Welcome to Almeida Projects

In this section you will find information about the work that we do with schools and community groups.

What is Almeida Projects?
Almeida Projects is the Almeida Theatre's community and learning programme.  Inspired by the main-house productions, Projects delivers a range of high quality, innovative activities to make theatre accessible to young people, inspire them creatively, and encourage an exploration of the power and potential of theatre.  By opening up its doors to young people, Almeida Projects aims to demystify the craft of theatre making and the act of theatregoing.
 
Almeida Projects provides an active, creative link between our theatre and its audience, more specifically an audience that may not have considered that the theatre might be for them.  This is not simply to ensure an audience for the future; it is to establish the right of every individual to self-expression, to the belief that they possess creative potential, that theatre is a populist, collaborative art form as available to them as to everybody else.
 
Whether any young person working with us goes on to become a professional writer, actor, director, designer, administrator or technician is of secondary interest.  Our aim is to act as a catalyst to their energies, to their hunger to participate - celebrating the creativity of young people in the best way we know how: by offering them our experience, our expertise and our unique theatre.
Michael Attenborough, Artistic Director

What does Almeida Projects do?
Almeida Projects draws on all aspects of theatre, working with thousands of young people every year, and includes: 

• A subsidised ticket scheme for schools, including introductory workshops and resource materials
• Residencies and durational projects in partnership with local schools and community groups
• The Young Friend of the Almeida scheme, building sustainable, lasting relationships with the audience and artists of the future
• Regular Teachers' Evenings, building durable and sustainable relationships with teachers and youth-workers from local schools and community groups
• Other bespoke projects that engage young people in the craft of theatre making and the act of theatregoing

Why do we do it?
Islington is a complex, culturally diverse, and socially and economically deprived inner city borough.  For reasons connected to financial, social and ethnic background, it is difficult for the young people of Islington to easily participate in high quality arts experiences.  By providing a programme of challenging, provocative and inspiring theatre projects, led by industry professionals and supported by the Almeida Theatre's high artistic and production standards, Almeida Projects is committed to addressing this issue.

Almeida Projects aims to be an active and creative resource for both young people and those who work with them.
 
Who benefits from Almeida Projects?
Young people and those who work with them.  Almeida Projects works primarily with schools and community groups in Islington, however, through our subsidised ticket scheme, Projects has the potential to reach all UK-based schools and colleges.
 
For young people, Almeida Projects aims to:

• Provide a variety of opportunities to help them build relationships with their local theatre - as artists and audience members
• Explore, expand and develop their theatrical skills, and give a platform for their creativity
• Have a positive impact on their confidence and quality of life
• Promote community cohesion by bringing those from different social backgrounds together in artistic collaboration

For those that work with young people, Almeida Projects aims to:

• Create durable and evolving relationships;
• Make Almeida Theatre productions accessible for them and their students
• Enhance the delivery of the curriculum by providing high quality projects that challenge, provoke, inspire and inform their students

Almeida Projects is entirely reliant upon support from Trusts and Foundations to ensure that our work happens.