Welcome to the Phased Renewal of Youth Theatre Activities toolkit! This toolkit provides an overview of the key areas that local groups should use to plan their activities in line with the Scottish Government’s Strategic Framework.  The guidance will continue to be updated in the weeks and months ahead.

We recommend starting with Youthlink’s FAQs and Youth Scotland’s Readiness Guide then reviewing the other resources in this Toolkit for youth theatre specific considerations and some handy links and examples.

The toolkit has been a collaborative effort by the YTAS  Sector Recovery Working Group (SRWG), established since June 2020. Youth theatre leaders from across Scotland have helped to identify what youth theatre groups need to deliver in line with Scottish Government guidelines, as the country recovers from the impact of COVID-19.

For further support information and resources you can also look at YTAS’s COVID-19: Youth Theatre Sector Guidance Toolkit.

Assessing needs and confidence

• Youth theatres should consider creating a simple questionnaire for parents/carers and participants to gain understanding of how participants feel about returning to sessions.
• This should include clear information and questions relating to any planned changes.
• This correspondence should highlight the benefits of youth theatre, and if a member of YTAS, could reference our Membership Values

Providing information

• Providing regular updates on how your plans are progressing will help build interest and confidence in returning to youth theatre, even if you don’t have all the answers yet.
• Simple videos from your staff can help to make and maintain connection with participants, as well as possibly hosting an online Q&A session (via Zoom, for example) for parents/carers or participants.
• As your plans for returning to sessions become more established, filming and publishing a basic walk-and-talk-through video of your venue, outlining changes to expect, can be a good way to manage expectations and build confidence.

Examples

• Here’s an example of how Act2Cam in Newcastle shared a simple venue walk through video on their Facebook page for their parents/carers and participants.
• There’s a template letter to parents/carers within this handy guide from the Scouts
• This article from an NHS psychologist is about questions families may have around schools re-opening, but could be useful for thinking about restarting youth theatre activities too.