Greenwich & Lewisham Young People’s Theatre - Jeremy James, CEO

GLYPT Partnership working Squeezing everything we can out of our resources An ambitious vision and taking a leap! Community engagement partners Project partners Utilising resources with ‘benefits’...

Utilising the resource and seeing the potential Since 2009 developing from a small young people’s arts centre to a community hub Young people after 4pm and Saturdays Theatre companies in the theatre rehearsing and developing work A community space / studio sitting empty …. ........ So community engagement plan developed how can we fill it?

The development of the Woolwich carnival, a large scale and complex community initiative involving over 20 organisations that steer the project. Enabled by: Half a dozen individuals representing different organisations giving time and many conversations to conceive it an organisation (GLYPT) investing time to apply for community resources – taking a gamble! Creating a key coordinator role to bring the community together and finding the right person Negotiating good will and buy-in from many voluntary sector organisations Sharing time, space and resources

Risks & Challenges………… Committing company time & resources to the ‘communal good’ with no guaranteed reward Asking and convincing others to buy into that vision A realisation that it might not succeed unless buy-in from a critical mass of community Being a lead organisation but not…… A realisation that not all partners are equal partners and that is ok

The ‘Marriage’ framework A romantic courtship exciting and optimistic (community orgs. Come together) The Wedding – everyone has a vision of how the wedding should go and they are all different (Carnival / the event itself) It grows….Children come along and complicate the balance (new partners) so changing the dynamic Sustainability - it needs to stand on its own - individuals become one. Bumpy times - the odd row, so need to make up Even trial separations, but you always have the wedding photos to remind you of the good feelings

A partnership with the Caribbean Social Forum Offering free access for a period of time Supporting and nurturing the partnership Everyone’s a winner! Designated staff member looking for partnerships A community individual with an idea and enthusiasm Taking the leap…..

Mutually beneficial partnerships…….. A safe home for this community An organisation and staff team empathetic to this community An income for us, starts small but builds Diverse monitoring outputs and a building bursting at the seams Some Challenges…. 90 Caribbean elders ‘take over’ the building… Difficult to have anything else going on at the same time Requests for more time and access… risk of perception of being too aligned to one community?

The International Sound Exchange Programme - music events developing relationships with different cultural groups through the art Enriching the cultural / arts offer from the Tramshed New communities using and being introduced to the building, leading to further use from those communities Initially income speculative and loss making but audience building – having the confidence to keep going; sharing loss Becoming a diverse focal point for the whole community Supporting our outputs & outcomes

Progression residencies for developing artists and emerging companies - an ACE funded programme utilising the resources of the Tramshed to develop 16-25’s We are grant funded by ACE to make the space available to young emerging artists and arts companies Being a hub for the training and development of young arts practitioners Companies develop their work in the building, our young people get access to professional process with experienced artists and we get paid for hosting this activity