It was all go at Risingholme last week with ‘Have a Go Day’ in full swing. We welcomed over 120 new learners to Risingholme as they participated in short course taster sessions throughout the week.
Tasters ranged from 1-1.5 hours and were mostly hands-on allowing participants to have a go at making a project to take home or learn a new skill. Learners could have a go at throwing on the pottery wheel, making a fold-out book from scratch, mindfully create whirling patterns in Zentangle and mandala drawing, as well as learn to carve their own spoon, introduce themselves in NZSL, practice patchworking and more!
In total, 20 different course tasters were offered, with many sessions filling out quickly.
The tasters spanned Risingholme’s programme offerings with creative arts, wellbeing, language, cooking, and craft courses all being represented. The significant enrolment numbers and positive feedback on the event is encouraging, with learners noting how the tasters offered a great introduction to a full course. In addition to gaining a memorable experience, each learner received a course discount voucher enabling them to continue on their learning journey.
Leading each taster were Risingholme’s team of expert tutors who were kept busy as they welcomed new learners into their classrooms, workshops, and studios and guided them throughout each session.
Tutor, Nicky May, who taught the Creative Art and Drawing & Sketching taster, reflected on the week saying that “the learners brought a lot of energy and enthusiasm to the classroom. They were very willing to explore new techniques and give things a go without worrying whether what they were creating was ‘good’ or not. Art is about having fun and experimenting with new media and ideas, and the tasters gave people the opportunity to do just this, if only for a short while. Although some people were perhaps naturally a little timid to begin with, by the end of the session they were chatting with one another and really getting stuck into their art which was so great to see as a tutor”.
Have a Go Day forms part of the broader series of events run by Risingholme as part of its 80th Anniversary celebrations. This special week-long event was an opportunity for the wider public to see for themselves the range of courses available at Risingholme. Whether the impetus was to do something out of their comfort zone, or to indulge their curiosity, in the end the goal was the same– have a go at learning something new.
Risingholme’s Director, Lynda Megson, explains that the aim of the event was to encourage people to get out and get involved in trying something new. “Offering these free taster sessions was a way we felt we could remove some of the financial barriers to learning and encourage people to have a go at something new without the need to commit to a full course. We feel strongly about making learning feel effortless so that people can find it easy to connect and participate, whether that’s connecting with a new hobby or skill, or with others over a shared experience.
Rsingholme first began running courses in the late 1940s, so we’ve been working in the adult and community education space for a long time now and understand that people like to dip in and out of learning at various points in their life. I hope that those who attended our course tasters feel ready and excited to take the next step on their learning journey, and we look forward to welcoming many of them back to Risingholme in Term 4 and in 2025”.
The full list of ‘Have a Go Day’ tasters included:
- Bookmaking
- Collage
- Creative Art
- Drawing and Sketching
- Italian Cuisine
- Mandala Drawing
- NZ Sign Language
- Patchwork
- Pattern Drafting
- Photography
- Pottery Hand Building
- Pottery Throwing
- Reiki
- Sewing
- Spanish & Go
- Te Reo Māori
- Themed Journalling
- Woodsculpture
- Woodwork
- Zentangle