Burnley Youth Theatre

On youth theatre and On Burnley

2011-11-17T15:35:00.002Z

I am feeling torn. I think it's because six months or so after becoming Artistic Director full time for Burnley Youth Theatre the reality of the day to day has kicked in. And because I'm in a bad mood anyway. Why? Because this year has been tough and fraught for all kinds of reasons and you know, I'm not made of stone. And because life it hard some times. Life is just plain tricky.

Don't be fooled. I'm not down on the job - it's a great job. What could be better than working with young people and enabling them to take their first full steps on the road to becoming life long theatre lovers, or facilitating their creativity, being part of an activity that improves young people's overall attainment and so on? Believe me I am not fed up of being the Artistic Director - I haven't even started yet. I'm just certain that it's a bigger job than I thought. Just certain that there are some obstacles that need to be overcome.

Firstly, let it be said I am blessed with an amazing team. Lovely people who work above and beyond the call of duty. They all, everyone, work above and beyond their alloted hours. They contribute ideas, thoughts, insights, passion, energy and above all enthusiasm into making the place work. That isn't what's at issue.

Secondly, let me tell you we are supported by ACE, BBC and LCC and we're very grateful for that.

Thirdly, let me tell you we are in the National Portfolio and we are naturally pleased about that too. We are very excited about what this might mean for us...

But this is a period of change for the arts, and I know that how we've done things since I've been at the helm is very different to how we're going to have to do them in the future to survive - and, dare I say it, grow?
And this is the root cause of my general bad mood.

Well, sort of.

Two things are really exercising me a lot. And here they are:

One is that sometimes - and I really do not have a chip on my shoulder about this - sometimes I sense that people glaze over when they hear the word 'youth' in our title - as if, whilst there is an acknowledgement of the work's value, it's not like 'professional' theatre, or it's not like, you know, real artists who are beavering away, you know it's just a bunch of young people; as though we are in the National Portfolio to make the numbers up. And I am talking about people out of the arts as well as people in the arts. WE are not - definitely NOT - just about young people having fun, we are not just a diversion (although these things are important). We are about enabling young people to particpate in high quality arts activity, an absolutely vital foundation for ensuring that in the future there are young people who want to participate as audience, as artists and that their enthusiasm for creating art is channelled AND that they are given the opportunity to learn. We are about extending our offer to every corner, class and youth club across the region. What we offer is something that is uniquely focused on young people - it's not a sideline. It's not something that is competing for space in a busy theatre building (although our building is very busy!) - it is a new theatre space that prioritises the work of young people. Young people in Burnley, and beyond. Young people in East Lancashire, and if our ambitions are fulfilled young people from across Lancashire and beyond. We are not about subsuming all other youth theatre activity either, but about saying, 'Look - we have something unique here - a place for young people to come and work with us in partnership and BE prioritised.' Burnley Youth Theatre is a purpose built space for young people. And also let me say that youth theatre is not just a stepping stone for professionals to cut their teeth - but an entity that prioritises the emergence of young people as theatre practitioners, as theatre creators and theatre makers, that nurtures young people's hopes and ambitions in the arts - and the point is that the workers' role is to facilitate and prioritise that work.

And Two - The other thing that is exercising me is the fact that dozens of assumptions are made when you say the word Burnley. Over many years of working here I have grown to love Burnley and its people, a population emphatically not apologetic about where they live, let me tell you. A place emphatically on the up... don't believe me? Come and look.

Burnley Youth Theatre
So, I have asked myself, 'What's in a name?' I know that many of the people attached to the organisation and with good reason, are very much committed to maintaining and sustaining the strong identity attached to our name... but ... if we aspire to being a youth theatre for young people around the county or across the North West do we need to be named by our location? Yes? Or no? If we are charged by the arts council in building the youth theatre as a live venue for touring theatre and as a venue for other youth theatres to deliver work - is Burnley Youth Theatre the right name? Is it inviting or is it off putting? I do know that when people do bother to come and take a look at the youth theatre building they are very impressed by it. Sometimes they look slightly aghast and say, "Is this a youth theatre?" as if such a building is completely outside of their experience of what a youth theatre should be like, as if we've only the right to exist in a hut somewhere instead of a purpose built and state of the art theatre, and sometimes they just can't quite believe that the building, a beautiful cedar clad place in a clearing, in a forest, is actually a youth theatre. For young people, yes. For young people to be prioritised, yes. A place that focuses on young people and their emergence as young actors...

Not sure what the purpose of this blog was now... just a rift on Burnley... and Youth... and Theatre... and just a steer on how ambitious we are... Okay? Sorry, there's that crossness creeping in again. We're great? Alright?

TRAPPED - AUDITIONS - Tuesday @ 1st November, 2011

2011-10-31T15:08:00.001Z

Bring your little brothers and little sisters! Bring your grandchildren and children - this is a new piece for children in school years 2,3,4,5 and 6 - 5:30pm - 6:30pm at BYT... Give us a bell if you need to know more 01282 427767

Trapped - a new play for our Junior Children - auditions TUESDAY

2011-10-30T17:31:00.001Z

On Tuesday at 5.00pm we have an audition for a new play TRAPPED. This is a play about a young boy trapped inside a computer game. There's loads of characters for children in year 2,3,4,5 and 6. Come along! See you there.

People, we are a Building. People, we are an organisation. People, we are a youth theatre.

2011-10-30T13:03:00.001Z

Making not Watching and the art of generosity. A cautionary tale...

2011-10-25T12:51:00.000+01:00

We want to develop a youth theatre where all young people have the opportunity to create theatre as well as the opportunity to watch it. As part of our successful NPO bid we have been asked to develop BYT as a receiving theatre. This means that as well as offering young people the opportunity to participate, we are also looking for young people (and their families) to become an audience. It has occurred to me - slowly as I am actually quite dim some times - that these are not necessarily the same thing. Young people who want to perform are not necessarily the same as young people who want to watch theatre...

Some years ago - well back in the beginning of time when I had escaped teaching and was living the life of the artist starving in the garret and actually having a good laugh getting reviews in The Independent,

'Comic duo, Say So, sweating profusely under the lights,...'

if that counts - I began to realise that as funny as we were (well, as funny as Carmen Walton, my comedy partner was) we were not going to be the next French and Saunders because all of the people who came to our shows (with the honourable exception of the poor bloke we dragged off Newton Street into the Frog and Bucket - imagine his startled face as we began our 'hilarious' routine) harboured the desire to be who we were, and to make their own work. All of them were, like ourselves, interested in what other people were doing, and occasionally even bought their wares but all of them, like ourselves, were actually more interested in making our own work. We sold 500 books and thought we were someone. We were someone - just not quite who we imagined ourselves to be. We were on radio one with Mark and Lard. We were regulars on local radio, finding new and inventive ways to steal our BBC passes as we left... I had 20 at one point. We sat in the green room with The Two Fat Ladies (and YES you could tell the difference.) We laughed when we saw the soft shoes of a famous news reader... and in the end we just came to an end, in the way of all things.

We also shamed ourselves on a number of occasions during performances - we were bad for each other in that sense. I famously fell over in Mid Pennines offices - I was out of control! I regularly corpsed (a problem that plagues me to this day) and on at least one occasion I regret being less than generous watching a poet who was using an orange in her set to symbolise a planet whilst wearing ski boots - this seemed inextricably hilarious at the time and we were barking with laughter and had to be removed from the room. We knew we were out of order, and we behaved badly. What goes around comes around.

This was in the days before You Tube. This was when you had to go out to hear what was going on in the world, and where the audience was largely tolerant because soon enough they would be up there delivering their own work.

It is a very different landscape now but I still have this sneaking suspicion that the urge to create your own work is at least equal to the urge to watch other people's. I wonder how often any of us really take time to watch and consider the work of those who are around us? Yes, I visit the theatre regularly, and yes I read books, but which predominates - watching or making? Perhaps it is different for different people? I don’t know the answers to these questions, I am merely posing them. How do I encourage our young people to come and see work here, even if it is not quite to their taste?

