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National Festival of Youth Theatre 2012 Event Report
NFYT has literally changed my whole outlook on theatre and what it represents, not only as a career, but as a life built around passion. Thank you so much. NFYT 2012 Participant
About the National Festival of Youth Theatre The National Festival of Youth Theatre (NFYT) is produced by Promote YT, the national development body for youth theatre in Scotland, and is the largest open platform for youth theatre performances and training opportunities anywhere in the UK. This annual festival was established in 2004 and is a vibrant celebration of the creativity and diversity of Scotland’s youth theatre sector, showcasing both youth theatre provision and production. Each year the NFYT programme features a wide range of performance, training and social events. Together, these activites create a positive, collaborative atmosphere and boost young people’s confidence, while fostering strong links between individual participants and regional youth theatre groups.
The growing public and media profile of the event, together with its focus on participation, accessibility and inclusivity strengthens the profile of the youth theatre sector in Fife and throughout Scotland year on year. NFYT 2012 took place from 13-16 July at the Rothes Halls, Glenrothes and was the largest festival to date. The festival’s performance and workshop programme took place within the Rothes Halls, and the event also showcased outdoor performance work, as well as hosting and participating in the National Theatre of Scotland’s Five Minute Theatre live online event.
NFYT provides a fantastic nurturing opportunity for both directors and young performers, encouraging them to reflect on what they do and allow them to imagine what is possible. NFYT 2012 Group Leader All statistics published in this report are based on a 62% response rate of youth theatre leaders who were invited to complete a post-event evaluation survey. Company limited by Guarantee No SC 269952. Registered Scottish Charity No SC 035765
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Festival of Youth Theatre 2012 EVENT REPORT
A Commitment to Fife Since 2010 NFYT has been instrumental in promoting Fife as a central hub for youth theatre provision in Scotland, supported by ON at Fife and the Fife Strategic Events Investment Programme. Over this period the festival has engaged young people, audiences and businesses across Fife. It has brought theatre workshops to local schools, site-specific performances to public spaces, access projects to new and diverse audiences and hundreds of young participants from across Scotland to Fife.
Partnerships, Funding and Support NFYT relies heavily on the support of funders and partners who work with Promote YT to make each event as inspiring, accessible and inclusive as possible. In return for this investment Promote YT guarantees excellent representation of funders and supporters on all marketing print, event programmes and press releases. NFYT 2012 was produced in partnership with ON at Fife and was core funded through Fife Council’s Strategic Events Investment Programme. The event was sponsored by Shell UK Ltd. Education, outreach and access work was supported by The Bank of Scotland Foundation and the MacRobert Trust. Creative support was provided by the National Theatre of Scotland. The Kingdom Shopping Centre provided venue and marketing support in kind. Additional event income was generated through participation fees and box office sales. Income: £57,656 The breakdown of income was as follows
38%
ON at Fife–In kind
15%
Shell UK Ltd–Sponsorship
10%
Fife Strategic Events Investment
9%
Grant Funding
47%
Generated Income
Expenditure: £56,847 The breakdown of expenditure was as follows:
38%
Event Infrastructure*
19%
Venue
15%
Project Management
11%
Deaf Access Support
6%
Temporary Staffing
6%
Marketing/Reporting
5%
Outreach/Workshops
* Residential, catering, transfer and social event costs
Cash based expenditure in Fife: £19,972
40%
Big Tent Festival/Falkland Centre for Stewardship
38%
Fife Council Catering
22%
Rennies Coach Hire
Fife is proud to be the home of the National Festival of Youth Theatre. This accessible and prestigious event is a highlight in our cultural year and brings a vibrancy to our work. Frank Chinn, Chief Executive, ON at Fife
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Festival of Youth Theatre 2012 EVENT REPORT
Venues The Rothes Hall, Glenrothes (operated by ON at Fife) has been home to NFYT since 2010. The venue provides two performance spaces as well as additional break-out rooms and foyer space for artistic workshops and social events. Workshops also took place in shop units of the Kingdom Shopping Centre (attached to the Rothes Halls) and the Glenrothes YMCA building. In a new partnership for 2012, camping accommodation was provided by the Big Tent Festival at Falkland Estate situated 7 miles from the Rothes Halls. NFYT provided daily shuttle buses between the campsite and the Rothes Halls as well as buses to and from the local railway station on arrival and departure.
