A musician has been helping a performing arts group prepare for their upcoming show.

Miranda Colby Browne, a 20-year-old musician, was a guest of Work in Progress, a Rhyl-based performing arts group with members from across Denbighshire and Flintshire.

The group puts inclusion, positive mental health, and well-being at the heart of everything they do.

Ms Browne, who studies at the University of Liverpool, was invited to help with a workshop.

She was commissioned to arrange a song for a dramatic piece to be performed by Work in Progress at their 2024 Sharing on October 12 at Theatr Twm o’r Nant, Denbigh.

Ms Browne said: "Being a student, I've dealt with a lot of anxiety while attending university, but my passion for music has always helped me get through it.

"Since music has been so instrumental for improving my mental health, I really admire how Work in Progress uses the performing arts to help others with their mental health, which is why I so enjoyed working with them."

Artistic director Leslie Churchill Ward said: "It was wonderful working with Miranda on her original arrangement, learning vocals, harmony and experimenting with body percussion too."

Work in Progress co-founders Toby Fagan and Ms Churchill Ward were pleased to announce a collaboration with the University of Chester on a research project.

The research aims to explore how mental health can be improved through active participation in the performing arts and understand the challenges of participants in a socially and economically deprived area.

The sessions will be recorded to allow researchers to observe the group without being intrusive.

Members' interactions with each other, the artistic director, and guest artists will all be included as part of the research.

Interviews will also be conducted with Work in Progress members, and all evidence gathered will inform the finished paper's findings, which will be published in the future.

As a means of introducing Work in Progress to others in similar projects, the group performed at the Storyhouse Chester in Crossing Borders 3: Modes of Capture.

Ms Churchill Ward said: "Work in Progress is honoured to have been approached by The University of Chester.

"Performing at the Storyhouse was an exciting way to launch the project and share our members’ talents with other invited guests from the UK and abroad."

Tickets for the Sharing on October 12 are now on sale and can be purchased via the Work in Progress website or by emailing Hello@workinprogressrhyl.co.uk.