The Royal Shakespeare Company to Mark Partnerships With Arts Symposium

The Royal Shakespeare Company will mark 20 years of long-term partnerships this Autumn, starting with an Arts Symposium on 18 September 2026 which will: 

call for every child, in every postcode, to have meaningful arts entitlement within the curriculum. Enrichment should extend that entitlement and not compensate for its absence
see the launch of Finding Every Child: a new report from the RSC setting out key learnings from more than 20 years of working in partnership with schools and regional theatres
hear from Minister for School Standards, Georgia Gould MP alongside contributors including headteachers, teachers, artists, young people and colleagues from the sports sector
enjoy Factory, a brand-new verbatim play performed by the RSC's Next Generation Act young company. Created by multi-award-winning campaign-led arts charity, LUNG

The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is calling for every child to have meaningful arts entitlement within the curriculum. Enrichment should extend that entitlement and not compensate for its absence. 

The call comes as the RSC, associate schools and theatre partners celebrate 20 years of deep, long-term partnership this Autumn, kicking off with a public Arts Symposium taking place at The Other Place (TOP) in Stratford-upon-Avon on Friday 18 September. 

The Symposium, called Building Partnerships: A 20-Year Story, will bring together 200 school leaders, teachers, artists, theatre practitioners, arts leaders and policy makers, for a day of presentations, conversation and reflection. The day is part of a series of events and performances taking place across the Autumn to celebrate 20 years of schools partnerships.

The Symposium will include a conversation between The Rt Hon Georgia Gould MP, Minister for School Standards and Geoff Barton, RSC Trustee and former General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders. 

They will discuss the role of the arts in schools and explore how strengthening partnerships between the arts and education sectors can support national priorities around opportunity, removing barriers to participation and ensuring that all children have access to high-quality arts education as part of their school lives. Georgia Gould's ministerial responsibilities include access to arts and music in schools, while Geoff Barton brings more than three decades of experience as a teacher and school leader.

The Symposium will also see the launch of Finding Every Child: a new report from the RSC setting out key learnings from more than 20 years of working in partnership with schools and regional theatres. 

Jacqui O'Hanlon, Deputy Executive Director and Director of Creative Learning at the RSC, said: “We now have a 20-year evidence base that describes the real difference that an arts-rich education makes to a child's life and learning outcomes. Partnerships between schools and cultural organisations can play a critical role in unlocking the potential of every child in every postcode.

During the day delegates will watch Factory, a brand-new verbatim play performed by the RSC's Next Generation Act young company and supported by young trainees from the RSC's Next Generation Backstage and Next Generation Direct talent development programmes. Created by multi-award-winning campaign-led arts charity LUNG, Factory brings together the voices of young people, teachers, Headteachers, school staff and policymakers from across the education sector, including RSC Associate Schools, and examines the changing status of creativity and imagination within the education system and the impact of a world shaped by grades, targets and behaviour points.

The production uses the disruption of Covid to question what value society places on the arts and finds hope in the teachers, young people and communities determined to keep imagination  alive. Factory runs for four performances at The Other Place from Wednesday 16 to Saturday 19 September.

Actor Patterson Joseph will also perform Imagine This, a poem that describes his experience of Shakespeare in school, and West Midlands young poet laureate Naomi Mba, will perform a specially commissioned poem to mark the day. 

The Symposium is the first in a series of events programmed across the autumn to celebrate 20 years of deep partnership working between the RSC, its partner theatres and schools. The Building Partnerships 20-year anniversary programme will continue with First Encounters: Julius Caesar, a co-production with KPPL Productions and reprisal of Phyllida Lloyd's groundbreaking 2012 all-female production, featuring Dame Harriet Walter as Brutus. The production will tour to five RSC Associate Schools across the country before arriving in Stratford-upon-Avon for a short run at The Other Place in November. At each school across the tour, the company will remain 'in residence' for one week of performances, workshops and post-show conversations. Following First Encounters: Julius Caesar at TOP, the programme will conclude with a Young Creatives Festival on Saturday 21 November. Creatively produced by members of the RSC's Youth Advisory Board, the day will involve discussions and workshops, as well as a special performance showcasing young people's creative responses to Julius Caesar.

Together, the events will celebrate what can be achieved when schools, regional theatres and the RSC work as equal partners—and make the case for ensuring that every young person can access high-quality arts learning, wherever they live and whatever their background. 

The RSC and its partners are also calling for a coordinated research and evidence infrastructure for arts education. Better data would help schools, cultural organisations and decision-makers understand what works, identify where investment is needed and make access to arts-rich education more equitable. 

Find out more plans for the RSC 20-year anniversary programme here: https://www.rsc.org.uk/learn/building-partnerships

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