Bedford Youth Arts Champions

Since the pandemic, The Place Bedford has carefully considered how we engage our local communities. Our focus for 2023 and beyond places young people at the heart of our development, with a challenging target to reach those who may have previously had little or no engagement with performing arts activities.

Our breadth of work extends beyond just youth theatre and includes creative and critical writing, storytelling and gameplay – all of which support our ethos of providing a broad range of inclusive and affordable participatory opportunities. These seek to engage young creative minds through a mix of ongoing, long-term activities and focused one-off events.

We are now thinking ahead to how we can support this growth over the next 12 months and beyond, ensuring we reach outside of our venue & build opportunities for young people across Bedford Borough.

Our vision is to ensure that family finances are never a barrier to engaging with our activities. We already have strong links with Bedfordshire Young Carers and other partners which allow us to support participants from a range of backgrounds, regardless of their personal circumstances. Our next step is to widen our scope, to further engage young people including Looked After Children, or those who have special educational needs, or who come from our most deprived communities. This is where your support can help.

Our initial target is to raise £3,000, of which;

• £20 could pay for supplies for one of our Young Reviewers for a year.

• £50 could fund a young person to attend one of our week-long holiday activities

• £150 could fund a young person to attend our TTRPG group for a whole year

• £250 could fund a young person to attend a whole year of BRAVE youth theatre workshops

• £800 could fund a free weekend workshop for up to 25 young people

All donations, however small, contribute to us achieving our vision and help to support local young people to access high-quality creative activities.