The National Festival of Youth Theatre has always aimed to be an inclusive event, bringing together a wide range of youth theatre groups, participants and leaders to celebrate their shared passion.

In recent years, we’ve received growing interest from youth groups who support young people that may experience barriers to attending the festival. We have been on hand to help these groups as they plan and fundraise to attend NFYT. We have also been able to make adaptations to the festival to meet different access requirements, including BSL interpreters (ensuring that all our workshops and performances are D/deaf accessible) and accessible facilities at our campsite, and in 2022 and 2024 were able to introduce an Access Bursary for the first time.

For 2026, we want to continue to put access and inclusion at the heart of our festival. Thanks to support from our funders, we’re able to offer bursaries to enable more disabled and disadvantaged youth theatre participants to experience the benefits of attending #NFYT2026.

What is an Access Bursary?

Groups from across Scotland can apply for a NFYT Access Bursary to request support for access costs unique to your group. 

There are two types of bursaries available…

Financial Access Needs: we’re keen to support groups which might face additional financial barriers to attend the festival. Groups can apply for an NFYT Access Bursary to reduce participant fees by up to one third, pay for camping equipment, or help to subsidise travel costs for their groups.

Disability Access and Additional Support Needs: we’ll work with groups to ensure any access needs can be met during the festival, and they can apply for support towards costs such as additional access support workers, sensory equipment, or additional transport costs incurred.

Who can apply?

Bursaries are available to groups from Scotland attending on all ticket types – including full weekend (available from December 2025) and one-day tickets (available from March 2026). Please read the Event Information for Group Leaders document on our NFYT 2026 page for more details on eligibility and criteria. 

If you are interested in bringing a group to NFYT and would like to discuss your access requirements further, please email zoe@ytas.org.uk.

How to apply

Please complete and submit the form linked below. Please also ensure you have also complete your NFYT Full Weekend Booking Form, available on our NFYT 2026 page. 

Or the One-Day Ticket Booking Form, which will will be available from March 2026. 

Please note the bursary has limited funds and will remain available until requests exceed the available budget.  We encourage all bursary applicants to get in touch as soon as possible, prior to submission, to discuss your needs.

What happens next?

A member of the Youth Theatre Arts Scotland team will contact you to discuss the details of your application and/or obtain any further information required.

We will respond to your application within two weeks and let you know the outcome of your application by the end of March. 

Acknowledgements

The National Festival of Youth Theatre 2026 is produced by Youth Theatre Arts Scotland in partnership with Eden Court Theatre and Highland Council.