We work to help make young people’s lives better through the creativity and community of youth theatre arts.
We support and develop a sector which engages 14,000 young people every week (YTAS Sector Review, 2020).
Our vision is for there to be universal access to quality youth theatre activity across Scotland, and for there to be universal recognition of its transformative impact.
Each year:
We consider a youth theatre to be any group or organisation which engages young people, up to the age of 25, as active participants in theatre arts, and where their participation is central to the motivation of the creative process.
We believe that youth theatre is an ideal medium to encourage and explore the dreams and visions of young people, and to nurture their self-confidence. We aim for all youth theatre activity across Scotland to aspire to the highest standards of practice, ensuring that young people can enjoy a safe, inclusive and rewarding experience.
Helping others
Community
Collaboration
Excellence
Joy
We have been an accredited Living Wage employer since 2016. This commitment ensures that everyone working at YTAS (regardless of whether they are permanent employees or third-party contractors and suppliers) receive a minimum hourly wage based on the cost of living.
We are committed to monitoring and managing our environmental impact, and are proud members of the Green Arts Initiative, an interactive community of Scottish arts organisations working to reduce their environmental impact.
YTAS is working towards a Silver Award in LGBT Youth Scotland’s Charter programme. This is a straightforward programme that enables organisations or schools to proactively include LGBT people in every aspect of their work, protecting staff and providing a high-quality service to users. YTAS fully supports LGBT Charter Rights, which aim to safeguard lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people’s human rights, and draw on international human rights and relevant UK and Scottish legislation.
All YTAS events and spaces, in-person or digital, are safe spaces where all identities are welcome. YTAS have a zero-tolerance policy against any bullying, which applies across all of our services, events, and communications channels. This includes but is not limited to: transphobia, homo or biphobia, racism, ableism, sexism, or class discrimination.
Did you know that the YTAS team responds to around 100 requests each year for bespoke advice, support, or collaboration? These come from a wide variety of YTAS members, non-member drama groups, and youth arts and education stakeholders. Common queries include…
If you need help with these types of queries, or anything else, contact info@ytas.org.uk and we’ll make sure the right person gets back to you as soon as possible.
We work with a range of partner organisations from across Scotland to help develop the youth theatre sector.
Here you can find our annual reports from years gone by, our annual accounts if you’re interested in that sort of thing, and other interesting reading about what we do here at YTAS.
And if you’d like a walk back in time, here are our older ones: 2017 – 2018, 2016 – 2017, 2015 – 2016, 2014 – 2015 and 2013 – 2014.
2022 – 2023 (Year ended 31 March 2023)
2021 – 2022 (Year ended 31 March 2022)
2020 – 2021 (Year ended 31 March 2021)
Have a look at our EDI Policy.
If you’d like to know more about YTAS and our memberships, please contact our team
Our members are located throughout Scotland and together they are responsible for the majority of youth theatre activity delivered across the country
Together we can ensure a strong future for theatre and the performing arts in Scotland for the next generation and beyond
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We are a registered charity in Scotland (No. SC035765) and a company limited by guarantee (No. 269952).
Website by Out of Place Studio
