Become a Bedford Youth Arts Champion

Since the pandemic The Place Bedford have carefully considered how we engage our local communities. Our focus for 2023 and beyond places young people at the heart of our development, with a challenging target to reach those who may have previously had little or no engagement with performing arts activities.
Our breadth of work extends beyond just youth theatre and includes creative and critical writing, storytelling and game play – all of which all support our ethos of providing a broad range of inclusive and affordable participatory opportunities. These seek to engage young creative minds through a mix of ongoing, long-term activities and focused, one-off events. Find out more about our offer here

Only 6 months into this new focus, our participant numbers across all these strands are growing. We are now thinking ahead to how we can support this growth over the next 12 months and beyond, ensuring we reach outside of our venue & build opportunities for young people across Bedford Borough.

Our vision is to ensure that family finances are never a barrier to engaging with our activities. We already have strong links with Bedfordshire Young Carers and other partners which allow us to support participants from a range of backgrounds, regardless of their personal circumstances. Our next step is to widen our scope, to further engage young people including Looked After Children, or those who have special educational needs, or who come from our most deprived communities. This
is where your support can help.

Between February – July this year we are running a targeted Crowdfunding campaign to support the ongoing delivery of our Youth Provision. As part of this campaign, we are reaching out to local businesses and groups to ask if you can support by giving a one-off donation.

Our initial target is to raise £3,000, of which;

£20 could pay for supplies for one of our Young Reviewers for a year.
£50 could fund a young person to attend one of our week-long holiday activities
£150 could fund a young person to attend our TTRPG group for a whole year
£250 could fund a young person to attend a whole year of BRAVE youth theatre workshops
£800 could fund a free weekend workshop for up to 25 young people

All donations, however small, contribute to us achieving our vision and help to support local young
people to access high quality creative activities.

There are a number of ways in which you can donate;

Via our crowdfunding page
In person, when you visit the theatre
By adding a one-off donation when you purchase a ticket for a show

Finally, whether you are able to contribute financially or not, we would be grateful if you could assist us in spreading the word to ensure we reach as many people as possible.

You can do this by sharing
our link, or by sharing our social media posts. You can also see other ways to help support the venue here

Thank you in advance for your support. We need as many Champions as possible!