SKEGNESS JOINS FORCES WITH THE ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY

Corby, Coventry, Hartlepool, Peterborough and Skegness join 26 existing areas in long-term partnership with the RSC.

RSC pledges to increase touring activity by 50% by 2026 to areas of structural disadvantage.

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Skegness is one of five towns and cities entering a new partnership with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) aimed at raising the aspirations of young people and having a positive impact on their learning, employment opportunities and wellbeing.

In a major expansion of the RSC’s Associate Schools Programme, Skegness will join the Company’s 26 existing country-wide partnerships all in areas of structural disadvantage. The areas local leisure and culture trust, Magna Vitae and schools from the Greenwood Academies Trust will work with the RSC in an expansion of activity made possible by an Arts Council England touring grant, Paul Hamlyn Foundation endowment, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation award, and impact investment provided through Arts & Culture Finance within Nesta.  Other partners announced today include Coventry: The Belgrade Theatre; Peterborough: Ormiston Bushfield Academy; Corby: The Core at Corby Cube; Hartlepool: St. Cuthbert's Catholic Primary School. Further partners will join the programme in 2024/25.

Growing evidence shows that taking part in arts and cultural activities contributes to better mental health and well-being. Skegness has one of the lowest national health outcomes and nearly half the town’s working age population are economically inactive due to poor health[1]. The RSC partnership feeds into local plans to use arts and culture as a tool for regeneration and boosting health, well-being and opportunities for young people.

Talking about the new partnership, James Brindle, Executive Director of Magna Vitae said: “We’re so excited to announce our partnership with the Royal Shakespeare Company which will offer new perspectives on what young people here could only dream to achieve. It will be seismic social and educational change with the skills associated with the creative industries aligned to this coast for the first time.

“It opens opportunities for young people in this area that are untold and hugely exciting, and it’s the first of many innovative developments in our community planned through the Culture House in Skegness.”

Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer said:"I am delighted that the Royal Shakespeare Company is creating and supporting opportunities for young people to get involved in theatre. We know that access to the arts help to expand their horizons and allow them to develop vital life skills. 

"Our recent Creative Industries sector vision sets out how we can maximise the potential of the sector and develop the wealth of talent up and down the country. Programmes such as this from the Royal Shakespeare Company play a vital role in ensuring young people can unlock these opportunities, no matter where they live."

The RSC’s unique and ground-breaking partnerships programme uses a theatre-based approach to learning to help children and young people unlock their full potential. Schools who join the Associate Schools Programme (ASP) learn how to use the same techniques that actors use in rehearsals to explore Shakespeare’s plays. They form local clusters who work with the RSC and their regional theatre to devise a bespoke programme that meets the needs of their young people.  

Jacqui O’Hanlon, the RSC’s Director of Learning and National Partnerships said: 

“We work in partnership with schools and communities from Truro to Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Research shows us that young people who experience an arts rich education tend to do better in school, get a better job and live healthier and more fulfilling lives.

“We know that talent and potential are everywhere, but opportunity isn’t. We are driven by the belief that all young people should have access to an arts-rich education as we know this can have a major impact on their life chances. We are thrilled that we can now work with more partners across the country to create opportunities for children that haven’t existed before.”

A growing body of research about the RSC’s work over ten years shows that as well as developing reading, writing and oracy skills, these approaches to teaching accelerate language acquisition, raise aspiration, and foster key life and work skills such as problem-solving, creativity and critical thinking. Details of existing research can be found HERE. The RSC has multiple case studies evidencing the impact of this working model including in Blackpool where the Company has been in partnership with Our Lady of the Assumption school, and The Grand Theatre since 2013.

In the schools’ most recent Ofsted report it acknowledged the positive benefits of the partnership saying it had ‘helped to develop pupils’ self-confidence and enrich their language skills’, with the school seeing ‘the huge impact that studying Shakespeare’s plays using theatre techniques had on their children’. Participation in live productions of Shakespeare’s plays raised the self-esteem of many children and equipped them with analytical skills. The combination of Shakespeare and live theatre increased the children’s cultural capital which has positively impacted on their aspirations for the future.

