Youth Theatre Arts Scotland’s ‘Managers Forum’ Tuesday 20th September, 11:30 - 3pm at Summerhall In 2016 Youth Theatre Arts Scotland (YTAS) launched two new Forums to support sector and artform development. The forums are for experienced Youth Theatre Directors and Managers who want to push their own practice and work with other professionals on sector-wide opportunities. The Forums take place bi-annually and include a specialist masterclass or case-study, networking and a facilitated exchange session. The fee to attend the Forums is minimal (or free in some cases). YTAS hopes these new Forums will be an exciting place where Scotland’s Youth Theatre Directors and Managers can meet to inspire their work and influence national developments.
The session was hosted by YTAS CEO Kenny McGlashan and Marketing and Communications Manager, James Coutts. The Forum focussed on marketing and audience development for youth theatre productions. James shared some of the research findings, tips and tricks which have guided YTAS recent event marketing and communications. Clare McCandrew from Culture Republic also presented on the audience development research carried out for Chrysalis. After lunch the Forum Managers were supported in an open exchange of current projects as well as opportunities for collaborations or national developments together. YTAS gratefully acknowledges support from Creative Scotland. Attendees: Kenny McGlashan (YTAS), James Coutts (YTAS) , Clare McAndrew (Culture Republic), Lisa Keenan (Tron), Carolyn Yates (Ryan YT), Socks Rolland (Freelance), Simaica Carrasco (Freelance), Rachael Esdale (Lyceum), Jacky Hardacre (SYT), Lisa Mathieson (APA), Gemma Nicol (Dundee Rep), Katyana Kozikowska (Eden Court), Rachel Smith (Toonspeak), Debbie Montgomery (Cumbernauld Theatre), Jennifer Cummins (Junction 25), Ruth Hollyman (Strangetown).
Marketing and Audience Development for Youth Theatre Productions James Coutts and Clare McAndrew talked through marketing and audience development work associated to the first Chrysalis festival in 2015. What we did, how it went and what we learnt. Click on the link below to go to the slides that James and Clare used during their presentation. https://issuu.com/promoteyt/docs/managers_forum_sept_2016_slides_-_m
Discussions: Working Together to Develop Audiences
Areas of Interest for YT Audience Development: o o o o o o o o o
How to broaden the audiences for our work? How can we encourage young people to ‘choose’ to go to the theatre themselves? How to get an audience at all!? Thinking about an audience earlier on during a project / planning. How can we give our young people more challenging opportunities when their audience is more used to traditional theatre? If we do more performances will it just dilute our numbers? How to develop an ‘audience’ for young people’s work as core to our Business Plan? Finding opportunities to tour work. How to profile our work better.
Potential Ideas or Campaigns: o o o o o o o o
We should grow from the inside out – YTs, groups, venues sharing free tickets. Replicate Youth Arts Hubs ‘Go See / Share’ funds. Establish small / regional touring networks. Could we utilise other spaces / buildings – like Imaginate’s use of National Museum for family day. What could we do in 2018 YOYP Identify what is the next level / layer beyond the traditional YT audience of friends and family that we should target. Acknowledge / address the fact that our marketing budgets are not sufficient for some of our audience development ambitions. Could digital / comms be utilised better?
Ticket Share idea: o o o o o o o o
Touring Network idea: o o o o o o o o
Define our regional and demographic priorities Link mainstage and YT experiences - i.e. curtain raisers Establish a youth evaluation / peer review group working to improve knowledge exchange around the work Establishing standards Reducing isolation – a national community Venues to extend their special YT price to other groups Transport needs to be built into budgets Could we have a YTAS card or use Young Scot card
Could be a strong multi partner funding application Carry out a SWOT analysis Use double bill model like Exchange. It's a logistical nightmare touring young people's work, the cost and commitment from participants Must be distinct from NFYT and Chrysalis etc. Could we learn from the experience of the Fife Youth Arts Hub Fringe venue? Could we establish a youth tour manager training / internship opportunity? Could we learn from rural touring network models / experience?
Growing Friends and Family idea: o o o o
Tron Ambassadors offers work experience and support to market senior YT show (including budget). We have found this has attracted a new ‘peers’ audience. Parents nights at YT groups has helped share insights and started using them as ambassadors. We held a festival performance day and raised £700 towards our NFYT costs. We are not capitalising on the potential of our alumni.
Setting the Agenda
What Mangers wanted from their Forum
How do you do the role? How to manage and also be creative during a period of change. Learning more about ‘my’ management role and skills. How to manage multiple agendas and activities. Meeting everybody and making contacts. How to assure the creative learning work I manage has its own identity within a broader organisation. It’s just nice to meet and catch up with the people in the room in one place. It can be a challenge to find the time to do this individually.
Future Forums
Potential themes to explore: o Management skills: HR / Managing a Part –time staff team Writing Strategy Financial (forecasts) o Mentoring o Apprenticeships / Internships o International Exchanges o Audience Development again – working together to develop a strategy / define actions
Would a Facebook group be beneficial? Should we include young people? Or is the function of this Forum different from Sector Symposium etc. Next time it would be good to define actions and deadlines and then review and report back at the next meeting.