Impact Youth Theatre Case Study

Wednesbury 2000 Ltd

The project funding will renovate a hall within a historical building owned by the applicant organisation. It will then be used as a theatre space and community hub for young people in and around Wednesbury. Arts practitioners will be hired to engage with young people and create a programme of events. The applicant states that participating in art, music, drama and dance can build confidence, self-esteem and self-discipline and help develop social and team-working skills. It can also help young people to be more open-minded, better able to make friends and to deal with difficult experiences, and be more creative in their thinking. The aim of the project is to provide a community facility and improve community cohesion in a centrally located accessible space.

Young people in the Lea Brook, Wednesbury and surrounding area have very little to do! There is no formal entertainment structure in the town, no cinema, no skate-park, no disco, no nightclub, no ice rink, no bowling alley, no centre point of activity! There are 12,000 ‘youngsters’ in the town under the age of 24, and there is an expectation for them to travel to West Bromwich, Walsall or Dudley to find such venues or events.

In addition, local neighbourhoods across the world are affected by global changes as never before. People are rootless and insecure, while shifting work, family patterns and widespread anxiety about every day life have left previously coherent areas apprehensive, fragmented and suspicious. All too often this fragmentation can begin to contribute to violence, racial tension, alienated youth and a resentful underclass. But there is a way forward!

Project contact details

The Old Post office
Holyhead Road
Wednesbury
West Midlands
WS10 7DP