Lyric life

1. What can young people do to get a start? (especially if they don’t have financial backing)

If you want to get started, go to your local theatre, arts venue or youth club. Most of them will have some kind of programme of work for young people , it might be an acting class , or a dance class or they might be able to tell you where to go.  If they don’t have one you should tell them that they need to, don’t be afraid tell them what you want. Most of those classes won’t be very expensive,  theatres often subside their classes so that they are accessible for everyone.  At the Lyric we have drama , music, dance , film and digital classes, we keep all our classes under £10 and most of them are about £3.50. We also have bursary places available on all our classes to make sure that we anyone who wants to take part can. It’s really important for us that anyone who wants too can come take part.

2. What piece of advice would you give to all young people wanting to enter the arts?

To try everything because you never know where it will lead. Try a dance class, a music class, djing, writing. Try it at least once, because you might think that you want to be an actor, but you might be a writer waiting to create the next Famalam or Game of Thrones.

3. Who should young artists/playwrights/theatre makers look to for support?

In the first instance they should talk to their teachers, I think most professional artists or people who work in the creative industries, have a teacher either in school or from a youth group, that was key to inspiring them and giving them permission to explore and take the next steps. They should also go to their local arts venues and talk to the people who work there. Send them your plays, go in and talk to them, volunteer or work as an usher so that you can see work and be around other creatives.

Also, if there is an artist who you think is great reach out to them, tell them about what you want to do and they might point to somewhere that might be able to help, like a festival where you can put your work on, a writing programme or places where you can collaborate. At the Lyric we have the Evolution festival for emerging artists and a range of projects to support young artists who want to get into the industry.

4. Why do you feel it’s important for young people to engage with the arts?

I think its important because it gives you confidence and resilience and you meet people who are like minded and gain some really great skills that you wouldn’t have had before. But the most important thing is that it fires your imagination , and I think that your imagination is like a muscle, the more you use it the better it gets, the better you are solving problems and approaching things in ways that you could never have thought of. That then extends to all parts of your life. No matter what job you do that ability to look at things creatively and problem solve in a creative way is something no one can take away from you.

5. What are the benefits (for audiences) of bringing young people into the arts?

Our art is a reflection of our communities and by extension our society. If we don’t have the voice of young people, if we don’t know what their hopes and dreams are, their concerns, their fears, we have no way of responding and no way of creating a world that is safe and available for them. Also, the stories that we get to see as audiences become different more varied and with more perspectives. With such a wide range of cultural influences young artists are approaching work in ways that are fresh and brave, mixing music, fashion, digital and live and owning all of those forms, to create some really thrilling work.  I think it’s an exciting time to be an audience member. I think it’s an exciting for artists.