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

2. 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’...

3. 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?

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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…..

8. 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?

9. 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

10. 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