At the youth theatre, we are developing a policy of positively encouraging the young people to watch other work. This is underpinned by the belief that you do not necessarily develop your theatre skills in the isolation of the rehearsal room. Our notions of what constitutes theatre - what it is and what it can be - is shaped by what we see as well as what we experience. Burnley is NOT a cultural oasis but many theatre companies don't necessarily seek us out as a venue even though we are the perfect size to house new and interesting work, and even though we are working towards doing just that. We want to offer our young people the opportunity to see work that might otherwise go unseen, to challenge what they understand as theatre and encourage them to take risks with their own work. Nothing amazing was ever produced in a comfort zone. This does not just mean watching live theatre - both within our own space and on trips to other buildings - this term we have hosted Contact Theatre, M6 Theatre, and in a couple of weeks, we’ll be showing Red Riding Hood by Horse and Bamboo but directing young people to clips on You Tube or other websites where work is uploaded and demands attention and why we will be going to the Edinburgh festival again too. Yes, sometimes work may be strange and unsettling, or perhaps not fully realised but to make theatre is to engage with a process of developing the best way of saying what needs to be said even if it falls short of what was imagined.

It is something else too. We feel it as a deep and profound responsibility that we are charged with developing young artists - young people who are discerning about theatre, who are able to articulate what makes something good or bad, and who strive to make their own work original and challenging. And equally, and no less important that they understand that they share that journey with many other artists and individuals some of whom have different talents to themselves, and who come from very different place or who strive for different meanings, and different ways of telling. We are absolutely committed to the development of generosity. If someone is wearing ski boots, and uses an orange as a prop it's okay to gently question the purpose of this, and suggest there might be a different way of working.

Ultimately, we feel that we have an immense role to support the young people who come to the youth theatre - the 450 who rock up week after week - to become fully engaging, thoughtful, passionate human beings. Because in the end, whether you are making or watching theatre (or any of the arts) you are engaged in social action, political or non-political and that has a considerable consequence both now and in the future. It is not easy. Young people need to be convinced by the need to see other work - and this is a journey we are beginning to take. We would welcome any suggestions about how we engage young people in this process. I can’t make them come to see the work here - but I passionately want them to.

ps if you want a copy of 'Something Piggy and Unappealing' I still have a few hundred in the cellar.

WHO SAYS WE CAN’T GET 500 LIKES ON OUR FACEBOOK PAGE IN A FORTNIGHT?

2011-10-16T20:03:00.004+01:00

The Power of Social Networking

I’ve been puzzling a while about Social networking. So, firstly – I’ll explain where we are, and then my thoughts on why we’re not quite where I want us to be…and how we might get there. In the last month or so, after it stalled, I’ve been working really hard to encourage people to like our Facebook page… I’ve managed to persuade very nearly 200 people in that time to like the page. Well, I want to get to 500 likes in a Fortnight. Is it possible? What can you do to help?

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Burnley-Youth-Theatre/172630009436137

Read on, Macduff.

WHERE WE ARE NOW...

Social networking…

We know that social networking, and digital content are crucial to our success and our future development.

We have leapt forward exponentially as an organisation and are now active on many social networking sites, and are becoming more savvy about how to use these platforms can enhance the experience of the young people within the organisation, and how people can find out more about us and stay involved – in the conversation, in shaping the future, in having their say about what we’re doing now, and what we might do in the future.

We can be found on Twitter @BurnleyYT – and if you’re on Twitter you can sign in and follow this blog easily enough. We’re on Facebook – like us http://www.facebook.com/pages/Burnley-Youth-Theatre/172630009436137

or follow us on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/user/YouthTheatreBurnley?feature=mhee

Or go and take a look at our photos on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/56959443@N03/

If you know or have any ideas about the best way to develop social networking and the best ways of contacting you, let us know. We’re all ears.

Social Network Archive…

We are working our way through uploading our archive. This is a difficult job! Burnley Youth Theatre came into being in 1973 – that’s almost 40 years of photos, posters, films, press releases and so on and so forth. But bit-by-bit, more of our archive goes up. More recent, digital stuff is easier to share. But a lot of photos have been scanned and are ready to go – but all of this is done in my spare time, pretty much so given that I’m quite busy this is sometimes the thing that gets squeezed out. If you’ve got any photographs you want to share, or any memories, please go to our Facebook page and share this with us…

Connecting other groups…

Ollie Briggs (who is fab and who I connected with on Twitter) is working with us to develop an Internet tool so that we can have an online conversation with other groups about the content of pieces and maybe in the future an online festival of work! This will be purpose built and will give a forum to extend the conversation of in this case, a devising process. The site will be limited to those involved at the moment (groups from Bury and Darwen are working with us on this) so that it’s a closed conversation. This is a really exciting development, and I think has untold potential within the youth theatre as a whole, and in developing us as a hub of youth theatre practice. If you’d like to take part in this conversation let us know… In the meantime, we’re pleased to hear from all of our friends and chatting to them about possibilities… get in touch…

Digital Content…

We are ambitious about developing content. This year, in Edinburgh, our young people returned enthused by the possibilities of projection and we will be using projection within our Christmas show for the first time this year. This is a particularly exciting development – and we’re pleased to be working with the genius that is Anthony Briggs (no relation to Ollie, although being called Briggs clearly helps!) to support it happening.

We know that film, projection, and digital stuff is easy to generate, and we’re brave enough to share rehearsals and raw content on our You Tube. There’s some very edited material there, but also improvisations from the Rep Company, and footage from our recent trip to Shakespeare’s Globe…

Today at a fundraising event we were using camera, flip camera and a hd video camera... And this is a regular thing for us...

WHERE I WANT US TO BE (and what you can do about it)

So, here’s what I really want to talk about. We are open minded about possibilities through content and through sharing our ideas, thoughts, and in trying to advertise what is happening at the youth theatre at any given time. But I am acutely conscious that we are not making full use of the networks open to us. And it has taken me a really long time to work out why…

People don’t always use their social networking pages for very much at all. Why should they? They use them to connect with their buddies, to check up on family – as a means of chatting to school friends (and sometimes arguing) or whatever, as a means of belonging to a particular social group. My experience this year has suggested that people generally don’t see their social network as more than a single collection of people. Their people. I think, and I could be wrong, that for a lot of people – and particularly young people, social networking is about reaching out and belonging. It’s not about the network (s) in and of itself. It’s not about the possibility of that network (or indeed the networks of each of their 130 friends.)

Without trying to sound like some young and funky thing, anyone who knows me knows that I am a massive fan of social networking tools, and an equally massive fan of gadgets. I was among the first wave of iPhone users (still the best design in my view), and am, and have always been, interested in the power of the network. Networks can change the world. Long before social networking pages on the Net, campaigns operated a ‘phone tree’ to generate a quick call to action. Each person on the list might ring an additional two people, and they might ring two and then 100 people would be standing in a demonstration stopping something terrible happening… that’s how social networks worked then and that’s when they worked effectively. And that’s the principle I am interested in looking at now.

Networks are everything; the means by which we extend, expand and grow – how we connect to others and how they connect to us. Long before the social networking tool was created, networks existed. Networks are made of people or places that are tied together by one (or a number) of ‘interdependencies’ (Wiki, accessed 16^th October 2011) – and each of us has many: family, friends, school, interests, work, beliefs, or knowledge, for example.

Without trying to sound exploitative, I make use of my Facebook network (I have 2, a work and a personal one). 75 of my Facebook friends like BYT’s Facebook page. This is about a 5^th of my friends, and they do it because I ask them to. I am convinced of the value of them knowing about what we are doing EVEN if they live miles away and are never likely to come to the youth theatre. Why? Because people will then know about what we are doing, and about who we are and maybe reconsider youth theatre.

