Theatre For Every Child Campaign Kicks Off With A Month Of Activity For School Kids In Collaboration With Theatres Across The Country

This week, The Society of London Theatre & UK Theatre launched their new campaign, Theatre For Every Child. The campaign aims to ensure every child visits the theatre before they leave school. While the industry is doing great outreach work, access is not equal: children from low-income families are less likely to have access to cultural experiences outside of school.

The campaign launch was marked by an event on the London Palladium stage. Attended by key industry figures, including actors Luke Thompson, Nancy Zamit and Charlie Russell, writer Lolita Chakrabarti, politicians Baroness Christine Blower and Barbara Keeling MP, and SOLT & UK Theatre members from around the country. 

Claire Walker, Co-CEO of SOLT & UK Theatre, spoke at the event, alongside deputy head teacher and arts lead, Fozia Nisar. In her speech, Fozia said: 

“As a mother and as an educator I stand firm that the key to unlocking minds is through artistic exposure: music, dance, acting are all fundamental to a child's emotional journey and senses whereby they can explore a plethora of feelings in the safety of a theatre platform.” 

To celebrate the launch of Theatre For Every Child, over the next month numerous West End producers and regional theatres have created an amazing opportunity for state school pupils to enjoy a live show, offering heavily discounted tickets and extra workshops and activities to showcase the plethora of careers on offer within the sector. 

Yesterday (19 October), Tina - The Tina Turner Musical also hosted one of their bi-annual Career Workshops, where over 1,000 pupils from 22 state schools attended an exclusive pre-show workshop with members of the crew and cast, who showcased backstage career opportunities in the theatre industry, followed by a special matinee performance of the musical for the school students.    

Tali Pelman, Producer of Tina – The Tina Turner Musical and Group Creative Managing Director of Stage Entertainment, said, “Tina – The Tina Turner Musical is now in its sixth year in the West End, which gives us a unique opportunity to create long-term initiatives that not only help subsidise schoolchildren's visits to the theatre, but demonstrate to young people the many backstage job opportunities that our industry offers. I'm delighted to announce today that next year we will also be giving interested students the chance to work more closely with six backstage departments at Tina, so they can discover their area of interest. We are also inviting careers teachers to get involved so they have the insights needed to guide students on their journey when the time comes for them to leave full-time education.”  

Elsewhere in London, almost 2,000 West End tickets were provided to schools at £10 each. Participating schools are in areas identified by Arts Council England as having low engagement and investment in culture, as well as those with multiple areas of deprivation. They include Barking & Dagenham, Brent, Croydon, Enfield, Newham and Tower Hamlets.   

Lucinda Merritt, a teacher attending yesterday's event, said, “I think that the impact of school's budgets being quite tight, meaning that trips don't usually happen, is that of the 50 students that I've brought at least 15 I've never been to the theatre before, and [with them] living in London, that's quite sad. I think that that's going to going to continue to be a trend - where students that are studying drama, and all the arts, are not going to museums, are not going to the theatre, [and] are not being exposed to the rich cultural capital that we have - and that's going to squeeze out the art subjects out of schools.” 

On average, 31% of the students at the schools attending London shows are in receipt of free school meals and two are Pupil Referral Units whereby the entire pupil roll consists of children excluded from mainstream education.  

There are an additional 10 shows in London offering discounted tickets and workshops to over 22 unique performances. 

Elsewhere in the UK, 18 theatres are offering £10 tickets to schools, with 7 unique performances also hosting activities as part of the Theatre For Every Child campaign offering. This includes movement workshops, workshops with composers and lyricists where attendees learn to create a micro musical, behind the scenes dance and music insights, and exclusive Q&As.  

Hannah Essex, Co-CEO of SOLT &UK Theatre said, “This campaign calls for a government commitment for every child to attend the theatre before they leave school. Incredible work already being done by theatres, producers and schools to ensure children can access our world-class live performances.   

But access is not equal, which is why we need government to step in to provide a minimum guarantee. We look forward to working with politicians ahead of the general election next year to make this pledge a reality.”  

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