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Review of Youth Theatre in Scotland 2012 PROMOTE YT (SCOTLAND) MEMBERSHIP LIST 2012
Contents Promote YT (Scotland) Membership List
1
Associated Organisations
17. Explosive Arts
1.
Citizens Theatre YOUNG CO.
Introduction
2
2.
Federation of Scottish Theatre
18. Falkirk Children’s and Youth Theatre
3.
National Theatre of Scotland
19. Firefly Arts
Findings
3
4.
North Lanarkshire Council
5.
Scottish Borders Council
21. KAP (Kircudbright Academy Productions)
6.
Rock Academy Performing Arts
22. KidzAct
7.
Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
23. Kinetic
8.
The Moray Council
24. Largs Youth Theatre
9.
Tron Theatre
25. Love Drama
10. West Dunbartonshire Council Youth Theatres
20. Horsecross Arts
10
26. Lyceum Youth Theatre 27. Macrobert 28. Mitchell School of Drama
1.
Aberdour Players Youth Theatre
2.
Act 2
29. Monifieth Amateur Dramatics Youth Theatre
3.
Acting Out UK
30. Phoenix Youth Theatre
4.
Aberdeen Performing Arts Youth Theatre
31. Platform (Glasgow East Arts Company)
5.
Beacon Youth Theatre
32. Project Theatre
6.
Borders Youth Theatre
33. Rusty Boat
7.
Brunton Youth Theatre
34. Scottish Youth Theatre
8.
Carnegie College Stage School
35. Shetland Youth Theatre
9.
Central Scotland Youth Drama
36. Strange Town
10. Creative Electric
37. The Drama Studio
11. Cumbernauld Youth Theatre
38. The Dramatics!
12. Deaf Youth Theatre
39. Theatre Create
13. Dundee Rep Youth Theatre
40. Toonspeak Young People’s Theatre
14. Eastwood Park Youth Theatre
41. Youth Music Theatre UK
15. Eden Court Creative
In addition Promote YT currently supports 31 freelance members.
16. Edinburgh Acting School
Conclusion
Company limited by Guarantee No SC 269952. Registered Scottish Charity No SC 035765
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Review of Youth Theatre in Scotland 2012
Introduction Promote YT is committed to supporting and developing a thriving creative future for Scotland’s youth theatre sector in recognition of the invaluable investment made by organisations across Scotland in the cultural and social development of our nation’s young people. As part of this commitment, since 2004 we have undertaken an annual REVIEW OF YOUTH THEATRE IN SCOTLAND in order to gain a sound understanding of how our youth theatre sector is evolving. It is the only research of its kind carried out in Scotland and presents a clear, detailed and accurate picture of the current youth theatre landscape from which Promote YT can focus our development work. The following Review has been compiled using data collected from our YOUTH THEATRE SECTOR SURVEY 2012, mapping sector activity from April 2011 – March 2012. Promote YT’s 51 member youth theatres and associated organisations were invited to complete the NATIONAL YOUTH THEATRE SECTOR SURVEY 2012, along with any other group, company, association or body which engages children and young people as active participants in youth theatre activity, where their participation is central to the motivation of the creative process. 42 valid responses were submitted which represents an increase of 62% on 2011. 38 of these responses were submitted by Promote YT member organisations. The findings detailed in this Review relate directly to Creative Scotland’s strategic priority areas of: 1 Place 2 Participation,Access and Audience Development 3 Talent 4 Cultural Economy
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Review of Youth Theatre in Scotland 2012
1 Place The following map shows the number of youth theatres currently operating in each local authority area. Darker colours represent a higher number of youth theatres based in that area: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32
Aberdeen City Aberdeenshire Angus Argyll & Bute Clackmannanshire Dumfries & Galloway Dundee City East Ayrshire East Dunbartonshire East Lothian East Renfrewshire Edinburgh City Eilean Siar (Western Isles) Falkirk Fife Glasgow City Highland Inverclyde Midlothian Moray North Ayrshire North Lanarkshire Orkney Islands Perth & Kinross Renfrewshire Scottish Borders Shetland Islands South Ayrshire South Lanarkshire Stirling West Dumbartonshire West Lothian
3 4 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 9 0 6 5 10 4 1 1 2 1 2 0 3 2 1 1 0 0 1 1 1
How these youth theatres are structured: Independent organisations
39%
Affiliated to theatre company
24%
Coordinated by local authority
11%
Affiliated to school/education body
9%
Other*
17%
* > > >
Other structures were identified as: Affiliated to arts venue Sister group of amateur dramatic club Affiliated to arts development agency
Over 2011-2012, 3 youth theatres were newly established in Scotland.