An average Facebook user has 130 friends – if all the young people, ex-participants, workers, volunteers and interested others who currently 'like' us and that are already connected to us asked a 5^th of their friends to like our Facebook page 9,984 (based on 384 currently liking the page) would immediately like us. This means that almost 10,000 people would know about the professional shows that we have on at BYT, for example or learn about projects or access other information about us. Why is this important? Even if no one ever comes to the show, they see details of what we do and our profile is immediately raised. So, why not ask your friends to like out page? And then ask them again? Offer them a link. Make it easy for people to support us in this way. Explain why it is important to you. Explain why it is important to us. The more people who know about us, connect with us, communicate with us, the better argument we can make to our supporters that we are what we say we are – a vibrant youth theatre serving a wide community. And the more likely we are to be able to explain what we do to funding bodies.

And this is another thing. If a 5^th of people like the Facebook page – that still leaves 104 (on average) that don’t. What should we do about them? Well, once a week maybe, you could share a story from BYT on your newsfeed. If you did this, based on the average number of Facebook friends, an additional 40,144 people would see stories about us. Can you see why it matters? 40,000 people hear about us, see that we’re a vibrant, busy organisation… and just think if they shared it – well you do the maths! And if you simply see this as advertising exercise – it’s colossally powerful and saves us huge amounts of money. If we printed 40,000 leaflets this would cost £500 for each set. If stories were shared as described every week we would actually be benefitting from about £26,000 a year of free advertising! It’s amazing!

This would be more than just extraordinary advertising for us. This would be an extraordinary raising of our profile. This would mean that people would find out about us who might never have known about us. It means that we can really start being what we are charged with – a hub of youth theatre activity, a small venue catering for small and medium sized touring shows, a really high profile arts company with an effective socially networking process.

This is just one thought about social networking. I have many. Just one way of looking at it…what do you think? I'm not suggesting this is it's only use either...

We are keen to know your thoughts. Whoever you are, wherever you are. I sometimes think the social network thing is all smoke and mirrors, and I’d be better off buying Karen Barnes a mega-phone and sending her down town on a Saturday to tell people what we’re up to. (To be fair, she doesn’t actually need the mega-phone…)

Do social networking sites work?

You tell me. Better still – show me. Who says we can’t get to 500 likes on our Facebook page in a fortnight?

I’ll save some of them...

2011-08-18T14:11:00.002+01:00

I don’t know whether anyone else feels like this but the second young people are in the full glare of the media for inexplicable acts of violence, I start to feel my liberal heart beat a bit faster. I like to think I know young people and that, on the balance of probability, they wouldn’t – generally – do anything so terrible as loot, burn and destroy everything in their sight. Would they?

Yes. They would. They have.

I begin to calculate my defence of these young people. I prepare what I’m going to say that will contextualize their behaviour, at least. I struggle with this –everything clogging up the words in my throat before they have fully formed.

I have spent a career - a life choice I have been happy to make – working with young people, many of them disaffected. The truth is, I have chosen to work with young people because I passionately believe in investing time and effort in the next generation. Because it’s worth it. Because they are the future. My work has paid me back a thousand fold in job satisfaction and in not just feeling but in evidenced certainty that the work done does make a tangible, real difference. I have seen young people go from angry to engaged, from downhearted to upbeat. I have seen a little light switched on. Not always, but often, engaging in arts projects of one kind or another has given young people an opportunity to shine., to feel heard, to feel like someone somewhere cares about what they might want to say.

But here – the riots - was something different. Here was something akin to lawlessness, a group of young people running amok as if life had not meaning at all. As if, the police don’t matter, or the law and order is nothing, as if politician and community leaders are dust and as if being caught or not being caught was utterly irrelevant. What did it mean? How could I read it? Could I justify it sociologically or some other way? How could I defend the indefensible?

It was at that point , I suppose, that the raw human reaction took over. It was a terribly uncomfortable place to be – outraged of Rossendale momentarily and then just as certain that young people – even these young people, need people still to believe that they are worth trying to save. I found myself hiding from the social media too, even abandoning my Facebook page after coming unstuck when some accused me of ‘unilateral’ views because I kept banging on about society and context and the fact that young people don’t operate in a vacuum. What are they supposed to do when MPs steal? When journalists can’t be trusted, when those in authority telling them to behave better can’t behave themselves? When the entire society is built on endless consumption, the pointless acquisition of things?

“Condemn the act,” I kept saying, “Don’t condemn the young people.” And yet on it went. Many people I know, love and care about – even some in my own family wanted to flog, or string up young people. The irony of the violence of the reaction was not lost on me. I was dis-comforted by my own sense of outrage and that my friends and colleagues were calling for these young people’s heads.

And therein lies the problem. It’s not binary. Beyond the acts of violence it is not simply a matter of right and wrong. Young people are complex – like anyone. And context is everything.

Against this, at Burnley Youth Theatre, we work with a range of young people who are dedicated, interested and completely committed to delivering amazing work that represents a different picture. You could suggest that the young people we are working with are a completely different cohort– middle class, engaged, supported by parents and with present fathers – and of course, you would be wrong. Our young people are entirely representative of young people everywhere – they are a cross section of society. Some have little. Some have a lot. Some live with grandparents and some in children’s homes. Some have experienced violence and some struggle with basic literacy. Some are likely to go to Oxbridge. Some are young carers and some are young people with a criminal record. Some have special needs and some do not. Some are wheel chair users, and some come to us without a decent meal inside them. Some have parents with grave difficulties of one kind or another. Others are the antithesis of this – they have some or all of the privileges that life offers.

And another point that’s worth making. Not all of our young people are perfect. They some times behave badly. They some times make mistakes. But we don’t give up on them.

The point? It would be very easy to get carried away and make all sorts of knee jerk responses that punished – as should be the case – the act, but abandons the young person in the process. If we want young people to be engaged, then we have to invest in them. We have to develop a means of engaging them fully in the world; a difficult proposition when funds are being cut but no investment in young people is not an option. And investment is not just about money.

To finish, an apocryphal story:

A man is standing on the beach. All around his feet are starfish, hundreds and hundreds of starfish that will die if they are not in the sea. He leans down, picks up a starfish and throws it back into the sea. Each new wave brings more starfish to the shore. And each time he just carries on, leaning down, picking up starfish and throwing them back.

A passerby walks towards him and asks, “What are you doing?”

“I’m picking up the starfish, and throwing them back.” He says.

The passerby shrugs, says, “That’s ridiculous. You’ll never throw them all back. You’ll never save them all.”

“No,” the man says, “No. But I’ll save some of them.”

History is a Mighty Drama...

2011-07-10T22:26:00.001+01:00

"History is a mighty drama, enacted upon the theatre of time...” Thomas Carlyle

I have spent a good part of the weekend uploading archive photographs to our Facebook and Flickr profiles. Not because I don’t get out much - although I don’t, but because it is important to be reminded of the bigger picture and to see where the youth theatre has come from, metaphorically and literally. The youth theatre isn’t the same now as it was in 1973 - we’re in a different building, and the young people in the photographs are not young people any more. And a steady stream of young people come and make the youth theatre their own. But how can any of what we do now have happened without what went before?

I have only managed to upload a selection of photographs from 10 discs - there’s at least a further 100 to explore (and tons of photos on our server too.) There’s such a lot of history! In uploading photographs, you start to get the feeling that you are part of something much bigger than yourself. This is of course, on one level, obvious. Each day doesn’t spring completely detached from the one that went before rather grows organically. Yet the response has been phenomenal. People have been leaving messages all day about this memory, or that memory, naming this person or that person or joking about costume, or asking for photographs from other things. You realise then that the shows, and the projects, and the participation in the youth theatre is special. It matters to people. You realise that the work we do is often a very intense experience for young people, asking them, as we do to step outside of their comfort zones, to take risks and to step up to the plate. You realise that you offer young people a place to learn to be themselves, supported by their peers and in absolute safety.

In a recent conversation about bullying with one of our older participants, I was thrilled to hear him say that he knew that no one was ever going to bully him here at the youth theatre, that he’d always known that and that everyone else knew that too. “You’re allowed to be who you are,” he said, “That’s why we want to be here.” It’s this sense of belonging amongst other things that people recall so fondly when they see pictures of themselves in ‘The tales of the snot monster’ or ‘Harold and Maude’ circa 1993.