As well as bringing the RSC to Skegness, the town has plans to transform the iconic Embassy Theatre into the UK’s first ‘culture house’. Hailing from Denmark – the country often dubbed the happiest in the world – the ‘culture house’ concept is about creating inclusive community spaces that offer a variety of ways for people of all ages to experience arts and cultural activities, socialise, network and learn.

Alongside in-depth work with local schools, young people and adults, the RSC will tour to partner areas, including a new production of Romeo and Juliet in April 2024. The production will be developed with young people through research and development workshops in autumn 2023.

ENDS

For further information contact Kate Evans on 07920 244 434, email: kate.evans@rsc.org.uk or Jane Ellis on 07966 295 032, email: jane.ellis@rsc.org.uk

ABOUT THE NEW PARTNERSHIPS

Corby - The Core at Corby Cube consists of three spaces which host professional and amateur performances, small-scale shows and family activities and ‘The Lab’ for training, conferences and a recording studio. The Core at Corby Cube will be hosting the RSC’s First Encounters production of Romeo and Juliet in Spring 2024, and through that will be inviting schools to join the Associate Schools Programme.

Coventry - The Belgrade Theatre is the largest professional theatre in Coventry, acting as both the city and region’s commercial and producing theatre. They will be offering the Associate Schools Programme alongside their existing education programme and will be recruiting primary schools to join the programme over the next academic year.

Hartlepool - St Cuthbert's Catholic Primary School in Hartlepool has been working with the RSC and a cluster of schools in Middlesbrough since 2016. Having seen a significant impact on their pupils, especially in writing, they will be taking on the role of Lead Associate School from September 2023 and inviting other local schools to join their cluster.

Peterborough - Ormiston Bushfield Academy is a secondary school in Peterborough. They have been a partnership school working with the RSC and a cluster of schools in Suffolk and Norfolk since 2018. From September they will be taking on the role of Lead Associate School, working with a cluster of nine other schools (a mix of secondaries, primaries and special schools) in the Peterborough area.

Skegness - Skegness Infant and Junior Academies will be working alongside the Embassy Theatre to bring new opportunities to their pupils, teachers and school community through the Associate Schools Programme.  From September, they will be recruiting other local schools to join their cluster.

RSC 26 EXISTING PARTNER AREAS

Newquay - Treviglas Academy, partnered with Hall for Cornwall

Hull - St Mary's College and Southcoates Primary Academy, partnered with Hull Truck Theatre 

York - Fulford School, partnered with York Theatre Royal

Blackpool - Our Lady of the Assumption Primary School, partnered with The Grand Theatre, Blackpool

Canterbury - Canterbury Academy partnered with The Marlowe Theatre

Kent - King Ethelbert School, Birchington-on-Sea, partnered with The Marlowe Theatre

Stoke-on-Trent - Springhead Primary School, partnered with The New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme

Newcastle upon Tyne - Sacred Heart Catholic High School, partnered with Northern Stage

Bradford - Bradford College partnered with The Alhambra, Bradford

Nottingham - The Nottingham City Partnership partnered with Nottingham Theatre Royal and Concert Hall

Norfolk - The Wensum Trust, partnered with Norwich Theatre

Middlesbrough - Archibald Primary School, partnered with the RSC

Barking - Eastbury Community School, partnered with the RSC

Birmingham - Nelson Mandela School and Anderton Park Primary School, partnered with the RSC

Leicester - Fossebrook Primary School and Mowmacre Hill Primary School, partnered with the RSC