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Review of Youth Theatre in Scotland 2012
2 Participation, Access and Audience Development Over 2011-2012 youth theatres engaged a total of 15,864 young people (an average of 353 per youth theatre). On average, a young person paid £112 annually to participate in youth theatre activity. 62% of youth theatres provided financial support to participants with 5% being free at the point of access. 22% of youth theatres either directly operated in areas of social deprivation or actively engaged socially disadvantaged young people. Of total youth theatre participation over 2011-2012: The age range was:
100 0 800 600 400 200 00
11%
51%
60%
0–4
4–8
8–10
80%
96%
84%
58%
18% % / years
10–13 13–16 16–18 18–24
24+
The gender make-up was: Male
34%
Female
66%
Ethnic origin was: White Black Asian Mixed Race Undisclosed
86% 2% 3% 3% 6% page 4
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Review of Youth Theatre in Scotland 2012 25% of youth theatre participants were identified as having additional support needs, broken down as follows: No additional support needs Learning disabilities Deaf or hard of hearing Learning difficulties Physically impaired Visually impaired
75% 7% 6% 6% 4% 2%
Less than 2% of youth theatres considered themselves specialists in working with young people with additional support needs.
Predominately providing a balance of weekly sessions and project/performance work, creative delivery for youth theatres over the last year: Increased from 2010-2011
64%
Decreased from 2010-2011
9%
Did not change from 2010-2011
27%
Audience support for youth theatre work: Increased from 2010-2011 Remained the same Decreased from 2010-2011
58% `
42% 0%
20% of youth theatres had their performance work reviewed in the national press.
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Review of Youth Theatre in Scotland 2012
3 Talent The range of creative skills/experiences delivered by youth theatres over 2011-2012 was: 100
80
60
40
20
96%
96%
87%
73%
58%
56%
51%
38%
33%
33%
Writing
Musical Theatre
Dance Contemporary Theatre Practice
%
0
Devising
Improvisation Scripted Work
Physical Theatre/ Movement
Technical/ Video/ Back Stage Multi Media
And the output of youth theatres was: 100
80
60
40
20 96%
60%
56%
47%
Public performance
School holiday projects
Private performance
Festival participation
24%
4%
0 Touring International performance projects
%
International engagement included exchange and performance work with Germany and Sweden. 14 youth theatres provided the opportunity for young people to use Traditional Scots language and 1 youth theatre delivered activity in Gaelic Scots. 165 participants of youth theatre went on to study the creative industries in further or higher education (an average of 5 per youth theatre) with 97% remaining in Scotland to study. page 6
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Review of Youth Theatre in Scotland 2012 Over 2011–2012 75% of youth theatres provided professional development opportunities for staff in the following areas: 100
80
60
40
20
82%
48%
Creative Delivery
Policy/ Procedure
48%
48%
25%
%
0 Child Risk Protection Assessment/ Health & Safety
Access/ Equality
This training was: Predominantly outsourced
40%
Predominantly delivered in-house
31%
Equally delivered in-house and outsourced
29%
Barriers to attending professional development over 2011–2012 were identified as follows: 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10
77%
54%
44%
37%
16%
Cost
Location
Time of year
Relevance
Length of event
%
0
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Review of Youth Theatre in Scotland 2012
4 Cultural Economy The size of core staff teams (creative and non-creative) running youth theatres over 2011-2012 was: Lone worker
12%
2–5
65%
5–10
12%
10–15
9%
15–20
0%
20+
2%
The make-up of these core staff teams was: Predominantly full time
23%
Predominantly part time
21%
Equally full and part time
5%
Predominantly freelance
33%
Predominantly voluntary
18%
The number of volunteers or (paid or unpaid) interns used in support of core activity was: 0
12%
1–3
38%
3–5
24%
5–10
19%
10+
7%
The average annual turnover for youth theatres over 2011–2012 was £58,056 with the highest being £600,000 and the lowest £0. Annual turnovers for youth theatres have: Increased from 2010-2011
37%
Decreased from 2010-2011
21%
Not changed from 2010-2011 42%
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Review of Youth Theatre in Scotland 2012 The principal streams of income for youth theatres over 2011-2012 were identified as: 60 * Other principal streams of income were identified as: > Receiving commissions > Lottery funding > Local fundraising > Retail (selling services, t-shirts, plays etc.)
