The Final Week
I cant believe I have reached the end of my Placement with Imaginate, I have felt so supported and so creatively nourished during my time here and my enthusiasm for children’s theatre has just become even stronger through working with these amazing passionate people. I will post again with a final reflection on the experience so I will try not to focus on that too much here.
As well as continuing to update my blogs and consolidate my reflections I was involved in the Schools Pre-launch of the Edinburgh International Children’s Festival. 50 Teachers attended this launch where the Imaginate team presented this years line-up of shows with some detail about each show in advance of the Public Launch. This exclusive launch is part of the Schools Programme. Priority booking only for schools groups opens on the 15th January. Schools are helped to arrange full classes visiting the festival to see work appropriate to their age group and ensuring that accommodation needs are being met. They are also offered reduced ticket prices, free tickets for accompanying teachers/adults, travel subsidy – 100% refund for special schools/groups 80% for state nurseries, primary and secondary schools as well as Q&A sessions for schools groups at the end of performances in the morning to give the young people an insight into the creative process.
The festival line-up is really exciting, it shows a real diversity in style and a commitment to challenging the boundaries around what theatre for children should look like. The video below shows some the highlights from a previous festival.
During this final week I also reached out to some of the people I have worked with during my placement inviting them to answer some questions in relation to my original enquiry. This research has been so vital in helping me to pull my learning together and will really feed forward into my final reflections.
Some key comments from this research I have added below.
Why do you feel it is important to make work for young people ?
“In my own life, as a child and young person, I discovered different cultures, inspiring role models, and a love of theatre through attending performances. The experience of seeing a performances was also, for me, immensely pleasurable in its own right: a moment of transportation, joy and wonder that I looked forward to and treasured afterwards. We evaluate the Edinburgh International Children’s Festival every year, and each year, parents and teachers tell us about how much they, and the children and young people whom they bring, enjoy seeing the work presented. Children are not ‘audiences of the future’, they are audiences of the here and now. They have just as much a right to see excellent theatre as anyone else.”
Molly Goyer Gorman – Fundraising Manager for Imaginate
“Creativity is vital for everyone, it’s not an add on, it’s the heartbeat of life. Children deserve access to great arts experiences just as adults do. Theatre is a unique exchange, and children make a wonderful audience full of energy and surprises. As a parent it is a fantastic bonding experience to see your child react and respond to a live performance. I love the theatricality that children’s theatre offers me as an artist, but more than anything I love watching them watch the shows I make and seeing them engage with it. I love how ancient and simple an artform it is and I love telling stories this way. Unfortunately there is a lot of dodgy work for young people that goes unchallenged. It’s important to keep high standards no matter the budget you have and to show the adults who are the ones who make decisions about what children will see or will come into their school, better options”
Clare Mcgarry – Artistic Director of Grinagog Theatre company
What do you think the most important considerations are to take into account when making work for young people ?
“That young audiences are people experiencing the world in a way that is valid beyond their role in society as ‘adults of the future’. That they are capable of handling much more complexity and risk than most adults give them credit for. That they have not been as well-trained in the social conventions of performance and theatre, and that this is A Good Thing (but means it is more challenging as an artist – they will keep you on your toes).”
Peter Lannon – Imaginate Accelerator Artist
Professional Placement - Locating My Practice. 