The past 5 years has seen the closure of several excellent Aotearoa theatre companies that created and produced world-class theatre specifically for young people. Companies such as; Capital E- National Theatre for Children, Young & Hungry, Little Dog Barking and Ensemble Impact. 

Last week, Long Cloud Youth Theatre announced it is ‘going on hiatus’, as it doesn’t have the resources or people-power to continue creating productions and running workshops in 2025. On the same day the extraordinary Tim Bray Theatre Company (TBTC), announced that after 33 years of producing excellent work for 1000’s of children, it could no longer continue.

Tim Bray, QSM has been a long-time champion of quality and accessible theatre for children and has consistently battled for better funding and valuing for this sector.

This is a devastating blow for a sector already struggling. 

5 years ago, these companies were thriving and yet right now the future for the Performing Arts and Young People sector looks very bleak indeed. 

Crucially, not only do these closures affect our sector deeply but the absence of such companies and the closure of treasures such as TBTC, mean that there is a risk of an entire generation of children missing out on experiencing performing arts curated especially for them.

In an article written for the Playmarket annual in August this year, I challenged our main funding body Creative NZ with the grim statistic that, even though children and young people make up 30% of our population, CNZ invests only 1.2% of their Major multi-year funding into Children's art. 

Out of the 80 Tōtara and Kahikatea clients that CNZ currently support in 2024, there is only one that is solely focused on children and young people aged 0 to 15. 

While some clients such as Massive Theatre Company deliver to a youth market aged 14 to 25 and from time-to-time others include some children’s theatre in their programming, Storylines is the only investment client that is specifically for children. And the performing arts? Since the closure of Capital E’s NTFC - there have been no CNZ-funded investment clients.

If you add to this lack of sustained investment into the young people and performing arts sector, a government that publicly states Arts and Music are ‘nice to haves’, a draft arts strategy that is unambitious and focuses on making NZ a global ‘arts powerhouse’ rather than ensuring accessible and affordable arts for all, PLUS ( this list is exhausting!) the shortsighted and petty decision to cut the highly successful creatives in schools programme, it is very hard to remain optimistic.

I believe that this deep underfunding and undervaluing of arts for/by/with young people has two potentially severe consequences:

1. An underinvestment in grassroots arts will deeply affect the arts sector in years to come

The investment by our national funding body into arts for/by/with young people is so low, that I have to ask what is their long-term vision for the arts in Aotearoa. 

I argue that if young people aren’t exposed to the arts when they are children, then the arts are unlikely to become a valuable and integral part of their lives as adults. 

Thus, not only will we not have a future workforce of practitioners, but we also won't have a future audience.

 2. The arts help to develop good people and improve lives in the here and now

When we create arts opportunities and experiences for young people, we are not solely doing so to create a future audience- but to develop and enhance children's lives in the here and now.

There is a multitude of research that shows children’s engagement in the arts contributes to higher levels of critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, empathy, and resilience, as well as well-documented accounts that when children are engaged in the arts, they typically achieve higher in literacy and numeracy - (please take note, Erica Stanford and Christopher Luxon!) Through the arts, children learn skills such as leadership, problem-solving, work ethic, time management, and interpersonal skills, not to mention the development of empathy and resilience.

A huge international research project commissioned by ASSITEJ international is about to release its findings on the Value of TYA -Theatre for Young Audiences. Preliminary results suggest an overwhelming response (from young people) to the positive value of TYA - particularly in terms of vital factors such as: Promoting friendships and togetherness, Joy, Play, Curiosity, Creativity, Learning and Empowerment.

Teaching theatre at tertiary level, I am reminded - year after year - how by taking theatre our students discover; community, friendship,  and a sense of belonging, not to mention increased mental well-being and enjoyment. You'd be forgiven for thinking that having more arts in our lives could make the world better!

As a career arts educator and practitioner, I am hugely apprehensive about how as a sector we can continue, and I am deeply concerned about the repercussions further erosion of the PA & YP sector - alongside the stripping back of arts in educational institutes - will have on our young people and our society as a whole.

What's the solution?

I believe that there are two core factors that need to shift, in order to ignite systematic change.

We need to change the narrative

It is hugely frustrating when the Prime Minister of your country touts arts and music as  ‘nice to haves’ and the minister of Education blatantly ignores years of research that proves how arts-rich schools do better in literacy and numeracy.

These narratives are dismissive,  short-sighted and compound an outdated idea that ‘The Arts’ are only for the privileged and the wealthy and not important for everyday life. 

This narrative needs to change. (Imagine the outcry if Luxon had stated Sport and PE are ‘nice to haves.’)  

The arts are ESSENTIAL. Young people need to have the arts ingrained in their lives to develop fully as people and to help them navigate this hugely complex world. 

Schools need to be empowered to run arts-rich curricula that support this and our politicians need to consult with experts, read some research and examine their own attitudes and consumption of art.

There needs to be systematic change within the arts sector and the way it is funded

Perhaps instead of funding from the top down and hoping the trickle-down effect might work, government agencies could consider investing from the grassroots up? 

Imagine if our arts companies for young people received excellent multi-year funding and support -  what sort of change would that have on our sector and our country? 

Imagine also if our government invested in a Creatives in Schools programme - that was better and bigger than the last one and reached all schools in Aotearoa. (And they did it NOW, not in a few years after a costly consultation).

Imagine if Creative New Zealand didn’t have to rely on gambling money to pay artists and instead, the government valued arts more so that funding organisations receive a bigger slice of the fiscal pie. 

I could go on, but for now we are forced to painfully digest the fact that the past week has seen the closure of one of NZ's most beloved and influential theatre companies for children. Tim Bray has been a long-time champion of quality theatre for children and has battled consistently for better funding and valuing for this sector. 

The loss of this taonga will undoubtedly leave a huge hole in the industry and the lives of thousands of young people. I urge the government and our funding bodies to think long-term and consider the impact their lack of support and funding for the arts now, will have on our future society.

Philip Pullman put it best:

Children need to go to the theatre as much as they need to run about in the fresh air. They need to hear real music played by real musicians on real instruments as much as they need food and drink. They need to read and listen to proper stories as much as they need to be loved and cared for. The difficulty with persuading grown-up people about this is that if you deprive children of shelter and kindness and food and drink and exercise, they die visibly; whereas if you deprive them of art and music and story and theatre, they perish on the inside, and it doesn't show.

(Hero image: The Lighthouse Keeper's Lunch by Ronda and David Armitage. Tim Bray Theatre Company (2023). Photo: David Rowland / One-Image.com)