We are incredibly excited that six of our senior Mull Youth Theatre students have been selected for the prestigious National Theatre Connections programme. This is the second time that Mull Youth Theatre members have been invited to participate in this programme, demonstrating the consistent high quality of work the youth theatre produces and the impact it has not just on our island home but also beyond its borders.
What is the National Theatre Connections Programme?
The National Theatre Connections programme (NTC) is the National Theatre's annual, nationwide youth theatre festival. Every year, NTC commissions new plays for young people to perform. The programme brings together some of the UK’s most exciting writers with the theatre-makers of tomorrow. This year we will partner with Beacon Arts Centre to perform one of the NTC's brand new plays.
What is the benefit of the National Theatre Connections Programme?
Participating in NTC would give six of our senior MYT members who are looking to pursue careers in the creative industries the chance to:
- Perform our chosen play at Mull Theatre and to tour the production to Beacon Arts Centre.
- Participate in a weekend of skills workshops, including time with the writer of our chosen play and with a leading director.
- Receive feedback from a Connections Mentor Director and development notes.
- Transfer our production to the National Theatre Festival in London if selected by the Connections team.
This would provide our youth theatre members with the chance to gain essential theatre experience before applying for further training opportunities. On a wider scale, it would also help to expand the profile of Mull Youth Theatre, championing island voices on a national stage and helping us in our efforts to attract further funding and opportunities for the youth theatre over the coming years.
We are extremely proud of our youth theatre and want to ensure that our future performers, actors, directors, writers, and stage technicians have every opportunity to progress their talent.
Why are we fundraising?
Participating in the NTC programme requires approximately £6000 of additional fundraising. Although we are applying for funding from trusts and foundations to support this programme, the current funding climate means that the turnaround time for these applications is often uncertain and long. This jeopardises our chance to participate in the NTC programme.
We are extremely grateful to have been awarded a small bursary from the National Theatre to enable our participation. However, we want to ensure that financial circumstances are not a barrier to participation for our youth theatre members taking part in the programme. As such, we still need to fundraise for the remainder of our participation fee, travel expenses, and accommodation for participants.
What are our targets?
Our initial target for our fundraiser is £1000. This would support the remainder of our participation fee and would cover travel costs for all participants to London.
Our initial stretch target is £1600, which would cover the remainder of our participation fee, travel costs to London, travel costs to Glasgow, and accommodation in Glasgow.
All support would be hugely valued and would help to ensure that we can secure our spot on the NTC programme and that audiences across the country can see island voices and talent championed on a national stage.
Any funding that exceeds our stretch target will go directly towards our Creative Learning programme, supporting access to the arts for our community through community arts initiatives such as our Early Years Programme, Mull Youth Theatre, and Dance for Wellness initiative.
An additional note....
Through this fundraiser we have also set up an option for 'regular donations'. Regular donors will form part of our new supporters' circle. All donations from 2024-2025 will go towards the NTC project. All further regular donations will go towards wider Creative Learning projects, helping to secure the future of our youth theatre, supporting access to the arts across Mull, and supporting creativity to thrive.