A MEETING PLACE FOR NEW PERFORMANCE ACROSS SCOTLAND
Date of Activity: February 2026
Location: Elgin and Inverness
Age Range: 16-28
(Re-)connecting with young creatives in the north of scotland
Encounters is Scottish Youth Theatre’s touring project, bringing together young artists and audiences to create space for performance, theatre-making and conversation. In February 2026, a selection of new work created by early-career artists through Scottish Youth Theatre programmes toured venues and colleges in the North of Scotland. As part of this tour, we hosted free participatory workshops and creative conversations, to listen and learn from young people about their artistic needs and how Scottish Youth Theatre may best support them.
As artistic development opportunities remain limited for young people, especially outside the Central Belt, this tour sought to reconnect young audiences with the possibilities of contemporary performance, identify what they need to make new work happen and share ways to get involved in Scottish Youth Theatre’s artistic programme.
Encounters 2026 toured to Elgin and Inverness in February 2026. The inaugural Encounters tour visited Aberdeen City, Caithness, Moray and Orkney in March 2023.
“Encounters was such a rare and vital oppOrtunity for me as an early-career playwright. Not only DID I work with incredible collaborators, and have my work performed to a really exciting variety of audiences, but I also got to engage IN workshops where participants could make their own work IN RESPONSE.”
Isaac Frost, Encounters Artist – Encounters 2026
“Trying different styles of workshops gives me more confidence as a performer.”
Elgin participant – Encounters 2023
ARtists
Isaac Frost
Hannah McGregor
Kieran Gray