It’s a curious thing too that when you look at the pictures - the youth and the enthusiasm of youth is trapped in time. The sense of possibility is evident wherever you look. Then you realise that the picture is from 1979 (and that Anthony Preston is wearing a polo neck jumper) and that he’s not 18 any more. He’s a good bit older than that.

It’s at that point that you start to remember that the youth theatre was fully established in 1973, almost forty years ago. By my calculations that is 38 years ago. As anyone who knows me well will know maths is not my strong point but even I can calculate that this is an awful lot of shows, a serious number of projects, and a colossal number of workshops that have taken place since then. And who knows how many countless young people have passed through our doors in all that time? And how many of their parents have volunteered to support us?

I started thinking then. Where are they now? Amazingly, some people are still involved - Stephen Cook, Pauline Ray, Alicia Foley and Moira Preston are on our board. The Garth Jones and Ian Galbraith are there too, for example parents who came to offer support and who’ve stayed long after their children have moved on. And then there are others, like Philip Hindle who still play an active role, as director and workshop leader. Still others, like Anthony Preston who support us from a distance. But the rest? I would love to hear from people who came 40, 30, 20, 10 years ago. I’d love to hear about what the youth theatre meant to them. I’d love to hear what they are doing now and what difference, if any, BYT made to their lives.

I realised that within these archives is more than our history. There’s our future too. The youth theatre, like all arts organisations, needs its supporters, its believers and here within these pictures are those who can play that role. This can be active or low key, pro-active or subtle, but just writing a comment on Facebook allows us to demonstrate support - it shows those trusts and other organisations who back us financially the evidence that what we do matters.

It’s more than that too. Parents bring their children to the youth theatre, and like local schools, those children grow up, and then eventually bring their children too. It’s that kind of place. The people in these photos support our shows, share their love of the old place and join up the dots for us. I think we could do better at helping people get back in touch, stay involved or simply join our database and mailing lists. This doesn’t mean volunteering and being saddled with manning the tuck shop every Monday night until the end of time (although some people like Moira and Pauline are still there, selling sweets week after week - and they love it and we love it that they do!) But ex-participants and their parents could simply join our social network sites - Facebook and twitter and flickr and You Tube - to name but four, or simply come along and see a show. In the next year we will be increasingly hosting professional companies and their work, as well as continuing to develop our own productions, films, original work and sharing events.

Things are not the same as they used to be. They are not the same as they were in 1973 or indeed in more recent history - for more reasons than there’s time to write here. (Think of policies and safeguarding for one!) Nor should we simply think of history as something that just teaches us lessons - to limit the use of history to lessons is, in my view, to miss the point. As Henry Kissenger said, history ‘teaches by analogy, not by maxims.’ In that way history sets us free. It allows us to seek out the similarities in what went before - and celebrate these - without having to see what happened before as the only way to do things. History isn’t a blueprint.

And what are the similarities? Well, from a quick survey of the archive and people’s responses to it and our own young people too - youth theatre is about enjoyment, having a laugh, participation, working together to a common aim, striving for (and sometimes failing!) to reach a goal, overcoming nerves, developing confidence, developing self-discipline, sometimes getting off with someone you fancy, being creative, having ideas, and so on... and so on... and this is common at whatever time in history youth theatre is taking place... then as now youth theatre is an intangible good.

A life in the year of our Chair, Alicia Foley

2011-06-27T21:50:00.001+01:00

The Chair of BYT is guest blogger. She has recently, like a number of us, run the Manchester 10k - this is her take on that and her reflection on her year as chair of BYT:

On the 15th May I set out on one of the most terrifying experiences I have ever volunteered for in my 42 years of life – the Great Manchester Run; 10k (or 6.2 miles) of Manchester’s finest tarmac was my nemesis and I conquered it to raise funds for Burnley Youth Theatre. I will come back to my race experience later but at this point it is important to state that I was not the only one undertaking this challenge, I was part of a team and teams play an essential part in the success of Burnley Youth Theatre as an organisation.

There always seems to me a great sense of working together as a team at BYT. We are lucky to have an extremely hard working staff team led by our Artistic Director, Mandy Precious. This year we have been extremely fortunate that Mandy has agreed to a full time contract with us. I would also like to take this opportunity to welcome Aiden and Steven to the staff team. All of the team work together in the development of what we do and how we do it and offer each other support in order that they can all develop to their full potential. In the main it is the work of the staff team that drive us forward towards success. We have had an anxious wait for news from the Arts Council about our regular funding but thankfully the news was good. With a new Artistic Development Plan in place to take us through the next few years we have a clear focus and direction. We have started to enjoy visits from professional, touring companies and have put on some fabulous productions ourselves. Alongside this we have worked on projects with young people that educate and facilitate discussion and debate. We have worked with a vast range of schools and developed our relationships with other theatre groups and projects for young people.

Back to my experience of race day: I was what might be termed as a ‘plodder’ as I went around the course. I ran a bit, then walked a bit and probably did a fair bit of staggering. I stopped three times to adjust my shoes as my toes had gone dead and even managed a bit of speed as I went past the official photographer. I ached from the waist down, it was raining and I felt quite alone despite the thousands of people who travelled alongside me on my journey. I felt disappointed that the route was not more scenic. I had an expectation that I would admire the heritage of the city along the way but one branch of Curry’s looks much like all the rest. The glossy brochure that they sent before the race held promises of jelly babies near the end of the course and the anticipation of their sweetness and the fact that they would not affect my waistline today kept me going. I could see the volunteers ahead holding out their latex gloved hands and I got a little faster again all for the sake of one darn jelly baby and it was not even a black one! The last kilometre was the longest 1000 metres I have ever travelled. I was wet, I hurt and I was crying at the whole overwhelming experience of taking part in a race after avoiding any type of running for all but five months of my life when I finally crossed the finish line. At this point you may wonder what on earth I am leading to and my point is this:

I ran this torturous race voluntarily. The rest of the team who ran the race did it voluntarily. The participants, parents, and friends who give their time to Burnley Youth Theatre do it voluntarily. I know that our wonderful staff team give us extra time and regularly work above and beyond the call of duty voluntarily. Being a volunteer is not always easy with jobs, studies, families and a vast array of other competing priorities to contend with but being a volunteer brings its own rewards. Our Financial Director, Moira Preston, has said to me on several occasions, after volunteering with us for over 30 years, “I have got more back than I put in”. Being a volunteer brings new people, new skills and new perspectives into your life. I believe that there is no feeling like the one you get when you feel you are making a difference to people’s lives and I think that, in general, is why our team of volunteers keep giving us their time and skills.

The time and skills of our team of volunteers is crucial in the work of Burnley Youth Theatre. Our entire board is made up of volunteers. Volunteers make and source costumes for our productions. Volunteers organise and man fund raising events. Volunteers run the front desk during workshops and productions. In short, Burnley Youth Theatre could not support up to 450 young people coming through the doors every week without volunteers.

We have achieved many things and there is much to celebrate and each member of the team that is Burnley Youth Theatre should be a part of that celebration but we must never allow ourselves to slip into complacency on the back of success. There are still young people for us to reach out to, there are still penny pinching days ahead and, as ever, there is still a need for those essential volunteers and the need for us to work as a team for the greater good.

Onward and upward!

Alicia Foley

Find a Way, Make a Way.

2011-05-27T15:19:00.006+01:00

So much has happened in the last few weeks that I have found it difficult to sit down and write a blog entry that will cover the breadth of what I've felt, thought, experienced and lived. It is ever thus, but of late I have been in perpetual motion. I have been suffering from blog block - unable to find a way to say what I want to say.

I realised it was probably a good idea not to even begin to try to tell the whole story.

Edited highlights? Well, that suggests that it's all been good stuff, when frankly there has been tough stuff too.

