, like many others, has been severely impacted by Coronavirus and we have no clear idea when we’ll be able to return to producing events again. Our own personal silver lining is that the time afforded by the enforced break from our usual business allowed us to birth The Village School. We’ve approached our workshops like we would an event and considered the experience from start to finish.

We hope that those who take The Village School workshops will feel something as well as learn something. At the very least we hope you’ll feel contented that by taking part you are supporting real people, real artists who are facing unforeseen challenges to their livelihood and creative futures. There’s power in the people!