Ross Mueller’s A Town Named Warboy (based on the State Library of NSW’s collection of WWI diaries, letters and photographs) will be staged by ATYP in 2015. Image supplied.
Next year is shaping up to be a landmark year for the youth arts sector, and by ‘youth arts’ I mean those companies that specialise in employing professional artists to develop work in partnership with young people. There are collaborations and conversations happening between companies like never before. But behind the growth, the new ideas and the smiles there is a little twisting of the collective stomach. There is the nagging feeling that something unpleasant may be waiting around the corner.
It is a little like the band of teenagers spending the night in the haunted house. There is a scream and some muffled noises, the sector checks in to be reassured everything is okay, and finds some signs of a struggle and another company has disappeared.
The alarm bells started ringing with the closure of Lowdown, Australia’s youth performing arts magazine, in September 2011. After more than 30 years Lowdown was defunded following an unsuccessful attempt to change its business model to a digital publication.
At its height Lowdown was distributed to more than 70 countries around the world, represented youth arts from every State and Territory, highlighted major trends across six continents and, perhaps most importantly, was distributed to every school in Australia. It provided a forum for the youth arts sector to showcase achievements and reflect on the diversity of process and practice across Australia and the world.
Since then there has been a steady slide. We have seen the defunding and subsequent closure of Southern Youth Theatre Ensemble, Urban Myth Theatre, Youth Arts Queensland and Contact Inc. The sector’s peak body Young People in the Arts Australia (YPAA) was defunded by the Australia Council in 2012 and is now on life-support, propped up through the generosity of some volunteers. There have been significant reductions in funding to three of the country’s most established youth companies Tantrum, Backbone Youth Arts and Shopfront.
During this time a number of companies tried to distance themselves from an association with the word ‘youth’. It was as if the notion of being a ‘youth arts’ or ‘youth theatre’ company was in some way a stigma. Some ditched the word ‘youth’ from their name all together, though it is interesting to note it appears to have made no difference to the way the companies are perceived.
The national youth arts sector was rocked a year ago when Arts Queensland effectively defunded its youth sector in one round. The implications sent chills down the spine of every youth arts company in the country. The Newman Government had made the decision that an entire area of arts practice was no longer relevant to their vision for the future of the State. It’s somewhat ironic that it is the sector dedicated to supporting the development of the artists that will build the cultural reputation of the future of the state.
In 2015 the Australia Council launches a new grants model. The new model does away with what has been referred to as the ‘ring fenced’ Youth Programs Fund administered by the Theatre Board, a fund reserved just for companies engaging professional artists to work with young people. Next year youth arts companies compete on an equal footing with all other peak bodies and professionally run arts companies.
This could be very exciting for the sector. It’s an opportunity to make a case to be supported at levels equitable with the wider professional arts sector. And there is room for optimism with a commitment to ‘strengthen experiences by, with and for children and young people’ enshrined in the new Australia Council business plan.
At the same time it needs to be acknowledged that companies that are at the smaller end of the ‘small-to-medium’ spectrum are in a precarious position. Since the Make it New initiative of 2008 the nation’s Key Organisations have been under sustained pressure to evolve their strategic planning processes or perish. It’s been a terrifying but productive form of professional development. As a result the quality of planning amongst the funded professional sector has increased exponentially.
Companies that have not been part of that process, like those that have been supported through the Youth Program Fund, are yet to be exposed to this new environment. As Donald Rumsfeld so famously stated, ‘there are things we know we don’t know, and there are things we don’t know we don’t know’. The fear is that there are many youth companies, having not experienced the current federal funding environment for professional organisations, simply don’t know what is expected of their strategic planning. And it’s very difficult to prepare for what you don’t know you don’t know.
Without a competitive business case, companies simply won’t be funded.
We know from recent years much of the sector is running close to the wire when it comes to the capacity to absorb cuts to funding. It’s a story we are all familiar with. Small staff managing the multiple roles of marketing, administration, fundraising, producing and creative leadership, trying to deliver each area of activity to the professionalism of much larger organisations. This isn’t a reflection of their importance – many have been running in this way for 40 or 50 years – it’s just the way they need to operate.
Despite this gloom there is much to celebrate nationally in Australian youth arts at present. After all, good art isn’t all about the money. The sector is very strong at negotiating partnerships and in-kind support. The company of which I am Artistic Director, Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP) is working with youth theatres around the country to find cost-effective ways of extending opportunities to young people.
In 2015 ATYP is very proud to be supporting seven youth theatre companies through our Cameo season. These works reflect the great diversity of practice in this country. In the current climate we need to highlight the exceptional work that is being created/produced around the country. From Corrugated Iron Youth Arts in Darwin, Australia’s second largest youth theatre company, through to Tantrum Theatre from Newcastle, one of the smallest, there are vibrant works born from the imaginations and experiences of young Australians working with industry professionals.
It is important to recognise the significance of grass-roots projects like Garlambirla: A Musical with Soul, initially developed by Coffs Harbour High School working with the region’s Indigenous elders and community. The production has had several successful seasons in country NSW and generated enough support within the community to found the Garlambirla Youth Theatre. This project is a perfect example of performance used as a vehicle to unite people from diverse cultural backgrounds to engage with the Indigenous heritage of a region.
Two companies also presenting as part of the Cameo season in 2015 have offered leading young playwrights their first full professional commissions. Outback Theatre for Young People (Deniliquin, NSW) has commissioned NIDA play writing graduate Julian Larnach to create Beneath an Oxbow Lake, while Hothouse Theatre (Albury-Wodonga) have Julia-Rose Lewis, who was announced last week as the winner of the 2014 Philip Parsons Award, developing Between the Clouds. Both plays examine the experiences of young people growing up in regional Australia. Both enable young playwrights to stake their claim as industry professionals.
We see youth theatre companies continuing to pursue programs that offer relevant social commentary. Powerhouse Youth Theatre, housed in the most culturally diverse community in the country, reflects on what it is to be Australian in Team Australia: Stories from Fairfield, while new company Bittersweet Productions looks at the complex issues facing a trans-gender teenager in Pronoun.
Of course the ATYP season is just a small reflection of the national sector. St Martins Youth Arts Centre in Melbourne is investing in the development of a new aesthetic, devised by young performers specifically for adult audiences. PACT and Shopfront in Sydney push young artists to reimagine contemporary performance practice, while Backbone Youth Arts’ Two-High Festival remains a pioneer in the professional development of event managers. There is an established network of companies across the country doing important work integrating performance, circus, community engagement, education, career development, commissions and major productions.
The Australian youth theatre sector has been vital to the growth and evolution of Australia’s performing arts industry. Most artists, administrators and industry advocates have been involved in a youth theatre, either as young people growing up or as professional artists paid to share their skills. In 2015 we would encourage professional artists to reconnect and show their support for the youth arts sector, whatever your art form, wherever you live. A little love goes a long way for companies planning for the future in 2015. We need to ensure this integral component of the arts community doesn’t disappear further over the coming years.