Nuneaton - St Paul's C of E Primary School, Warks partnered with the RSC

Stratford-upon-Avon - Welcombe Hills School, partnered with the RSC

Cornwall - Launceston College, partnered with the RSC

Northampton - Northampton Primary Academy Trust partnered with the RSC

County Durham - Crook Primary School, partnered with the RSC

Suffolk - Ormiston Sudbury Academy, partnered with the RSC

Cumbria - Dowdales School, partnered with the RSC

Warwick - Newburgh Primary School, partnered with the RSC

Leamington Spa - Sydenham Primary School, partnered with the RSC

Hastings - Ark Alexandra Academy, partnered with the RSC

With Thanks

The RSC is supported using public funding by Arts Council England

The work of the RSC is supported by the Culture Recovery Fund

RSC Touring is supported by National Lottery public funding through Arts Council England

The RSC is generously supported by RSC America

The Associate Schools programme is supported by Paul Hamlyn Foundation, The 29^th May 1961 Charitable Trust, LSEG Foundation, The Goldsmiths’ Company Charity, HDH Wills 1965 Charitable Trust, Teale Charitable Trust and The Grimmitt Trust

Arts & Culture Finance (NESTA)

We have secured a loan from the Arts & Culture Impact Fund, through Arts & Culture Finance within Nesta (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts). The loan will support the expansion of our partnerships with schools and theatres through an innovative new social impact investment model. The first of its kind in the arts sector, we will seek investors to commit to repaying the loan, and interest, if impact targets around improved literacy, inclusion and engagement of children and young people are successfully achieved. This support is part of Arts & Culture Finance’s £20m Arts and Culture Impact Fund, the world’s biggest impact investment fund for arts, culture and heritage. The fund brings together a mix of public, private and philanthropic investors – Arts Council England, the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Big Society Capital, Bank of America, the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, the Freelands Foundation and Nesta.   

Arts Council England

Arts Council England is the national development body for arts and culture across England, working to enrich people’s lives. We support a range of activities across the arts, museums and libraries – from theatre to visual art, reading to dance, music to literature, and crafts to collections. Great art and culture inspires us, brings us together and teaches us about ourselves and the world around us. In short, it makes life better. Between 2018 and 2022, we will invest £1.45 billion of public money from government and an estimated £860 million from the National Lottery to help create these experiences for as many people as possible across the country. www.artscouncil.org.uk

Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC)

The Royal Shakespeare Company creates world class theatre, made in Stratford-upon-Avon and shared around the world, performing plays by Shakespeare and his contemporaries, as well as commissioning an exceptionally wide range of original work from contemporary writers. Our purpose is to ensure that Shakespeare is for everyone, and we do that by unlocking the power of his plays and of live performance, throughout the UK and across the world.

We believe everybody’s life is enriched by culture and creativity. We have trained generations of the very best theatre makers and we continue to nurture the talent of the future. Our transformative Learning Programmes reach over half a million young people and adults each year, and through our Placemaking and Public Programme we create projects with and for communities who have not historically engaged with our work. We are a leader in creative immersive technologies and digital development.

We have a proud record of innovation, diversity and excellence on stage and are determined to grasp the opportunity to become an even more inclusive, progressive, relevant and ambitious organisation.

We are committed to being a teaching and learning theatre – in which we create world class theatre for, with and by audiences and theatre makers of all ages. We provide training for emerging and established theatre makers and arts professionals, for teachers and for young people. We share learning formally and informally. We embed training and research across our company, work and processes.

We recognise the climate emergency and work hard to embed environmental sustainability into our operations, creative work and business practice, making a commitment to continually reduce our carbon footprint.

Keep Your RSC supports our mission to create theatre at its best, unlocking Shakespeare and transforming lives. Thousands of generous audience members, trusts and foundations and partners supported Keep Your RSC in 2020 and, alongside a £19.4 million loan from the Culture Recovery Fund, we are thrilled to be welcoming audiences back. It will take time to recover, to reopen all our theatres, and many years to repay the loan and the support and generosity of our audiences is more important than ever. Please donate at rsc.org.uk/donate