Maddie Lock, DST’s Outreach Officer, tells First Night about Wellbeing at Centre Stage 2020, the second annual welfare campaign of Epiphany Term.
Wellbeing at Centre Stage is back for another year! This is the second time Durham Student Theatre has run this Epiphany Term campaign and it is set to be jam-packed. Over the course of ten weeks, the campaign aims to bring student’s wellbeing to the forefront of Durham Student Theatre by raising awareness and hosting a range of events, workshops, and inter society collaborations.
Last year the campaign was themed around the five core aspects of wellbeing, as laid out by the New Economics Foundation: Connect, Be Active, Take Notice, Keep Learning, and Giving, which have all remained at the heart of this campaign. This year however, to ensure that all the work being done is as relevant and cohesive as possible with the society each of the weeks has been shaped around a core characteristic that DST aims to achieve and uphold.
These characteristics are: Generosity, Inclusivity, Responsibility, Innovation, Outwards Looking, Kindness, Growth, Fun, Sociable, and Self-Expression. Each of these represents something that is essential to DST remaining a positive and ever improving society to be a part of. Some of the highlights of the campaign this year include collaborations with Durham Body Positivity Society and Connect Durham, workshops as part of Durham Drama Festival, and a society-wide social towards the end of term.
The campaign will be kicking off with a bang at the end of week one with Durham Student Theatre’s first ever Charity Fashion Show on Sunday 19th January. This is an event which to date (still rising by the day) involves just under a hundred people! The fashion show is certainly set to be one of the highlights of the campaign and not an event to be missed. The theme of the week is Generosity and so far it has been seen in copious amounts with people giving their time, skills, creativity, and passion abundantly which we have been completely blown away by and could not be more thankful for. As well as this, all the ticket profits from the night will be going straight to the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM), one of the UK’s leading suicide prevention charities.
The hope is that by creating discussions and putting on events especially tailored to wellbeing it will encourage all of our members to engage with their own welfare and that of those around them. In a student society and university where it can always seem like there’s something else to be doing and deadlines to be met it is so important that spaces are actively created that promote taking care of oneself. As a society with a large membership it seems particularly imperative that those of us in positions of responsibility are prioritising student wellbeing and thinking about how it fits with the ways in which our society operates.
To find out the full fabulous programme of Wellbeing at Centre Stage 2020 and for all updates please head over to the Facebook page (@DSTWellbeingatCentreStage) and keep an eye on the weekly DST emails.