What does leadership in UK Youth Theatre look like? A Blog Post by Annie Rigby
What does leadership in theatre really look like? In this blog post, Annie Rigby, Artistic Director & Chief Executive of Unfolding Theatre, reflects on why spending time in the company’s youth groups - playing games, crafting, and listening - isn’t a distraction from leadership, but central to it. Through real encounters with young people, she makes the case for why youth theatre deserves to be seen, valued, and taken seriously.
“Ever wondered what the job of an Artistic Director & Chief Executive looks like? Well, for me at Unfolding Theatre, it’s pretty rare for a week to go by where I’m not helping out at one of our three youth groups. Our Creative Associates, Abigail Lawson and EJ Raymond lead these groups. So, usually I’m turning up to support and see what needs doing. I might be playing a drama game, handing out snacks, helping make witches hats, design dragon wings, or decorate Taylor Swift biscuits. (Recent activities at NE Deaf Youth Theatre, East End Story Makers and Cowgate Young Theatre Makers respectively.)
Sometimes - in between handing out felt tip pens or pretending to be a zombie - a question crosses my mind. “Is this really the best use of my time as a leader?”
Perhaps I should be writing a funding application instead. Or networking at a conference. Or meeting with a venue to cook up a co-production. There are always more important things to do than there are hours in the week.
But I keep deciding to spend time at our youth groups. I learn so much from the children and young people I meet there. So much that is beyond my lived experience. I remember a conversation with a 10-year-old that taught me more about growing up with the weight of racism than anything else I’d experienced. I’ve gone from knowing nothing about deaf experiences, to watching a group of children over three years develop language (many finding their way between BSL and spoken English), grow in confidence and express their identity. I’ve seen more clearly how my home city is changing through time spent with our youth groups than anywhere else.
So much of what I learn from young people in our groups is hard to predict or pin down. But I know that when we talk about young people at Unfolding Theatre’s board meetings, I’m not talking hypothetically. I’m talking about real people, real conversations, real memories.
Like many organisations, we think a lot about how youth voice informs our work and our governance. I see other companies set up youth boards and young people’s advisory groups. And who knows, we might do that one day. But I can’t help thinking that the best way for leaders to listen to youth voice is to hang out at youth theatres. In these spaces, built around children’s energies, creativity, curiosity and questions, I find out so much about what matters to young people.
We’ve been really proud to add our three youth theatre groups to the Youth Theatre Census. It’s an important piece of work. Youth theatre is pretty invisible unless you’re there. But it deserves to be looked at, celebrated and taken seriously. It is the fuel of theatre’s future. We have always known this. But it can make a bigger difference to theatre’s present, if we take the time to look and listen”.
Images - Von Fox Promotions