50 40 30 20 10 54%
40%
22%
22%
12%
8%
8%
11%
Budget issued by parent company
Grants/ trusts
Box office
Sponsorship/ donations
Creative Scotland
Other*
0 Participation fees
Local authority
%
Youth theatres assess their financial status moving into 2012-2013 as:
Secure
23%
Acceptable
61%
Precarious
16%
The following future challenges were identified by youth theatres: > The growth of private businesses and stage school franchises as competition. > Managing a significant deficit and undertaking large-scale projects which could lose money. > Building and maintaining participation numbers. > Lack of space, not enough trained staff, dwindling public investment in the arts. > Budget cuts at local authority level. > Not being able to keep up with membership demand. > Looking to grow as demand increases but not having the physical space to do this. > No genuine interest in theatre from local young people. > Competition. > Councils cutting arts services as they try to make cuts to budget. > Cost to attend events too high for participants. > Parents not being able to afford fees. > Maintaining the current standard with the resources available. Member numbers are at a maximum with our current resources. > Securing funding. > Doing new and challenging work with participants but still retaining a high enough income to balance the books. > Cash flow.
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Review of Youth Theatre in Scotland 2012
Conclusion The REVIEW OF YOUTH THEATRE IN SCOTLAND 2012 identifies encouraging developments in our youth theatre sector as well as highlighting gaps in provision and future challenges. Youth theatre participation numbers continue to grow and despite the challenging economic climate, 41 organisations in our membership are delivering cultural activity to more than 15,000 young people in over 85% of Scotland’s local authority areas. Youth theatres indicate a 64% increase in delivery from 2010-2011 demonstrating creative ambition and the development of audiences (58% up on 2010-2011) through projects, performance, touring and international working with a focus on devising and new writing. Additionally, new findings highlight that an average of 5 young people per youth theatre moved on to study in the creative industries proving that the sector plays a crucial role in investing in the future of Scotland’s theatre artists and cultural practitioners. Although obvious fears surrounding the current economic climate are articulated, the survey indicates that youth theatres feel more secure about their future than they did last year (23% compared to 4% in 2010-2011). The survey does, however, demonstrate a distinct downturn in subsidy / funding and a stronger reliance on generated income. While this may seem to make good business sense, it has worrying implications for the traditional affordability and accessibility of youth theatre. It is evident that the sector also has some way to go in improving the diversity of those participating in youth theatre activity with little improvement from 2010-2011. Although keen to identify themselves as ‘open access’ through this process, only 2% of youth theatres consider themselves specialist organisations in the areas of access and equality suggesting gaps in the skills of practitioners. As the support and development body for youth theatre in Scotland Promote YT recognises the need to nurture success while, at the same time, tackle head on the gaps in provision and the challenges facing the sector. The findings of the REVIEW OF YOUTH THEATRE IN SCOTLAND 2012 will therefore be an invaluable tool in supporting Promote YT to continue to deliver our strategy of improving access, developing audiences, promoting engagement and nurturing creative excellence. This document provides a summary of information collected from the NATIONAL YOUTH THEATRE SECTOR SURVEY 2012. For more detailed information please contact Promote YT directly.
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
Promote YT receives investment from
CEO/Director: Colin Bradie Participation & Training Manager: Caroline Donald Communications Manager: Iain Findlay-Walsh Development Officer: Helen Bain
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