Regional Hub: Fife

For our first Regional Hub in the Kingdom of Fife, we'll be heading to the Lang Toun with a programme of workshops, networking, and lively discussions. Our Regional Hubs are designed to upskill artists, share practice, support emerging artists, spark ideas for future partnerships, and create stronger working relationships within regions. So, practitioners in and around Kirkcaldy, be sure to mark your calendars and join us at the Adam Smith Theatre from Friday 24 to Saturday 25 October 2025.

Practitioners may choose to join for one or two days of workshop and networking events. This Regional Hub has been programmed in collaboration with the teams from OnFife, Stellar Quines and Byre Community Arts.

We’ll have Stellar Quines first on the Friday morning, warming up our brains and exploring how we can use socially engaged feminist ideology as the building blocks for co-creating work with young people and communities.

Then on Friday afternoon, we'll work with YTAS’ Catherine and Carla, both producers with a wide breadth of experience across professional and community arts, to upskill your production skills and knowledge when working with tight budgets and short timelines.

After an optional evening social on Friday, we’ll kick off our Saturday with a YTAS favourite... everyone loves a Games Exchange! Bring your favourite warm-up game and come away with a list of new activities learned from others.

We’ll get back into the studio in the afternoon when Sarah Miele will take us through an audition techniques workshop designed to help you to guide your young people through the drama school audition process and start thinking about professional work outside your organisation.

Regional Hubs are open to all levels of experience and can be accessed by anyone who uses art and creativity in their work with young people. We will lead with a focus on theatre and performance, but the activities explored can be utilised in many youth work or youth arts settings. So, whether you’re a volunteer, a theatre manager, a drama teacher or anything in between, you’re sure to come away with new knowledge and contacts from your region and beyond.

Agenda

Day One: Friday 24 October 2025

10am: Arrivals and Mingling: over teas and coffees

10.15am: Intro from YTAS: Learn about Membership Support and upcoming opportunities in 2025.

10.30am-10.50am: Connecting Together: The YTAS team will lead you through a warm up and a chance to outline your goals for workshops and networking over the next two days.

11am – 1pm: Who’s afraid of gender…(in youth theatre)?: An introductory session on how we can explore the theme of gender through creative methods. Newly resident in Fife, the Stellar Quines team will lead you through a workshop exploring intersectional feminist approaches to creatively exploring the theme of gender with young people. Drawing on past projects with their youth theatre Young Quines, this workshop will give insight to the collaborative work that Stellar Quines are doing with young people. This interactive workshop will explore how to tackle the theme of gender and create meaningful work while still centring your young people’s voices and experiences in the process. You’ll come away with creative tools, exercises and increased confidence in keeping your programmes inclusive and diverse.

Stellar Quines is an intersectional feminist theatre company based in Kirkcaldy. They believe theatre is a force for change, for collaborating with others and building inclusive partnerships. Young Quines provide free youth theatre opportunities for young women, non-binary and trans people in Fife. Young Quines groups are co-created with participants; tackle issues related to gender, race, ability, age, experience and geography; are designed to support the needs and dreams of the young people they work with and build social inclusion and community cohesion.

1pm-2pm: Lunch

2pm-4pm: Making it Happen: Producing for Youth Theatre: You have your cast, you have your ideas, script, concept... you even know how you want to direct the performance. Now what? When running a youth theatre production, facilitators are used to being a one-person-band… but how do you focus on the creative process and produce it at the same time?

Team YTAS have collated decades worth of experience and resources to help demystify the production process. From funding and budgets to venues and production, this whistle stop tour should help you to identify your own strengths and provide you structures to start building your producers toolkit. Led by Catherine Makin (she/her, YTAS Projects Producer) and Carla Marina Almeida (she/her, YTAS Membership Support Coordinator)

4pm: Venue Tour: The team at OnFife are keen to connect with community organisations and have their spaces used by local creatives. This quick tour is a chance to explore the Creative Suite and room rental options at the Adam Smith Theatre.

4.30pm Mapping, Networking and Drinks: What does the creative network of youth theatre and youth arts provision look like in Fife? Who is missing from this event and who do you know? Work with YTAS and OnFife to connect with peers from the region, identifying opportunities to share and collaborate in the future… over drinks… on us! YTAS will collate the information we collect and share with the group after the event.

6pm: Optional Evening Social: For anyone local or those who are staying in town – join the YTAS team for a casual social event in the evening.

