REVIEW OF YOUTH THEATRE IN SCOTLAND 2012

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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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