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Young People and the ArtsDateline: 16th April, 2006 TEDCO - the Tyneside Economic Development Company Ltd - is a a not-for-profit-distribution company whose aim is to support the creation of jobs and wealth through the development of new and existing businesses in South Tyneside. It's grown a bit since it was founded in 1984 and now, among other new developments, has a thriving Enterprise in Education section which aims to "help young people identify the skills, capability and self-perceptions, attitudes and values which create and underpin the conditions necessary for enterprise to flourish." One of the necessities they have identified is creativity and over the past few years have run a number of projects which focus on developing creativity in youg people, one of which was the Big River Project (2003) which we had taken part in while I was still teaching. For the 2006 project, TEDCO had chosen Local Heroes as the theme and spread their net even wider. Up to three schools from each of four areas were to take part: from County Durham there were Seaham School of Technology, Easington Community School and Glendene Special School; from Tyne and Wear, Hedworth Grange Comprehensive from Gateshead and Jarrow School; from Northumberland, Ashington High School, King Edward VI (Morpeth) and Bedlington High; and from Teesside, the Sacred Heart (Redcar), Redcar Community College and Bydale Community College. Each group, working with an actor/director as facilitator, was to produce a performance piece and, with a TEDCO EinE worker, a presentation using whatever means (usually Powerpoint and/or printed material) they wanted to show their research. Each had to present their work in a "road show" in at least three venues before all came together on the evening of 3rd April to show their performances at the Sage in Gateshead. Durham, working with actor Jack McBride and his wife Jan, a playwright, produced a play based around an "awards ceremony" for their local heroes, which included figures as diverse at Elizabeth Barrett Browning and footballer Bobby Robson. Northumberland worked with actors Harry Gallagher and David Chrisp to produce a series of short scenes and dance routines built around their heroes who included Garce Darling and footballer Jackie Milburn. Teesside's facilitator was actor/playwright Neil Armstrong and their series of scenes included pieces on the Redcar-born lead guitarist of Iron Maiden and former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Mo Mowlem. Tyneside had worked for some weeks with Steve Holden who runs the Educational Theatre Company but hit some problems and I was brought in at the last minute and we developed a piece on their local heroes, Ellen Wilkinson, Rowan Atkinson and footballer Alan Shearer. However my main job was to act as overall director of the evening at the Sage: organising the pattern of the day, seeing each performance at a road show and making what cuts were necessary to fit the time allowed (very few, in fact, and they made themselves because two of Durham's people couldn't make it, so omitting their scenes was enough to make the performance the right length), rehearsing each group on the venue's stage, creating the lighting plot (with LX operator Jeff Crowe) and the sound plot (with operator Dylan Mortimer) and running the show from the corner. So I travelled the length and breadth of the North East, from Redcar in the south to Morpeth in the north and from centrally placed Gateshead to Murton in the east. I saw a tremendous range of very different performances from young people aged between 14 and 18 and was again struck forcibly by the imagination and enthusiasm of young people when presented with challenges to their creativty. I watched them perform in schools, community centres and at clubs for old people. I watched them stand up and perform before an audience of around 400 in one of the premiere performance spaces not just in the region but in the UK. And I was very proud to have had a small part in bringing that about and mightily impressed by the vision of TEDCO Enterprise in Education in creating yet another opportunity for young people to develop their creative muscles. By a strange coincidence, another of the performance spaces in the Sage was filled that night by young people, too. In the large Hall1 the South Tyneside Music Service was presenting the annual South Tynesdie Schools Music Festival. Hundreds of young people, from primary schools to Year 11s, performed in orchestras and choirs before a packed audience. A friend, Ray Spencer who is director of South Shields' Customs House, was the compère and he told me later that it was a fantastic evening with music of a very high quality. Then just six days later I was sitting in The Lowry at Salford Quays enjoyed the finals of the Fonteyn Nureyev Young Dancers Competition in which twenty young ballet dancers, both boys and girls aged between 10 and 13, out of a total of three hundred entrants from across the country, performed on another major stage. I was absolutely bowled over by the talent, skill and dedication of these children. Drama, music, dance - three separate events but with one thing in common: children and young people showing their artistic talents and their capacity for hard work and dedication. There are times, I think, when we tend to be a bit patronising about kids in theatre, as if somehow what they do is a lesser kind of work. I have to admit that at times it can be, but only when the adult organisers make it so. Give them the chance and they'll produce work which will be as satisfying to an audience as any adult's. Coming up soon are two events featuring young people and theatre, Shell Connections and the Shakespeare Schools Project. In the coming months you'll find performances of both of these in theatres throughout the country. Support them! You'll not only be encouraging the future of the performing arts in this country but you'll also experience a great evening's entertainment.
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