The individual skills being nurtured and developed by the National Festival of Youth Theatre are a credit to all the people involved. We look forward to being able to assist NFYT in 2013. Robert Winter, Centre Manager, The Kingdom Centre, Glenrothes
Participation Each year, Promote YT puts participation at the heart of the NFYT programme. NFYT 2012 hosted 13 performances and 42 artistic workshops.It was attended by 17 youth theatre groups from 12 different regions ofScotland as well as one international group from the Republic of Ireland. Outreach work took the NFYT experience to two Fife secondary school pupils and we provided employment to 10 creative artists. In addition, six festival volunteers gained valuable experience working as part of a large-scale arts event. In addition to the sectoral and participatory focus of NFYT,a public audience of172 attended performances over the three days, as well as a significant online audience for the Five Minute Theatre online broadcast. A total of 815 people actively took part in NFYT 2012. Participating groups were: Aberdeen Performing Arts Youth Theatre Badenoch and Strathspey Youth Theatre Caithness Young Company Carnegie College Stage School Creative Electric Cumbernauld Youth Theatre Deaf Youth Theatre Eastwood Park Youth Theatre Eden Court Young Company Firefly Arts Kildare Youth Theatre Kinetic Youth Theatre Lyceum Youth Theatre North Lanarkshire Youth Theatre Perth Youth Theatre RE:LOCATION Scottish Company Strange Town The Scrap Happy Theatre Company Toonspeak Young People’s Theatre
Aberdeen Badenoch and Strathspey Caithness Fife Edinburgh Cumbernauld Glasgow East Renfrewshire Inverness West Lothian Kildare, Ireland Fife Edinburgh North Lanarkshire Perth Nationwide Edinburgh Perthshire Glasgow
NFYT teaches young people how to be an audience,vital for developing our future theatre audiences in Scotland. NFYT 2012 Group Leader
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Festival of Youth Theatre 2012 EVENT REPORT
Press NFYT 2012 generated a significant increase in press and media coverage from 2011. Most notably this included a feature article in the Glasgow Herald written by prominent Scottish arts commentator Mary Brennan, which focused on the RE:LOCATION Scottish Company and their residency at NFYT. The event enjoyed extensive local and regional press coverage across Scotland highlighting participating groups. Publications which covered the event include the East Fife Mail, Fife Courier, Glasgow Herald, Glenrothes Gazette, Inverurie Advertiser,John O’Groat Journal, Perthshire Advertiser and West Lothian Courier.
Performance Programme Each year the NFYT performance programme aims to showcase and celebrate the diversity of Scottish culture with a broad representation of work produced by youth theatres from across Scotland. In addition, the programme presents guest performances from outwith Scotland to encourage creative international exchange. The NFYT 2012 performance programme included performances featuring devised, new-writing, contemporary, interactive and musical theatre.
All the shows were spectacular as usual, and the workshops were fantastic. A big thank you to all the staff who made this event possible. NFYT 2012 Participant NFYT provides an affordable platform for a wide variety of Scotland’s youth theatres to share their work, celebrate their successes and be inspired by their peers. NFYT 2012 Participant page 4
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Festival of Youth Theatre 2012 EVENT REPORT
Investing in Creative Futures It is an on-going aim of NFYT to host an ambitious participatory programme which offers young people access to positive, creative, skills-development opportunities facilitated by industry professionals. The NFYT 2012 education programme comprised the following strands: A Fife Secondary Schools Outreach Project B Artistic Workshops* C The National Theatre of Scotland’s Five Minute Theatre
A Fife Secondary Schools Outreach Project Building on a pilot project in 2011, the NFYT Fife Secondary Schools Outreach Project offered a unique youth theatre experience to local young people with the aim of promoting regional awareness of the festival and raising the profile of local youth theatre opportunities. Sponsored by Shell UK Ltd the outreach project delivered free in-school youth theatre workshops to 74 in advance of the festival weekend. Every participating school pupil was given a complimentary ticket to see an NFYT performance of their choice. Participating Secondary Schools were: • Beath Academy • Inverkeithing High School
B Artistic Workshops* NFYT 2012 hosted 42 artistic workshops which engaged all NFYT participants in skills-development opportunities. These were delivered by six leading organisations and freelance artistic practitioners, and offered high-quality training in a diverse range of skills including: working with text, verbatim theatre, dance and acting masterclasses.
C The National Theatre of Scotland’s Five Minute Theatre NFYT 2012 proudly hosted the National Theatre of Scotland’s award-winning project Five Minute Theatre. Five Minute Theatre is a unique theatrical endeavour which really does make all the world a stage. NFYT participants were offered the unique opportunity to work in small groups with a theatre practitioner to create a short piece of theatre on the theme of‘youth’. This piece was then performed in the Five Minute Theatre hub –an empty shop unit in the Kingdom Shopping Centre transformed into a fully functioning studio theatre–and transmitted live online across the world.
