We believe in everyone’s right to participate in the cultural life of the community, and that participation with the arts can transform lives. Capital Theatres works proactively to increase and broaden engagement and to address inequalities in access to the arts. This project contributed to our charity working towards this ambition and has aided our learning in engaging with and creating programmes of work for this group and the barriers that they face to taking part 
confidently.

Thanks to your support we worked with the Citadel to engage 146 parents, carers, children and young people from Leith. Some of the participants had never attended our theatres, this project gave them the opportunity to take part in unique experiences and gain insight into what it takes to put on a show. Getting to see the set for Sunshine on Leith was a huge highlight for most of the group mainly because they are all Leithers have grown up in the area and having access to the set felt “quite special”. And the opportunity to see the Christmas pantomime was a particular highlight for those that attended and is something that the groups would love the opportunity to do again.

“I just wanted say a massive thank you for last night, without you proving the tickets there’s no way that any of them would have been able to afford to go and experience the magic, it was so much fun everyone had a fantastic time!...The parents/carers are all so grateful for been giving the opportunity to go and have rated it 10/10 and said they haven’t laughed so much in a long time one of them even said that she genuinely felt like a little kid watching the magic! Makes feel quite emotional hearing how much they loved it!” – Participant feedback

What we did

1 x organized a Primary Parents Group visit to see Sunshine on Leith. The parent group were welcomed into the building and provided with refreshments before taking their seats for the performance. The evening was a massive success and everyone in the group enjoyed themselves immensely.

The groups shared their thoughts on how we can make our theatres, and our work more accessible and inviting. The groups responses and our learning has been  included below:

Interests of the group:

When asked about future engagement activities, some mentioned that they would be  interested to learn more about set design, costumes and make-up. Some of the  teenage children would be interested in taking part in our ‘Theatre Insights’ programme for young people, or performancebased workshops led by visiting  companies.

The groups fed back that having access to the whole building felt very special, exciting and exclusive, especially if they were coming to see a show. Getting to go on stage and up to the fly floor to listen to Stage Technicians talk about set design and how the fly floor worked was also very interesting for the whole group and loved seeing how we make the theatre “magic”.

How to encourage repeat attendance, and improve confidence in attending: One of the consistent challenges of coming to the theatre for the participants that we met with is childcare. Most evening shows are not suitable to bring their children to, and many of the groups have limited options in terms of family or community  support. We concluded together that it was best for us to stick to extending ticket opportunities to family friendly productions, where everyone can attend. the prospect of an annual visit to the pantomime - a show which broadly appeals to all - was very popular. It was agreed that invitations to visit must be organised quite far in advance so that childcare, where needed/possible can be organised.

Cost and feeling out of place in our theatres was another barrier for many in the group. The members wouldn’t want to spend money on coming to see a performance and we worried about other peoples’ judgement/looking out of place. Whilst most were very open-minded and said that they would be willing to come see something out of their comfort zone, they expressed that they would probably feel more comfortable doing so, if they could attend as a group. The welcome that was provided and being introduced to the staff put the groups at ease and they commented that it made a huge difference to the experience. Most of the group agreed it was nice to see that we’re all a friendly team that seem almost like a “family”. This is something that we have implemented with other groups in the past, and positive feedback confirms that it is something that we should continue to do with new groups coming into our theatres.

2 x Backstage tours of the King’s Theatre with the Secondary and Primary Parents Group. The tour included the history of the building, and the groups were shown which parts of the King’s would be changing as part of the renovaFon project. Unfortunately, the second group of Secondary Parents was unable to come see a performance of Sunshine on Leith as it was cancelled due to Covid illness in  the cast, so were only able to aIend the backstage tour.

2 x group visits in January 2023 to see Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, engaging 33 children and 90 adults. At each event it was a mix of parents & carers group,  the children and young people were aged 7-18 years. “What can we say, thank you so much for giving us the tickets, the room to use and refreshments. I can honestly say we all had an absolute ball, from start to finish, all I could see around me was happy smiling faces, lots of giggle and hilarity”. - Participant feedback

1 x backstage tour of the Festival Theatre to the parents & carer group, with 12 attending. Afterwards, we had refreshments, and we hosted an informal chat about what the group would like to see/do going forward.

The groups shared their thoughts on how we can make our theatres, and our work more accessible and inviting. The groups responses and our learning has been included below: 

Interests of the group:

When asked about future engagement activities, some mentioned that they would be interested to learn more about set design, costumes and make-up. Some of the teenage children would be interested in taking part in our ‘Theatre Insights’ programme for young people, or performancebased workshops led by visiting companies. The groups fed back that having access to the whole building felt very special, exciting and exclusive, especially if they were coming to see a show. Getting to go on stage and up to the fly floor to listen to Stage Technicians talk about set design and how the fly floor worked was also very interesting for the whole group and loved seeing how we make the theatre “magic”.

How to encourage repeat attendance, and improve confidence in attending: One of the consistent challenges of coming to the theatre for the participants that we met with is childcare. Most evening shows are not suitable to bring their children to, and many of the groups have limited options in terms of family or community support. We concluded together that it was best for us to stick to extending ticket opportunities to family friendly productions, where everyone can attend. The prospect of an annual visit to the pantomime - a show which broadly appeals to all - was very popular. It was agreed that invitations to visit must be organised quite far in advance so that childcare, where needed/possible can be organised.

Cost and feeling out of place in our theatres was another barrier for many in the group. The members wouldn’t want to spend money on coming to see a performance and be worried about other peoples’ judgement/looking out of place. Whilst most were very open-minded and said that they would be willing to come see something out of their comfort zone, they expressed that they would probably feel more comfortable doing so, if they could attend as a group.

The welcome that was provided and being introduced to the staff put the groups at ease and they commented that it made a huge difference to the experience. Most of the group agreed it was nice to see that we’re all a friendly team that seem almost like a “family”. This is something that we have implemented with other groups in the past, and positive feedback confirms that it is something that we should continue to do with new groups coming into our theatres.