Young people across Doncaster hold local event as part of National Theatre Speak Up Festival in collaboration with Cast

Nationwide events to culminate in Speak Up: Arts Everywhere Symposium at the National Theatre to spotlight voices and ideas of young people across the country

Young people across Doncaster are hosting an event at Cast to celebrate their involvement in the National Theatre’s Speak Up programme in collaboration with Cast. 1Students from five secondary schools across Doncaster have been taking part in the Speak Up programme over the past three years. Speak Up is a secondary school programme that sees young people working in collaboration with local artists and teachers to co-create artistic responses to issues that are most important to them. The programme encourages new ways for young people to think, see and bring about change, whilst helping participants to develop self-expression, wellbeing and personal skills.

The young people from Hall Cross Academy, The McAuley Catholic High School, Don Valley Academy, De Warenne Academy and Doncaster School for the Deaf are work on topics such as self-expression, Deaf identity and culture, making Doncaster more colourful and exploring the history of Doncaster’s regions and using artforms ranging from immersive theatre, graffiti art, textile, music, spoken word and dance.

Examples of work created have been a large-scale art piece about mental health with local artist Natasha Clarke, an exploration on immigration through theatre, animation and using different languages and a dance piece exploring what it means to be a D/deaf young person in Doncaster.

This event forms part of celebrations taking place in nine Theatre Nation Partnership areas across England, a collaborative network of arts organisations which aim to create more opportunities for people to engage with theatre. The celebrations will culminate in the Speak Up: Arts Everywhere Symposium at the National Theatre on Thursday 24 July led by the Speak Up Council, who represent young people across England. The Symposium, open to the public to attend, will involve discussions on topics and themes chosen by the Council, practical workshops that spark creativity and discussion, and display artwork created by young artists through the programme.

“In our sessions we’ve been talking about mental health … we’ve just been coming together and getting ideas about what we should do – it’s important because it makes me stand out of my shell and get people to talk to.” – student from Hall Cross Academy

“I truly believe it’s important we have people’s voices heard as you can get the message across, and the conversations we have, because you can let stuff out and you can let people know how you feel, because it just makes you feel better” – student from Hall Cross Academy

Kiri Grant, Head of National Partnerships at the National Theatre said,

“We’re so excited to celebrate and see the Speak Up participants hard work com together in the form of their creative showcases with their local communities. The core mission of Speak Up is to uplift young voices, helping them engage with the arts, and the young people involved have been inspirational. Alongside our Theatre Nation Partnership partners, we can’t wait to welcome our national Speak Up Youth Council to the National Theatre Speak Up: Arts Everywhere Symposium in July. It’s 2an exciting moment to hear directly from these young people and see how their creativity sparks important conversations on the issues that matter most to them, while showcasing the powerful impact of Speak Up over the past three years.”

From 2022 to 2025 Speak Up will engage with 140,000 young people in 55 selected secondary schools nationwide. The Theatre Nation Partnership areas taking part in Speak Up include Doncaster, Greater Manchester, Leicester, North Devon, Outer East London and South Essex, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland, Wakefield and Wolverhampton.