Formed in 2015, at the root theatre is a theatre company working across West Lothian with children, young people and adults. We want to create opportunities for local people to access creative, affordable and social activities in their local area. We believe in amplifying and empower the voices of different communities, people and places through theatre, music and film.
We run popular weekly drama workshops for children, young people and adults throughout West Lothian. Our weekly workshops aim to build confidence, develop social skills and enable participants to embrace their creativity. Alongside our weekly drama workshops, we run a series of outreach project, educational programmes with schools and holiday workshops.
We want to create positive opportunities for children and young people, including performances, workshops and events.
Your donations will help with funding the bursary scheme meaning we can pay room hire and our team of freelance staff. By donating it would mean you would be taking the burden of payment off of West Lothian families and enabling children and young people to access our activities without any financial pressure. We want to create opportunities for every child and young person. We recognise that it’s not enough for us to say that, but we want to act on it. We hope you can help.
Where will your money go? 20% of the money will go towards a public transport fund where participants who travel by bus, taxi or train can apply to have their tickets paid. 80% will go towards partially or fully funding spaces in our workshop groups.
A Wee Bit More About At the Root...
What is At the Root Theatre? We are a youth arts organisation based in West Lothian. We have been running a successful workshop and performance programme for five years. Our company aims to reach all sections of our community from Primary School pupils to Secondary School students right up to adults. We enable participants to access fun, creative and social weekly activity.
Who runs the At the Root Theatre? We are run by a group of freelance directors, writers, performers and youth theatre practitioners. Our artistic director is Matthew Swan. Matthew says: "the top priority of the team at ATR is to make sure that every participant leaves workshops feeling more confident, happier and that they develop skills for life." The team at ATR love what they do and want to as many children, young people and adults to access activities as possible.
Why was the At the Root set up? At the Root was set up to provide an accessible space for children and young people to develop confidence, passion for the arts and to create a social space for new friendships to form. We were also set up to provide networking opportunities for artists in our Senior and Adult Groups - we hope to create opportunities for collaboration.
Why should I donate? The arts sector has been hit hard by the pandemic and the industry as a whole is struggling. Likewise, many families will be financially hit because of the pandemic and living costs. We don't want children and young people to miss out on opportunities to enjoy and benefit from our activities. We also need to pay for room hire and our excellent team of freelance staff. You can help us do this by donating. A donation to the ATR would go a long way.