Schools and community groups in Glasgow are being urged to sign up for a new ScottishPower initiative aimed at encouraging the use of music or language to explore important themes and aspects of society.
In association with the National Theatre of Scotland, ScottishPower’s Power Rap competition invites secondary schools and community groups to write a poem or compose a rap on something they are passionate about. This could be multiculturalism, friendship or another topic of their choice.
The competition is designed to support Glasgow Girls, a major new National Theatre of Scotland production which will run at the Citizens Theatre later this year.
Sponsored by ScottishPower, Glasgow Girls is based on the true story of the vocal and powerful pro-asylum seeker campaign of the real-life Glasgow Girls who, driven by a fierce sense of injustice, fight together for the life of their friend.
ScottishPower is offering participants the opportunity to compete for the unique experience of receiving a masterclass from professional Rap Artist Darren McGarvey, aka Rapper MC Loki, to help inspire pupils to use rapping as a medium for discussion.
The winning group’s rap will be filmed by the National Theatre of Scotland’s in-house film crew and appear on the National Theatre of Scotland website and entrants will also be battling it out to secure tickets to a special performance of Glasgow Girls on Saturday 3rd November 2012.
Ann Loughrey, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at ScottishPower, said: “The ScottishPower Power Rap initiative will encourage schools and community groups to engage pupils through music and language in order to stimulate discussion around some important issues in today’s society.
“Glasgow Girls will bring to the forefront the subject of multiculturalism, providing an important forum for debate, and we are pleased to be supporting the National Theatre of Scotland.”
Elly Rothnie, Director of Development at National Theatre of Scotland, said: “Glasgow Girls will tell one of the most inspiring stories to come out of Scotland in recent years, and we’re hoping that in turn the ScottishPower Power Rap competition will inspire young people from across Glasgow to tell us their own stories about their lives now.
“It’s terrific that ScottishPower has been able to offer our young people this opportunity and we can’t wait for the entries to start coming in!”
The deadline for registering an interest in the competition is Friday 7th September 2012 and the closing date for entries is Friday 21st September 2012. All registrations and entries should be emailed to scottishpowercompetition@bigpartnership.co.uk or posted to Glasgow Girls initiative, The BIG Partnership, 5 Park Circus Place, Glasgow, G3 6AH. The format for entries can be written, a CD recording or a sound file.
For further information on ScottishPower, please visit www.scottishpower.com and for further information on Glasgow Girls, please visit www.nationaltheatrescotland.com
Issued by The BIG Partnership on behalf of ScottishPower.
For further media information, please contact Kay McCarthy on 0141 333 9585 / kay.mccarthy@bigpartnership.co.uk or Roanna Katz on 0141 333 9585 / roanna.katz@bigpartnership.co.uk
Notes to Editors
Glasgow Girls, inspired by a true story, conceived for the stage and directed by Cora Bissett, book by David Greig Music and Lyrics by Cora Bissett, MC Soom T, Patricia Panther and John Kielty. A National Theatre of Scotland, Theatre Royal Stratford East, Citizens Theatre, Pachamama Productions, Richard Jordan Productions Ltd production in association with Merrigong Theatre Company (Australia) Sponsored by ScottishPower.