I was personally devastated when Chris May a close ally of the youth theatre and great colleague and friend died suddenly at the end of April. Chris, CEO of Curious Minds, was a man absolutely committed to ensuring that all young people be given the opportunity to participate in the arts and fulfil their creative potential and he will be missed. At 51, I am certain that his work was not complete. I know also he would have continued to support our work at the youth theatre and that the youth theatre's value was intrinsic to his core beliefs; in education and in creativity.

One of Chris' values was based on the following philosophy, 'If you can't find a way, make a way.' I believe that this is the only way that the youth theatre will survive, and sometimes in the cut and thrust of the day to day business of ensuring that we have enough funds to survive, it is easy to lose sight of it. I am certain, now that I have taken up the position of Artistic Director full time, that I will find a way to build on the success the youth theatre has enjoyed, and work towards extending what we do.

I think too, in thinking of Chris, of service. I believe that we pay for our place on earth by service to others. I believe this as passionately as I believe anything - and I think Chris did too. I am not servile (no doubt my colleagues would testify to this) and I am not perfect but I understand service to be about the difference we make to each other, about committing to changing the world for the better, about doing good, and about giving. There are many people in the arts who share this belief and Chris exemplified it. And had an approach to his work that many of us aspire to.

We are lucky to have what we have at the youth theatre, and I mean to ensure that all young people have access to our core offer should they want to join with us. And I am just as passionate about ensuring that children and young people in schools, youth clubs or wherever else they might be know that we exist and that what we do here is for them. This is one of the reasons why we have reconfigured the space - it allows us to run three workshops simultaneously. There have been times this week, when a fourth space would have been handy!

But it is about more than this - the youth theatre is about 'dialogue', about conversation, about what we make and create together. The curriculum isn't set - we are engaged in the business of creating something - often new and original - together. If you're sensing that this is a familiar and not my own philosophy, you would be correct. The notion of dialogue in this sense was a principal idea of the Brazilian educationalist Paulo Freire - for him dialogue wasn't just about greater understanding but about working together and making a difference in the world. This underpins my understanding of youth theatre too - in the long run it is about social action. About making the world more co-operative, equitable and engaged and that, as Freire argued, needs to be well-informed. You can't change or move people if you tell them what to think any more than you can change or move people who don't know what to think... any liberation is an act of dialogue, people working with each other, with respect. We can make a piece of theatre, but we can't tell you whether to like it or not. But we can equip young people with the skills they need to have their say.

This week we enjoyed receiving the Faction Theatre Company and their production of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream.' They played the show 6 times, including to some children who might never otherwise have had the opportunity to see Shakespeare. It was a matter of wonder to me that children, some only 7 years old, from some areas where seeing Shakespeare may not be a priority were leaving the theatre enthusiastically sharing their ideas about what they had seen, or laughing out loud or being shocked by a rude gesture 'The Wall' may (or may not) have made. It reminds me that we should never underestimate children and young people. Any children, any young people. Anywhere. Neither ourselves nor the Faction compromised on the Shakespeare and we did not play down to the children. I think the children knew that. And they responded. We entered into a dialogue with them.

Chris May and I, the last time we met, spoke of Paulo Freire which is probably why the educationalist is so in my mind at the moment. As Freire says,

No one is born fully-formed: it is through self-experience in the world that we become what we are.

I think it is as well to remember this in good times, and in bad. And to remember too that the journey of discovery, even if it sometimes very painful, never really ends. Next time I'm stuck or have blog block I'm going to say - quietly or loudly - find a way, make a way. And see how far that gets me.

Dancing with lead boots

2011-03-31T15:16:00.000+01:00

BYT is delighted to announce that they received NPO funding from April 2012 - March 2015 (subject to funding agreement.) We will be receiving an increase of 9% to develop the youth theatre as a cultural venue. This is something we are passionate about, because we feel we will enable the community of young people we serve and their families to engage with a range of performances and other cultural events.

Part of our bid was also concerned with developing the youth theatre as a hub for other youth theatres, and this is something we are really interested in too - we know how lucky we are to have a venue (and a purpose built venue at that) and wish to extend the use of the venue to other youth theatres locally, regionally and nationally (as well as internationally).

This has been a strange few days. Of course we are delighted that we have received this great news - but it is inevitably tempered by the news that so many of our collaborators and co-conspirators have not been given NPO status. We extend to them our goodwill.

Meet 10k Team BYT Sponsored run...

2011-03-11T20:39:00.003Z

I don't know, the months just whizz past.

How can it be March? How can it be the middle of March? How can there only be 64 training days left to our Great Manchester Run? Erm...

We are doing the Great Manchester Run (that's six miles) to raise funds for the youth theatre so please support us by following the link.

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/BYT

For those of you who don't know us - 14 adults have volunteered to take part in a bid to raise £3,500 (with a match of a potential match of £3,500), most of them new to running because they passionately believe in the value of the work we do here and they want to support us by discomforting themselves and training for the run.

Meet the Team:-

Meet our team captain Mr Daniel Armitage - renowned Santander employee of this parish. Daniel is an ex-member and he says that he's taking part because Burnley Youth Theatre has made a big difference to his life.

Another ex-member, Laura Crymble is also part of our team - she's squeezing her training around her university degree. She says, "Youth Theatre was my escapism! It gave me the opportunity and confidence to get involved in a variety of different activities whilst mixing and making friends with people I would never normally meet." Laura wants other young people to have this opportunity too.

Poppy Cooper will be joining us directly from the US of A where she's currently based. She probably won't be green. I think she's secretly quite good!

Then there's Mr Davies - Gareth (below). He used to work for us, and in common with most people who have worked with us, Burnley Youth Theatre, as he says, keeps hold of a part of your heart forever. (I don't think he'll be wearing the Santa Claus suit although he is quite shy!) A good mate of Gareth's, Craig is running too.

The parents are muscling in - Dermot Patterson, Steve Martin, Tom and Sam Root are all running with us as well! When asked, Sam said, "Well, we've got legs!" I'm guessing all these guys are pretty fast to be honest (they won't be running with the fruit!) I'll upload pictures, just as soon as I've asked permission! Special thanks go to these for doing this when they are really busy - we really appreciate it!

Two current members of staff, aside from me are running too:- Sarah Porter who has only been with us a term, but who still thinks we are worth a punt and the intrepid Anthony Briggs (above), both dancers, both pretty fit (I'm guessing) will be joining us. Anthony has knee issues though, and expects them to pop out before the end of the race!

These guys will be joined by Rob Howell - all round good egg, and stalwart of the arts scene in Lancashire. And when I last spoke to him - he hadn't even started his training! Thanks Rob!

Our intrepid Chair who has managed to avoid running for more than 40 years, she says, and who has taken up the challenge because she is passionate about the youth theatre and doing her absolute best to support us.

Then there's me. Already green with worry...

Please support us...

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/BYT

And why are we all discomforting ourself in this way? Well, because we all believe that the Youth Theatre is a great place and that it requires support. This is a difficult time - and the sum we're aiming for here £7,000 in total - will make a massive difference to our young people. It will support those who would not otherwise be able to join us and it will help keep the building open. It will help us add further workshops, pay for leaders and ensure that we can continue to make a difference to the lives of young people from a variety of backgrounds, equipping them to make a successful transition into adulthood and enabling them to creatively take their next steps.

Please support us. We would really appreciate it! THANK YOU :)

DODGY CLUTCH - 25th February, 2011

2011-02-13T13:55:00.005Z

Come to Dodgy Clutch's Xolisile's Song on Friday 25th February, 2011 - 7:30pm supported by Spot On rural touring - http://www.spotonlancashire.co.uk/

Dodgy Clutch Theatre Company are coming to Burnley Youth Theatre on 25th February, 2011 at 7.30pm - http://www.dodgyclutch.com/newsstory/?id=19 - Their work is original, accessible, entertaining, involving and family friendly. It looks brilliant! Tickets cost just £4 and £6 although we will accept a donation if that is more than you can spare. Please help us make this evening a success! Tickets are available from 01282 427767 - from 10:00 am onwards weekdays. We look forward to hearing from you!

(Xolisile's Song photograph courtesy of Dodgy Clutch Theatre Company)

Ambitions. We've got a few...

