Burnley Youth Theatre
We work with 500 young people a week aged between 3 - 25. We currently have 28 workshops a week mostly in our own base in Burnley (the only purpose built youth theatre in England) but also in Hyndburn, Pendle and Rossendale. We also deliver a range of outreach and education workshops which are highly regarded by a range of partners including the youth service, pct, BBC, LCC, Lottery, START programme, Fraser Street, many local schools and the Home Office for example.
Our home base workshops are generally drama based but we are also deliver dance, art, film and music workshops as required. We currently have a writing workshop and are looking to develop a weekly film making workshop soon. We respond to young people's needs, so any suggestions from them are taken seriously. We have a number of key groups including ARROW (using arts for reconciliation), Connect (for young disabled people) The Rep Company (for older young people interested in a career in theatre) and The Participant Reps who represent all young people within the organisation - two of this group will be asked to sit on the board as observers and provide a means for the board to interrogate our work directly with the young people. We also provide volunteering opportunities for a range of young people - in front of house, workshop support and technical support. We deliver 5 shows a year as part of this programme including our big Christmas show.
Our Outreach work takes in a range of different subject matters - and is responsive to the needs of the young people it serves. We are always keen to encourage young people to partner with us and to see the core youth theatre offer as something they might try.
Our Education work ranges from one off bespoke days tailored to help deliver an element of the curriculum to longer term projects like START that enables 600 young people to access BYT as a cultural venue and develops their interest in theatre.
We are also developing a 'live' venue for a range of different shows - currently called Live@BYT we have been lucky this year to welcome Horse and Bamboo Theatre Company, M6 Theatre Company, and The Contact Theatre.
If you are interested in any of this work do please get in touch :)