It was great for the National Theatre of Scotland to team up with Promote YT during the National Festival of Youth Theatre. They were the perfect partner for Five Minute Theatre and together we produced an incredible online and live theatrical event. Marianne Maxwell, Audience Development Manager, National Theatre of Scotland
I found it enjoyable and fun and it also made me properly think about whether I wanted to do drama as a future career and if so what area to go in. Thanks for the most amazing experience ever! NFYT 2012 Participant
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Festival of Youth Theatre 2012 EVENT REPORT
The NFYT brings talented young people, both local and international together in Fife. Supporting projects local to our operations is very important for Shell, and this festival is a great platform to nurture the future artists and the audiences of Scotland John Raine, Social Performance Advisor, Shell
Access Building upon the success of the pioneering NFYT 2011 Deaf Access Project, NFYT 2012 saw Promote YT continue its work in partnership with Solar Bear Theatre Company to ensure that NFYT 2012 was accessible to deaf audiences of all ages and young deaf festival participants. The following deaf access infrastructure was successfully put in place: >
British Sign Language interpretation of all performances, workshops and events.
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The provision of communication support workers
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Deaf-awareness training for all members of the NFYT staff team
This aspect of the festival is central to Promote YT’s aim of making youth theatre opportunities accessible to every young person in Scotland. The legacy of the NFYT 2012 Deaf Access Project will equip Scotland’s youth theatre sector with the understanding and confidence to open up regional youth theatre activity to all young deaf people.
The National Festival of Youth Theatre is setting an example and raising awareness to other theatre festivals around the country to step up and make theatre accessible to deaf people and not just for a one-off. Jen Bates, DYT Coordinator, Deaf Youth Theatre
RE:LOCATION 2012 Scotland was privileged to be one of only six nations invited to take part in RE:LOCATION 2012, a pioneering international youth theatre project held in Stavanger, Norway and designed to celebrate excellence in youth theatre. To represent Scotland at this unique event, Promote YT teamed up with the National Theatre of Scotland, Visible Fictions and youth theatres across Scotland to create a bespoke national company. The resulting RE:LOCATION 2012 Scottish Company consisted of eight exceptional young theatre-makers from across Scotland. The company worked in residence at NFYT 2012 to devise a new piece of work and perform it in front of an audience of hundreds of young people, peers and project partners. This prestigious project was well suited to the supportive, hardworking and inspiring environment of NFYT and the resulting piece was a highlight of the 2012 performance programme. NFYT provided the perfect opportunity for the RE:LOCATION 2012 Scottish Company to prepare to represent Scotland on the international stage.
RE:LOCATION 2012 is a fantastic opportunity for the eight talented young people to collaborate with their peers from other nations and a great introduction to a professional career in theatre and the performing arts. David McDonald, Youth Arts Manager, Creative Scotland
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Festival of Youth Theatre 2012 EVENT REPORT
Networking To celebrate the sense of community which youth theatre affords and to foster a spirit of camaraderie among festival participants, NFYT 2012 also hosted a series of team-building workshops and social events. Colour-coded workshops were made up of young people of a similar age from each of the youth theatres taking part in the festival. These workshops were facilitated by youth theatre professionals and encouraged young participants to make new friends and learn about each other with the aim of building bridges between youth theatre groups. In addition, an open-mic session followed by an NFYT Wrap Party closed the festival in style.
credits
The social aspect of the weekend was really great and everyone was really lovely. There was no bad feeling or bad attitudes between different youth theatres which I thought was amazing and I have made plenty of new friends since taking part in NFYT. NFYT 2012 Participant
CEO / Director:
Colin Bradie
Participation & Training Manager:
Caroline Donald
Communications Manager:
Iain Findlay-Walsh
Development Officer:
Helen Bain
NFYT Production Manager:
Paul Rodger
British Sign Language Interpreters:
Catherine King, Yvonne Strain
NFYT Workshop Delivery Team:
Gillian Gourlay and Philippa Tomlin–National Theatre of Scotland Louise Brodie–Freelance Practitioner Claire Bloomfield and Vikki Wilson - Fishbowl Theatre Co. Ali de Souza–Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Brian James–Freelance Practitioner Christie O’Carroll–Lyceum Youth Theatre Kim Donohoe and Pete Lannon–Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (undergraduates) Abby Warrilow–Freelance Practitioner Kirsten McCrossan–Love Drama Deborah Rennick McArthur–Freelance Practitioner
NFYT Creative Assistants:
Dawn Taylor, Elaine Fechlie, Kim Donohoe, Pete Lannon
NFYT Festival Volunteers:
Hector Brown, Francesca Lacey, Jo Rush, Kevin Mitchell, Konstantina Fili, Sophie McCabe
NFYT Photographer:
LJ Findlay-Walsh
Produced by Promote YT (Scotland) Principal Event Partners
Event Sponsor
Event Partners
Principal Event Funder
Event Funders
MacRobert Trust
Contact details Promote YT (Scotland) Out of the Blue, 36 Dalmeny Street Edinburgh EH6 8RG 0131 538 0591 info@promoteyt.co.uk www.promoteyt.co.uk
Acknowledgements Promote YT receives investment from
This report offers an evaluation summary of NFYT 2012. If you would like to access more detailed information please contact Promote YT directly. page 7