Burnley Youth Theatre has one of the few purpose built youth theatres in the country - it's a great building, and a fantastic space. The building was supported by the National Lottery, and the NWDA - and we know we're lucky to have it. It seats 158 - and provides us with an excellent space to play all our shows, run workshops, conferences, meetings and so on

The building is well used throughout the evenings of weekdays with workshops and projects. On Fridays and Saturdays we have fewer needs for the space ourselves, and are looking for ways to use the space that are beneficial both to our young people and to the wider community of Burnley.

Our absolute ambition is to encourage small and medium size companies to see us a potential venue when they are touring new work. We feel that we are well-placed to be this venue because very few other venues in East Lancashire are able to offer the size and quality of venue we can provide. And because we want our young people and their extended families to have access to high quality theatre of all kinds on their doorsteps. Being able to see a wide variety of shows extends young people's understanding of theatre (frankly it extends us all) and what might be possible... here - within our own space - and to say loudly and clearly that professional theatre is not other, or elsewhere but here. Now. And just think (we thought!) no drive to Manchester to see professional high quality and innovative theatre. Genius...

And so to Dodgy Clutch Theatre Company - on the 25th February, 2011 7:30pm

We saw the possibilities of this company and thought it was a great piece to really take a chance on developing our receiving house credentials. They are a great company - innovative and clever. Here is a clip from an earlier show 'Elephant'

Take a look - and then book your tickets for Xolisile's Song. You wouldn't want to miss out now, would you?

01282 427767 from 10:00 am every day ;)

Shout out!

2011-02-02T20:40:00.001Z

The thing is we really have to get better at shouting about all the amazing things we get up to in the course of a week. The problem is we're so busy doing all the amazing things that quite often we don't have time to tell everyone about them. I know, I know - we need to make time.

I used to have this idea that there could be a sliding door that I could whizz through and enter a virtual vortex where I could catch up on all the things I needed to do...but that doesn't really seem to be a practical option, unless anyone knows how to do that? Is there a virtual vortex? Can we squeeze through it into another world?

So, this week...

Our Arrow group are fresh from a trip to Derry where they worked, in tandem with another group from Active8, Bolton with a youth theatre there, on the business of challenging and working with difference. This is the first part of an exchange, and the group from Derry will be working with us at half term to create a piece of theatre that challenges stereotypes and enables young people from different cultures to get along. This only really tells half the story - the whole trip was preceded by a long drawn out process of getting a passport for one of the group. We were certain, in the end, it wouldn't arrive in time but it did - at 9:00 o'clock on Friday morning necessitating a last minute dash to the airport to get the young person concerned to the airport on time.

Aside from our regular 20 weekly sessions - we are also currently working on a number of other key projects:-

1) Healthy High - this sees us working in partnership with four schools to develop pieces of theatre around health issues that are concern to young people. There are weekly sessions in school(s) to develop the work. They will share this work in an event in March.

2) Cut Short - work is taking place with four youth and community groups in the development of four short films around the prevention of knife crime. One group have completed, the other three are ongoing with filming for another group taking place on Saturday.

3) We are working on a weekly project in a local primary school.

4) Different Strokes - a community cohesion project that we are delivering for Curious Minds, and in partnership with Sir John Thursby and Blessed Trinity schools.

5) We are contributing to an enquiry project in a school in deepest darkest Lancashire.

6) We are rehearsing two plays - a newly adapted version of The Selfish Giant - Greek Chorus with 10 year olds! And What if? a devised piece of theatre with our older young people. Both culminate in April.

7) The participant reps are visiting all groups, and beginning to generate interest in two upcoming events - firstly an art project that starts next Monday working with Shahida Ahmed and a double hander theatre trip to the Octagon to see Romeo and Juliet and the youth theatre to see Dodgy Clutch.

8) We are preparing a presentation with 6 young people to take to a Proud of Burnley event.

9) We have an ongoing session in Pendle with a group of young people.

10) We are working with five schools in Burnley and Pendle on the Start project, and beginning to deliver workshops in the run up to the next show they'll be seeing with us "Midsummer Night's dream" by The Faction Theatre Company.

11) A weekly session for young people with disabilities "No Limits"

12) Planning new work for next term around Aspirations, a film for the Samaritans, A Long Stand (a work experience project) and some work with the Mary Burberry Unit at the hospital, and with looked after children in Rossendale.

13) We've just taken part in a mini-youth theatre festival (weekend before last) and some training for our workshop leaders with NAYT.

14) Oh, you know just doing office type stuff. Paper work, and fundraising, and planning our Christmas show (yes) funded, our trip to Edinburgh, our summer school, our summer term shows, and two or three other big projects we're keen to get off the ground. And all the other stuff that's necessary but not as interesting as this...

There are only 3 of us in the core team. And our part time ops assistant. And an FJF assistant (who leaves us next week! We'll so miss him!) So we don't have time to tweet or facebook as much as we'd like to. We really need to get better at this. And hopefully we will. But if we go a bit silent, really just give us a bell or a kick or a punch because I'm certain we'll be doing something of interest that we haven't had time to shout about, or maybe have forgotten to mention.

On that note - I've probably missed loads of important stuff off the list. You know how it is.

All over bar the shouting...

2011-01-23T20:10:00.002Z

I can't claim for a single second that this was my idea, but here is a wordle of BYT's main aims and its imagined future. (Thank you Marcus Romer, thank you Chris Hammond.) Now that the world is shaped differently, and the future is shifting and always tantalisingly out of reach, and whilst there are still things to attend to make it all happen, it seemed pertinent to share our wordle here too. What's interesting about this wordle are the five main words that jump out - youth work young people theatre. I have been trying for some time to pin down our USP and perhaps that covers it? That is what we do - youth work young people theatre.

Of course, that isn't all we do - as the wordle demonstrates... we're ambitious about technology, about engaging young people wherever they are and about extending our practice to include young people excluded from participation. We feel incredibly fortunate to have our amazing space - and are looking to develop it beyond ourselves as a hub of excellence for youth theatres in general. As a designated youth space, one thing we can do is encourage young people to get involved, have their say, and make their own work - and we can prioritise that here. We can say that the work of young people is central to what we do because it is. I extend an invite to any young person who wants to make theatre to come to us and talk to us about it... this is the place for you to do precisely that. Any young emerging young artist needs to look us up and get in touch. The space at BYT needs you...

But that isn't all we do. We are also about the bigger picture: opening up possibilities for young people to really grab hold of, to shake things up, try them on for size, shape the world, change it - think long and hard about what is possible. We say - at the youth theatre - you can imagine yourself differently - you can imagine the world differently.

My mother used to have a habit of using a phrase all wrong - of making her own world and superimposing it on the real one. Many of her sayings are far too rude and sweary to record here but she often used to say things that were uniquely her own. If for example, you said that food was hot she would say, "You sit with your backside in the oven, and you'd be hot too." Another favourite, in response to my saying, "I really wish I had...." was "Poo in one hand and wish in the other and see which gets fullest first." (Obviously she didn't say backside and she didn't say poo!) These sayings and half sayings have served me very well over the years. She is a pragmatic down to earth person, believing that your feet should be on the ground, and that there is a world of difference between need and want.

Young people need a space to become themselves. Young people need to find a way of responding to and exploring the world. Young people need somewhere safe, somewhere to express themselves, to be creative - young people need a gateway into the cultural possibilities that the arts and theatre in particular can offer. They have that here at BYT in pragmatic, down to earth ways.

I have spent all day with another of my mother's idioms floating around my head. This week has been particularly exhausting and the whole team have been striving to ensure that the youth theatre has the future we hope for - we strive every week for this, of course, but this week has been especially pressing. As we sent off a particularly important application, I kept thinking, "Well, it's all over bar the shouting..."

The way my mother used to use this, I always felt that the worst had passed - that we'd given it our best shot and that we'd done all we could - not that we'd win necessarily but that it was finished with. And that's how I feel now. Who knows whether we'll get exactly what we want? Who knows if the future we imagined is the future that will come - but there will be a future, of one kind or another - that is certain and in that sense, it really is all over bar the shouting - as sure as eggs is eggs the future will come.

