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The Wauchope Regional Art Program, also known as WRAP, is designed to assist artists with disabilities in building their confidence and skills, connecting them with main-stream professional.

Source : PortMac.News | Citizen :

Source : PortMac.News | Citizen | News Story:

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Port Macquarie : Artists, Performers with disabilities shine
The Wauchope Regional Art Program, also known as WRAP, is designed to assist artists with disabilities in building their confidence and skills, connecting them with main-stream professional.

News Story Summary:

Vincent Gerard Wolters remembers the moment his dreams of being a professional musician were initially crushed.

"As a young man, I was being trained to be an opera singer, but life got in the way with the onset of my disability, which was quite profoundly disabling," Mr Wolters said.

"And basically, it destroyed my opportunities to be a professional singer."

Despite his diagnosis, Mr Wolters was determined music would remain a big part of his life.

"The only respite I got from my horrible illness was to grab my guitar and sing and then the symptoms would come to a stop."

A new inclusive arts program on the NSW mid-north coast has now given Mr Wolters a chance to live out his dreams on stage. 

The Wauchope Regional Art Program, also known as WRAP, is designed to assist artists with disabilities to build their confidence and skills. It connects them with professional artists so they can participate in the mainstream industry.

Mr Wolters joined WRAP's theatre class, along with Steph Smith and Kirsty Georges.

"The acceptance is really quite beautiful," he said. 

"Groups like this give me an opportunity, whereas nothing else will."

The trio is mentored by singer and musician Ian Castle.

"It's this collaborative effort building on the strengths they have as individuals and myself inspiring them to try other things," Mr Castle said.

The theatre group performed on stage at a mainstream arts festival in the region called ArtWalk in front of a crowd of spectators.

It was a dream come true for the close-knit team. 

"When the audience gets behind you, your whole performance totally lifts to a whole new level," Mr Wolters said. 

"You can see it in their faces, or the cheers, and their claps. It's really uplifting."

Kirsty Georges said her parents and family were "Stoked" about the program and her performance.

"I feel it inside my chest. I feel happy," she said.

And it is not just stage performers who have thrived in the inclusive program.

Artists celebrate inclusion:

Creating visual art has always been a source of joy for Kerri Cains but, due to her intellectual disability, she often found it hard to be taken seriously.

"I've always had trouble with reading and writing and maths skills," Ms Cains said.

"But it's always been a passion of mine to do art."

Ms Cains said she was over the moon to be involved in the Wauchope Regional Art Program and its workshops.

"It's hard to find places sometimes that are so inclusive," Ms Cains said.

"In this art class, in particular, we don't feel like we're just put on the side … it's actual artists actually teaching you how to do it and they treat you like they would treat everybody else."

Thanks to WRAP, Ms Cains' work has been displayed front and centre at Wauchope Art Gallery as part of the ArtWalk event.

"I can show my family and my friends and everybody in town will see my artwork," she said.

"It's just good to see that disability and the arts are coming together in such an amazing way."

Ms Cains was paired with and mentored by graphic designer Michele Kaye.

"It's beautiful, its humbling, its real, it's life. It's what everyone should be seeing day to day," Ms Kaye said.

Above | WRAP project coordinator Vicky Mackey was inspired by her own daughter's disability & the WRAP theatre group with mentor Ian Castle.

Original Story By | Madeleine Cross


This News Story's Author : Staff-Editor-02

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