In 2018, Youth Theatre Arts Scotland and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society worked with seven young people aged 16-21 from across Scotland who all shared an interest in learning about and developing skills in creative criticism for performance.

Young Critics supported each young person to develop their own critical response process, their individual voice, and understanding of performance across a range of artforms.

The Young Critics programme was a chance for young people to learn and develop the skills involved in arts criticism as part of the largest arts festival in the world. Participants were given the opportunity to see a huge range of productions presented at the Edinburgh Fringe and develop their critical skills under the mentorship of YTAS and the Fringe Society media team, alongside professional theatre critic Gareth Vile.

The project was funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, Youth Theatre Arts Scotland, Youth Theatre Ireland, the Tron Theatre, and Lyra.