Because it matters - Trade and Serendipty

2011-01-05T14:24:00.000Z

Happy New Year. Okay. It's not the new year, and it may not be all that happy for some folk. But I am a born optimist. (This annoys me.) I've worked as hard as I have ever worked over the holiday period, and I'm still surrounded by disparate thoughts and random jottings that seem to be relevant and things that somehow need to be included in that which shall not be named. You all know what I'm talking about. I can't go anywhere, see anyone, read anything without thinking "Ah, that!" For instance, Anthony Howard, who died recently apparently said that the chief job of the newspaper editor was to nurture new talent. (Today programme, Radio Four, 5/012011). Much like the chief job of the Artistic Director of the Burnley Youth Theatre, I thought. My chief role anyway is to nurture young talent. It's sometimes easy to forget that when you're knee deep in paperwork that your cat is using as an improvised luge. Anthony Howard also refused to believe that journalism was a profession. It was, according to him, a trade. I like that. A trade. I suddenly felt, hearing that, like I'm not some terrible interloper in the world - I can, legitimately, be my father's daughter. A tradeswoman. And I know what Anthony Howard is inferring, too. Seeing the arts and cultural sector as a trade does, at the very least, make us re-engage with with two things...

1) Trade acknowledges a specialism - a knowing of something and a learning process that got us to that level of knowing

and

2) That we don't know everything. That there are other tradespeople out there, who make up a rich ecology of arts, culture and the real world, people who know other things better than we do.

And to take the analogy to its conclusion - we will have to actually begin trading with others to enable what we do to work. A plumber might have the most amazing bathroom suite in the world plumbed in exquisitely, but if he doesn't bother with a lovely woodworked or some sort surround, it won't look great - in fact, it might look a bit unsightly.

So, here I am doing that which cannot be named (well obviously not right at this minute) when I get this bright idea. I might not use it, I think, but you know I'm a bit of a magpie, so even if I don't use it it will still come in useful at some other point. I send out a general call to a number of folk, ex participants to summarise what the youth theatre has meant to them. Well - this is where the serendipity bit comes in. Because what I was expecting was, of course, to say how marvellous the youth theatre was and how brilliant a time was had - and what I got was a moving and profound affirmation of the work of the youth theatre over the last 40 years and a reason, as if I'd needed one, to carry on. Because it matters.

Take Kris, for example:

"Burnley Youth Theatre literally shaped my life. Every single person has artistic flair within them and for me BYT manifested and nurtured my inner artistic,creative self. Not only did BYT teach me all about Acting but also the value of respect and compassion for other people"

Take Rhiannon:

"My time at Burnley Youth Theatre made a massive impact upon my life. It gave me an appreciation of Burnley, as well as the impetus to think of life beyond my town, and the skills to pursue that life. Most of my closest friends were made there, and some of the best experiences of my life were either at, or in connection with, BYT. I am profoundly grateful for the opportunities that came because of my connection with the organisation-many of which were utterly outside the realm of the Arts- as well as for the people I met, worked alongside and explored life's possibilities with. Without a doubt, I would be a very different person were it not for my time at BYT."

Take Daniel:

"Without the Youth Theatre I would not have had the confidence to get me where I am today. The Youth theatre gives confidence and brings out passion, not only for the arts but for essential life skills needed to conquer life changing events. Now as a highly successful financial adviser I have a lot to thank Burnley Youth Theatre for."

Take Anna:

"I cannot thank BYT enough for the opportunities it provided for me: the exciting workshops and plays; the creative and social outlet in an encouraging environment; the chance to meet people from other backgrounds; the experience of going on tour; and my first directing opportunity. BYT allowed me to meet some of my closest friends, but it also gave me access to theatrical resources and workshops that were not available in school. I think it is largely thanks to the opportunities given by BYT that I was granted a place to study theatre directing at Birkbeck College this year."

And on. And on. There were dozens like this. People in their 20s and 30s and 40s who testified and time and again how profound the youth theatre experience was for them; how in big and small ways it has shaped their lives. Taken them places they never expected to go. Given them enduring friendships. Offered them skills to work inside the cultural sector, and outside of it. So it's not an idle or whimsical thought about the impact we have. It's a fact. I knew it, of course. But it was serendipitous to be reminded quite so profoundly at this point in time.

Collaboration - a tribute to Alan Daiches.

2010-12-20T08:43:00.002Z

This is not what I am supposed to be doing. I am supposed to be swimming laps in the pool. Or cycling to nowhere. Or running up a hill. But my legs won't collaborate and my heart isn't quite in it. All the different bits are working on separate projects.

After a Twitter conversation yesterday I started to think about collaboration. It's an interesting word defined as,

"The art of working jointly together."

This doesn't sound dangerous - does it? And yet we are often torn about working in cahoots with others, sharing our ideas (in case someone steals them), and developing projects together in case someone runs off with what little funding there is. Well, think bigger.

As Ken Robinson says, it isn't just a matter of talking within organisations but talking across them. As he points out, this is vital for our survival. Collaboration is all there is if we want to meet the future. For too long everything has been packed in boxes and kept apart. Keeping things internal and tight means only one thing - the law of entropy. And we all know what happens with that. Boom! (And not in a good way.)

Two stories about collaboration:-

1. I was once slapped across the face by a fellow poet for allegedly 'stealing' an idea. I really hadn't. We'd had a conversation and I wrote something based on that conversation. As she struck my face I can recall the distinct clatter as my (very trendy) glasses scuttled across the road. I was so shocked, I picked them up, got in the car and went home. We never really worked together again. This is a shame because that partnership was the funniest and best time I have ever had in my life. I have never laughed more, never felt more excited, determined or scared. Our work as poets, as history will testify, was better together than it was apart. And yet, it was hard to square the circle of both of our ambitions and hopes, and hard to separate who had thought up what once the collaboration began. And difficult if we wrote something apart and succeeded where the other might have failed. We were also younger, and more driven and that can get in the way too. It did.

2. Alan Daiches, friend of the youth theatre, driver of projects and totally committed to the cause spent many, many unpaid hours working for the better good. He was, of course, like us all, not perfect - but he was a very big part of the reason that the youth theatre was built, and a very big part of the funding bids that went into that process as well as sitting on committees and representing the youth theatre at events. He also had a lot of experience writing applications for other projects so that the arts team within the youth theatre could get on with delivering the day to day work with the young people. He exemplified what collaboration means in practice. The studio theatre is named for him along with a quote of his,

"We can achieve anything, as long as you don't mind who gets the credit."

This is a maxim that sits at the heart of partnership working. Some years on from his death, the current crop of young people we have, have no idea of him or of the hours he put in to making the building a reality - which is exactly the way he would have liked it. I like to think that the collaboration continues silently in all the joint operations that take place between the young people and that studio through the creation of shows, through workshops and through a myriad other uses that take place day after day - big and small. They all count.

Right. Now for breakfast.

Mandy :)

Christmas? What Christmas? Meaningful Occupation? And Hovis...

2010-12-17T11:37:00.002Z

Bah Humbug!

Okay, I am not a bad-tempered person by nature, but there do appear to be a quite a few deadlines stacking up against us as we hurtle towards the festive period, and even more just after it and it's making me a bit irritated because I'm tired. I know this is circumstance, and I can hardly complain but it does give you a sinking feeling when you'd rather be dancing round your handbag somewhere. Although anybody who knows me would obviously realise that :-

a) I don't have a handbag
b) I don't do as much dancing as I should.

So, a bit of a grumble to begin with. Apologies. I am minded to slap myself around the face with a wet kipper at this point. I do actually have work. I do actually have a job - at this precise point in time. So no complaints on that score. In the past I have felt that I have made my own bed therefore I must lie in it - but the shifting sands, if that's not mixing the metaphors too much, make things more and more difficult to control - like someone else is making the bed or worse that I'm making the bed and then someone is coming along and messing it up. It also occurs to me that there is battle between being reactive and being proactive all the time, and both get bloodied in the battle for supremacy. But it is about so much more than a job or merely work - it is about what Bauman calls "meaningful occupation." The push to make meaning is what makes us human and I really feel that's what I (and maybe a few other people) need to keep sight of.

