YOUNG ARTIST SURVEY

In Spring 2024, Scottish Youth Theatre gathered responses from young creatives around Scotland through an online consultation survey. The results are both concerning and motivating for us as a young artists’ development organisation.

The report shines a light on the potential impact of diminishing opportunities for young artists in Scotland, with some young people already experiencing a void of provision where they live. It also highlights their high motivation and desire to connect with peers and the industry – aspirations which Scottish Youth Theatre is determined to meet. 

“It feels like the ladder that you have to climb to become a developed professional is getting pulled up…”  

Current funding pressures and delays are exacerbating precarity across the sector and directly impacting programmes for young people to develop themselves in the arts. Scottish Youth Theatre provides programmes at no cost to young artists to develop their own distinctive voice and performance practice. This report not only shares our learnings from the survey, but acts as an advocacy document and a call for allies to respond now. It includes recommendations on how we, as a sector collectively, can better advocate for those voices not yet established professionally but are vital to the future health of the theatre sector. 

Read the report below and help us spread awareness on how we can better support Scotland’s current and next generation of theatre-makers. Be the voice to vouch for young creatives.