Thousands of young people in Medway and the Isle of Sheppey will soon have their chance to be in the creative limelight with news of a major new youth theatre project.
In an announcement on 22 March, the Department of Culture, Media, Sport and Digital have awarded £1 million to the Medway Cultural Education Partnership and the Isle of Sheppey Cultural Education Partnership as part of its Youth Performance Partnership Fund – one of only five successful applications nationwide.
The Medway and Isle of Sheppey programme is called “Theatre31”. It takes its title from Article 31 of the UN Convention on Rights of the Child, which declares every child’s right to participate fully and freely in cultural and artistic life. Through this programme over 2,000 children and young people across Medway and Sheppey will have the chance to perform, whether that be in theatres, community halls or even outdoors.
Kent Music is a member of the Sheppey Cultural Education Partnership and as a Music Education Hub will be working to ensure that appropriate music opportunities are available and accessible to the children and young people of Sheppey. The ‘Theatre 31 ‘ programme of activity will focus on theatre and new writing, this will be supported by musical activity that will compliment and embed music as route to performance.