An academic impact

More than 13,000 young people and their families in some of Britain’s most economically and culturally deprived regions have been involved in ‘it’s our theatre’, a three-year project to develop artistic practice among young people in South Essex. A partnership with a new academy school, the Gateway Learning Community,and a corporate partner, the Port of Tilbury, is enabling us now to track the previously immeasurable impact of the project through a longitudinal study examining the academic outcomes of some of the young people participating in the project.

We will be assessing the extent to which any transferable skills acquired will result in greater confidence and better academic results

Phase one of ‘it’s our theatre’ has used contemporary urban arts to recruit young participants to skills-based workshops in dance, theatre, the digital arts and project management. Thirty-one students gained a Bronze Arts Awardthrough these workshops, and many willexperience working with some of Britain’s leading artists,such as from the Royal Opera House, Adam Barnard’s Company of Angels, Wayne McGregor’s Random Dance, and the aerial theatre company Wired Aerial, creators of the internationally acclaimed ‘As the World Tipped’. The research about to begin will seek to quantify the impact of these experiences on young people’s educational attainment, measured against the outcomes predicted for them through their year six Cognitive Ability Tests.

The next phase of activity will be working towards a mini-festival in the London Cruise Terminal and will include an intensive two-week residency in the Tilbury area by our artistic team. This team will be engaging with the community and working with both a historian and a genealogist to dig to the roots of the local community and explore the significance of heritage on the area. The artforms chosen are intended to appeal to a diverse group of young people and elders, some of whom are not English speakers, aiming to appeal to those who are excited by telling stories either through words or music, as well as those who are more physically adept and wanting to engage in the art form of circus. We hope the range available encourages families to create work together, developing an appreciation of the skill, discipline and rigor that artistic activity demands. We will be assessing the extent to which any transferable skills acquired will result in greater confidence and better academic results.

Our work will continue through 2013 and 2014, when we will work with our partners and other local organisations to provide an ongoing cultural offer to the Tilbury community, centred around our group of students. At the same time we will also be playing an active role in developing a model of work that can be used in other areas of low cultural engagement and economic deprivation.

Emrys Green is a freelance Project Manager and board member of THEATRE IS…, a theatre company pioneering new ways of making theatre for, with and by young people.