The website for GO MaD, THE Music and Dance Competition, and the competition itself are run by our team at Futuresys Ltd. At Futuresys we pride ourselves on the support we give back to our local community. In October 2008 – after seeing a fantastic stage show based on the film ‘Grease’ performed primarily by students in year 7 – our Managing Director, Lloyd Wakelin, decided it was time to give even more back to the community by setting up the GO MaD, THE Music and Dance Competition.
The main idea of the competition is to encourage students to form music and dance acts, create their own material and perform in front of a paying audience. GO MaD is open to students who will be in years 8 and 9 during the Autumn Term. The competition is also a way of providing addition funding to the ‘Expressive Arts’ departments in schools. Each school that runs GO MaD, THE Music and Dance Competition, will receive a minimum donation of £500 to be used to enhance their facilities for Expressive Arts.
Through expressive art, be it music, dance, art, stage management, web design, filming, promotions etc. students learn how to work together, form teams and encourages them to think beyond the norm. These are some of the main skills required throughout all kinds of occupations, hobbies and life in general. We strongly believe this competition strengthens and enhances the capabilities all the students involved.
The involvement of the students isn’t restricted to those performing in acts as part of the competition. The rest of the students in the school can gain exposure to the other skills required to run the competition such as those mentioned above: filming, stage management, production, web design, marketing, promotions, merchandising etc. The idea is to involve as many of the students in the school as possible. The structure of the competition and the related events works hand in hand with the new Diploma available in education for students aged 14 – 19. In the case of the MaD Music and Dance competition the production fits neatly with the requirements of the Creative Media Diploma.
