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Youth Theatre Arts Scotland is a small charity, and all the funds we raise go towards providing life-changing creative and social experiences for young people, and high-quality training and support for the youth theatre leaders and arts practitioners who work with them.

Youth theatre is a safe, inclusive, and supportive place where young people from all backgrounds can come together and rehearse skills for life. While some might go on to work in the creative arts, most will cherish their youth theatre as the special place where they could challenge themselves with new ideas and opportunities while making lasting friendships and memories. This is the true impact and value of youth theatre. 

By making a donation to YTAS you can help play a lead role in ensuring that our brilliant young people have the chance to develop as the theatre-makers, audience members and creative thinkers of tomorrow.

Our Patron

Our patron Sam Heughan, star of the TV series Outlander, started out on his journey at a youth theatre in Edinburgh. Sam says…

“Youth theatre is for everyone; it’s about a community, it’s about being supported by your peer group. You learn skills, not just acting but all the other sides needed for working in TV, film and the theatre industry. I’d like to instil the belief that if you join a youth theatre, it’s a gateway to greater career prospects. I know if we get young people involved in the sector, it’s going to pay dividends in the future”

Sam Heughan

If you want to join Sam in supporting our work,
just click here and donate today...

About Scotland’s youth theatre participants

Our members come from a diverse range of backgrounds and areas of Scotland, including:

30% come from areas of multiple deprivation

15% are either deaf, hard of hearing, visually or physically impaired or have additional learning requirements

The majority of our member youth theatres provide weekly activities for £0-£5 a week and offer financial support

Suggested Donations

Youth theatre is all about collaboration and we want you to become a collaborator in our work by making a donation to Youth Theatre Arts Scotland. With public funding ever decreasing we’re now asking you if you’ll step in and play a lead role in ensuring that our work can continue

£50

One young person’s meals at our youth theatre festival

£80

Funds one young volunteer to help deliver our youth theatre festival

£100

Funds the delivery of one artisic workshops at our youth theatre festival

Why is youth theatre important?

Youth theatre is a safe, inclusive and supportive place where young people from all backgrounds can come together, share their passion for drama and rehearse their skills for life. While some might go on to become actors like Sam, most will simply come to cherish their youth theatre as the special place where they can challenge themselves with new ideas and opportunities, and where they make lasting friendships and memories. This is the true impact and value of youth theatre.

In 2022, we carried out research into the long-term impact of youth theatre participation on professional and personal lives, and were able to identify six key impacts: confidence, emotional intelligence, resilience, teamwork and leadership skills, emotional wellbeing, and broadened horizons. We also found that the combination of skills development, nurturing facilitation, and the supportive environment of youth theatre creates a system of continual positive reinforcement, meaning that these impacts become embedded as personal values throughout participants’ lives.

Whatever today’s young participants go on to accomplish – as employees, parents, partners and citizens of the world – we passionately believe that they will have a better start, and will live more full and successful lives, simply because of their involvement in youth theatre.

A young stage actress holding a skull mask

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