Description
In May 2023, Glass Performance and Polmont Youth Theatre hosted a Symposium
to investigate how the youth theatre sector can better support young people with
experience of the justice system. YTAS have invited the team Tashi, Jess and Louise to
share their learning from this event as well as reflect on the journey of their organisation
and as individual artists. The presentation will be the next step in acting on their learning
with an aim to inspire the wider sector in a call to action.
Glass is an award-winning Arts Company that gives voice to unheard stories, told by
everyday people. They began working together in 2004 and since then have made
performances and co-produced projects on small and large scales – from theatres to
nightclubs and football pitches – for an
audience of 600 to an audience of just
one. In February 2019, Glass launched
Polmont Youth Theatre (PYT) in HMPYOI
Polmont, the first ever Youth Theatre in
a Scottish prison. It is delivered through
their ongoing partnership with Barnardo’s
and the Scottish Prison Service.
Polmont Youth Theatre is a legacy from
the National Theatre of Scotland’s
Futureproof programme in Year of
Young People 2018, when Glass worked
with a group of young men in the prison to create MOTION; an original show about
what it means to be a young man in Scotland today. The group continue to meet every
Thursday inside the prison and make original devised theatre from their own ideas and
perspectives about the world as they find it.
While many of the individuals in the group find a place to belong and a creative home
in PYT it can be difficult for them to continue their love of the performing arts postrelease. Many of them were brought up thinking that Drama was not for them or
struggle to understand how to make it part of their future. This talk asks why? How can
this change? How are we making sure Youth Theatre is for everyone? And how are we
supporting everyone to take part in it?
| Period | 23 Mar 2030 |
|---|---|
| Held at | Youth Theatre Arts Scotland |
| Degree of Recognition | National |