18 - 19 June, Manchester
Save the date!
Registration opens in early May
Youth Theatre Together is a space for youth theatres across England to respond to the Youth Theatre Census and imagine a new future for our sector together.
We’re inviting youth theatre leaders and colleagues to come together to help build the foundations of a new national development agency for youth theatre - the key recommendation in our Census Summary Report.
We are moving fast to keep the momentum from the census, which means we’re still developing the programme and details of the event. We will publish more details very soon but in the meantime wanted to make sure that all youth theatres - especially those with less capacity and resource - could begin to plan to attend.
Thanks to the support of Arts Council England, the event is fully funded, including free entry, refreshments and accommodation, and travel bursaries for anyone who needs one. We aim to meet all access requirements and help remove barriers to attendance. We will also provide ways to engage online if you are unable to attend in person.
Registration for the event opens in early May 2025 - at which point we’ll share much more information about our plans. In the meantime, please keep 18 and 19 June free and we look forward to seeing you in Manchester!
More information
What is Youth Theatre Together?
A two-day coming-together of youth theatre leaders and other colleagues within the sector - a chance to begin the process of realising our key recommendation in the Youth Theatre Census report, a national development agency for youth theatre in England.
Who’s organising it?
The event is being organised by the same people and organisations who led the Youth Theatre Census - the NPO youth theatres Burnley Youth Theatre, Company Three, Mortal Fools, Prime Theatre, Theatre Factory and 20 Stories High, and the director/consultant Ned Glasier.
At the event these organisations will hand over to a new steering committee that is more representative of the wider sector. We’ll share more information about this soon.
What will the event involve?
We’re still working on this, but we imagine it will include discussions, workshops and space to connect with other leaders from across the country. We want it to be a purposeful, thoughtful, inclusive event in which we collaboratively lay the ground work for the new development agency.
Do you know what timings will be?
Not yet - but our intention is to start late on the first day (18 June) and early on the second day (19 June) to give people time to travel to and from the event.
Who can come?
This event is primarily for people who run youth theatres. There will be a maximum of two places per organisation. We would love for the second person to be someone who can contribute a different perspective to the organisation’s leader, either because of their role (for example, as an assistant director, trustee, parent/care-giver, older member, stage manager, access support worker) and/or because of their lived experience or identity. We’ll share more information about this soon.
What about access?
We want the event to be accessible for anyone who wants to come. We will be working with specialist access and equity consultants to help deliver the event and will also organise opportunities to feed in digitally before, during and after the event for those that can’t attend in person.
What about young people?
We see this event as a first of many - the Census told us how much appetite there is in the sector for opportunities to connect and work together. This one is for adult leaders and colleagues. We want to make space for leaders to talk about their organisational hopes and challenges and to make connections - to be the participants for once. We want future events to involve young people, but we want to do this carefully and purposefully. We know from experience how important it is to build relationships and understanding between adults first in order to create the most open, safe and welcoming space.
(Please note we may not be able to get back to you before 22 April)