Day Two: Saturday 25 October 2025

10:30am: Arrivals and Mingling: over teas and coffees

11am – 12.45pm: Games Exchange: Got drama games? Every practitioner's bread and butter! Running regular workshops with young people involves keeping things exciting and keeping them engaged. But when you are starting out it can be easy to get stuck delivering the same ones over and over again. In this networking event, practitioners will spend the time experiencing games from colleagues and leading the group through your favourites. You should come prepared to share and participate. You might come away with a list of new activities, a refresh on the games you've forgotten or some twists on the classics.

This session is led by Emma Barr (she/her), YTAS’ Sector Development Manager. Emma has worked across the UK and Canada as a director and educator, specialising in making theatre for and with young people. With a background in applied theatre, she is particularly interested in how youth theatre can contribute to a young person’s sense of identity and creates a cultural community.

12.45pm - 1.30pm: Lunch

1.30pm-3.30pm: Audition Ready: Supporting Young People through the audition process: Isn’t it exciting when one of your participants tells you that they want to pursue a professional career in theatre? But excitement can quickly melt away when you start to consider how can you prepare them for the rigorous task of auditioning for drama school and securing professional jobs.

In this audition technique workshop, actor, director and facilitator Sarah Miele (she/her) will work with you to explore exactly what is needed to give your participants the best chance at securing their place in a competitive industry.This topic has been specifically requested by members and practitioners based in Fife and so we will also have representatives from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland's Fair Access team join us for networking on Friday evening to answer any questions you might have about the process and support that your participants can access.

Sarah is a previous graduate of the RCS's BA Acting programme and now sits on the audition panel for the Round One auditions of the BA Acting programme, as well as occasionally guest lecturing on the course.

3.30pm - 4pm: Creative Evaluation with YTAS: Feed back about the Regional Hub and reflect on your own experience while exploring methods of creative evaluation that you could use in your own workshops.

Who is it for?

The event is for everyone who uses drama and theatre in their work with young people. This could include youth theatre leaders, drama teachers, youth workers, community learning professionals, theatre practitioners, students, and emerging young leaders (16+).

We are particularly keen to welcome practitioners who would like to develop their work within Fife and/or those who are looking to widen their networks within this region.

Ticketing info

Practitioners attending our Fife Hub may choose to join for workshop on one or two days. The choice is yours!

The ticket options are as follows…

• Y TAS Members: £10 per day or £15 for the full event
• Non-Members: £30 per day or £50 for the full event

When you go through to book, you’ll have the option to choose which day you’d like, or to book for both days.

We’ve tried to keep costs as low as possible to enable more practitioners to attend, so we won’t be providing catering during the event, other than refreshments.

Next Generation

For those of you who are aged 16-24 and interested in starting a career as a youth theatre artist, YTAS invites you to attend the Regional Hub for free. This is a great chance to get to know local networks and employers and learn more about how you can become a member of YTAS’ ongoing Next Generation training programme. This opportunity is funded by Young Start, Youth Scotland and the Scottish Children’s Lottery.

To book your free ticket, email emma@ytas.org.uk for a discount code.

Bursaries

Thanks to funding from Creative Scotland, the Gannochy Trust, the Macrobert Trust, the Foyle Foundation, the People’s Postcode Trust, the Stafford Trust, the Hugh Fraser Foundation and the JTH Charitable Trust, we are delighted to be able to offer bursary places to attend our Regional Hubs.

Bursaries are available to any YTAS Member, who requires financial support in order to attend a Regional Hub event, and will cover any fees and/or expenses associated with the training. You are welcome to submit an application for multiple sessions at a time.

Read more and apply here.

YTAS Membership

Our membership is made up of independent youth theatres, arts organisations with their own youth theatre provision, volunteer-run charities, freelance practitioners of youth theatre arts, and many more. If you’re interested in joining a national network of like-minded people, be sure to read more at on our membership page.

This is a safe space and all identities are welcome

YTAS strives to create and hold events and spaces where everyone feels welcome and the safety of others is valued. This commitment applies to all our online and in-person services, activities, and communication channels.

We have a zero-tolerance policy towards any behaviour which creates feelings of unease, discomfort, offence, embarrassment, humiliation, or intimidation, whether intentional or not. This includes but is not limited to; transphobia, homo or biphobia, racism, ableism, sexism, or class discrimination. For more information about YTAS' commitments to safety and best practice, visit our website: https://ytas.org.uk/safe-spaces-statement/