18 December 2019
Newsdesk
The Young Vic today announces YV:IDemystify, a free programme of specialist events for theatre creators and makers launching in January 2020. The programme will promote the sharing of best practice models around the creation of theatre work to help open up new pathways in the industry and to provide a toolkit for theatre makers to help them navigate their creative journeys.
Each event in the series will be co-convened by a leading industry organisation, with a spotlight placed on a particular topic or theme that is current and recurrent for the theatre-making community. At each event, two speakers will lead an informal, in-the-round conversation, intended to kick start sharing, questions and experiences from the group. The YV:IDemystify series will begin in January 2020 at the Young Vic, with the first four events announced today and tickets available from 6 January. Further events will be announced throughout next year.
Kwame Kwei-Armah, said today, “YV:IDemystify started with a question I posed at the beginning of my time at the Young Vic: how do we create a more transparent theatre sector? A sector that is more supportive of our creators and makers? More honest about the cost – and that’s not just the financial cost – of creative work. I am delighted that an influential collective of industry partners and speakers will join us to shape this series, as it is through conversation that we can truly begin to demystify what is so often an opaque industry.”
YV:IDemystify is part of the YV:ID series of talks, events and digital projects which catalyses debate and continues conversation beyond the Young Vic’s stages. Launched in early 2019, previous YV:ID work has included ‘Town Hall’ debate events to accompany the digital projects; Soon Gone: A Windrush Chronicle, a series of monologues produced for BBC Four exploring themes of personal and cultural identity through the eyes of an Afro-Caribbean family; My England, a collection of fourteen short films exploring the notions of Englishness; and The 8 Club, a five-part web series investigating the notion of ‘toxic masculinity’.
The first four events in the YV:IDemystify series are:
Breaking Down the Doors
Thursday 23 January 2020, 4-6pm, The Maria
In partnership with Jerwood Arts
This event looks at innovative ways into forging a creative career. It will begin with two creators of work who came to realise that received or set paths needed rethinking, and who went on to create their own best circumstances for the work they wanted to make or see made. Creators who chose, rather than knocking on doors, to create their own doors.
Directing and Dramaturgy
Friday 14 February 2020, 4-6pm, The Clare
In partnership with the Young Vic Directors Program
This event looks at dramaturgy as an integral part of the development of a production, including, but not limited to, work on text. Which dramaturgical tools should be in a creator’s toolkit? How do dramaturges help create a show? And how do dramaturges help shape European theatre?
Festivals as a Pathway for Creating New Work
Thursday 4 June 2020, 4-6pm, The Maria
In partnership with LIFT
This event looks at making work for theatre festivals, and addresses how creators of work respond to festival contexts, how shows are proposed and developed within these, how originators of work interact with the curated nature of festivals, and how they may subsequently take their work further.
Emerged, Mid-Career, And Then What? Routes for Theatre Makers
Friday 3 July 2020, 4-6pm, The Clare
In partnership with Stage Directors UK
This event is aimed at mid-career director-theatre makers who have had their first couple of shows (self-) produced and wish to progress to the next stage in their career. Whereas an earlier generation of theatre practitioners may have relied on an infrastructure of associate and artistic directorships as next steps in their pathway in the industry, such opportunities and positions are increasingly hard to find. Where can mid-career makers, too experienced for emerging talent schemes but not yet on the next tier, turn to? What examples of innovative pathways may offer inspiration to those feeling they’re stuck in the middle?
Tickets for these first four events will be available from 6 January.
Event speakers and further events in the series will be announced in January 2020.
All the events are free to attend but must be booked in advance.
For more information, visit: youngvic.org/whats-on/yvidemystify