It has also become apparent to me as the austerity times have started to loom and bite that the world won't end. It will be different, certainly, but it won't end. It may be deeply unpleasant for a time, but it won't end. It will certainly be a very unfamiliar landscape but it will still need navigating.

"One thing which even the most seasoned and discerning masters of the art of choice do not and cannot choose, is the society to be born into - and so we are all in travel, whether we like it or not. " Zygmunt Bauman

There will still be choice within this new landscape. I don't know what that will look like, but it will be there and it may not be smiling like a benign aunt.

A number of really exciting things are stepping out of the gloom though :-

1) People are talking excitedly about creative projects. About making art.
2) People are talking about collaboration. Genuinely creating work together.

I'm a realist and a pragmatist. We need money - of course we do. We have a lovely building to pay for and staff. We rely on it. But then we all rely on lots of other things too. We rely on funders. We rely on workers. We rely on the generosity of parents and friends. We rely on the young people. We rely on the drive to make art and to make it better and the best it can be. We rely on creativity.

And as Hovis says in, "I rely on you" - lots of things rely on lots of things. Not absolutely appropriate, or a perfect fit to summarise the post, but worth it if only to remind the world of the great man, of what we've missed since he died, and anyway, I don't really need an excuse to share his work. As he says, I rely on you. We do.

So, from Hovis and from me... Happy seasonal times.

All Quiet on the Western Front...or not?

2010-12-13T15:56:00.000Z

Strange switch of pace this week - the frenticism of the show over and done with and the relative calm of moving ever onwards towards the Christmas break.

At the youth theatre, we are very conscious that we have to keep moving - that things change. The weeping and wailing of the departing cast is barely quiet and we are, to coin a phrase, 'so over it!' - as good as the show was, and it was very good, it is always a case of next! It's evaluated, it's mulled over and we bask in its glory but we don't - and nor can we afford to - stand still. As my mother always says, it's best to present a moving target - that way, it's always much more difficult to be hit!

Today has been a another day of building up new potential collaborations, associations and partnerships. This is something that we have been making a concerted effort to do over many weeks. The impending cuts will hit us all but we know that we will be stronger if we work together. Today I have had a long meeting with Abdul Salek, from Dhamak, talking about hopes and ambitions. There are many exciting possibilities there and I am sure we have begun a journey to creating something special. Karen has been talking to the youth work team at Marsden Heights in preparation for a TIE project in the new year, funded by the PCT. She got to eat curry in school with Mash and Jenny, whilst I had to make do with a butty from the local shop. Something not right there. I demand a recount.

The elephant in this post is the National Portfolio funding application. It's there. I'm not ignoring it, but it is ever present breathing like a sleeping giant. Yesterday - yes Sunday - saw me thinking about how that might be. We have a strong programme of activity planned and are confident that if we are able to fulfil these plans we will deliver a really good offer for young people across East Lancashire. There is no doubt that National Portfolio funding would make life a whole lot easier for us.

Yesterday also saw me reading The Selfish Giant too, in anticipation of an adapted version for a cast of 20-25 children. Oh boy! I wonder if it's normal to do that kind of thing of a Sunday morning? Then, it's not a normal job and things have to be done. I am looking forward to doing something creative, I must say - a bit of lightness in the weight of paperwork. Karen is preparing for the devised show - What if? An original piece. Both shows culminating in the run up to Easter. And as usual, many other things are happening - there's a constant juggling. I'm not complaining. Rather that than twiddling fingers waiting for something to turn up.

Nothing stands still. It cannot and it does not. We are moving with it.

Two Performances down, quite a few to go...

2010-12-06T21:45:00.000Z

"My Grandfather told me there were two kinds of people. Those who do all the work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group. There was much less competition."

I was lucky enough to sit in on the first playing of A Christmas Carol this morning, and was really impressed with the professionalism of an amazing cast. It's brilliant to see the whole thing come together and for everyone to really just gel - proves it's all worth it. It's a dark, intense version with laugh out loud moments, and it's definitely worth a look see if you haven't got your tickets yet. There are one or two tickets left for Saturday's shows - 11th December, 2:30 and 7:30. Friday is virtually sold out.

What was really notable was the ensemble nature of the cast, a lovely feeling of all dependent on each other, and a real sense that if - Heaven forbid - anything did go wrong, then it would be covered by someone else. The most amazing thing was that everyone worked really hard to develop this - no-one dropping the pace or letting anyone down at any point. It's rare than you can say that about a cast, and the whole thing is credit to the team - Pip, Janet, Karen, Terri, the costume ladies and the tech team and, of course, the cast.

The young people are also taking critical roles in stage management and make-up - applying foundation one minute, acting the next. Yes - it's about the arts, and its value - yes it is about having the most professional piece that's possible, but what a thrill that such a group of young people can be so flexible, and so determined to make the show happen.

But then what would you expect? Youth theatre is a training ground - it gives young people the building blocks that set them on the way to becoming young actors. We take that very seriously. But it is also about enabling young people in their journey to becoming rounded people. Things impress me outside of the art of it. Someone didn't get in the cast, for example, someone really talented. Did he despair and take his bat home? No - he volunteered to do the sound. And that's where you know that you're doing something right. That you're making a place where young people pull together and want to be part of it, even if they can't be the star.

That's how it is here. This morning the caretaker rang in sick. No problem, everyone got stuck in, sweeping up as the audience were being ushered in! This morning a matron couldn't make it? No problem, others stepped in to make up the numbers. That is the way it is here. And that is why the work we do is about the arts, yes, but also about so much more than the arts.

So, here's to the rest of the week - and more of the same. A cast confident of itself, and a support staff who step up to the plate and make it all work. Well done everyone! Brilliant work!

First Post - A Christmas Carol directed by Philip J Hindle - Public Performances 10th and 11th December, 2010

2010-12-04T14:35:00.000Z

Well, it's been a challenging week this week stuck as we are in the frozen north and struck down as we have been by flu and other such germs. But are we defeated? Of course not.

The last days of preparation for the show are taking place, ready for next week.

The show - A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and directed by Philip J Hindle is exceptionally good - given the strong cast who are taking to the stage, and the attention to detail that inevitably comes with Philip's eye. I know he's battled through snow and illness this week but he's managed nonetheless to absolutely step his cast through to a great delivery, that will knock the audience's socks off. Well done sir, you are a gentleman (and an occasional, momentary pain!)

Haven't got your tickets yet? Why not? It is - as we used to say - bazzing! There are a couple of tickets still available for Friday 10th (@ 7:30 pm) and a few for the two shows on Saturday 11th (2:30 pm and 7:30pm.) I am incredibly proud of the work everyone has put into the show even when it has been tough, the professionalism of the cast is unquestionable - a big well done.

It's also time to say thank you to all the amazing volunteers who work so hard behind the scenes to get us to the stage we're at today - the costume ladies led by Linda Hargreves, the technical team led by Perry Macro with a bit of help from Oliver Daley, stage management by Terri Feaney, and a very big thank you to Janet Dand who has worked tirelessly throughout the whole process supporting Pip. I really appreciate all that you have done for us. The whole team does.

There are a lot of unsung heroes in the work we do, giving up their time for nothing. For example, Kath Pillier is working every day as a matron for us during the shows run, as well Betty and Mike Davies. They make what we do possible.

We value the arts, of course we do, and we value what the arts - in the right hands - can do for and with young people but without the unseen legions who do the non-glamorous stuff, it would be next to impossible. There's idle chat about the Big Society - and here it is - in Burnley. It makes me proud to be part of it.

A good team effort too - ploughing on with the huge of volume of other work while making sure everything is in place for a great show.

So, it would be a shame not to see it, wouldn't it? Given all of that build up?

Mandy Precious, Artistic Director BYT