FAQS - FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What age groups do they cater for?

What makes you different from other Irish youth theatres?

Where does your funding come from?

What does WYA do?

WYA mainly runs creative workshops on a weekly basis in such areas as drama, dance, film, visual art and creative writing. [back to top]

When are these workshops on?

They tend to run alongside school terms. Therefore our year also starts in September and finishes in June. We work three terms: September to Christmas / January to Easter / Easter to June. [back to top]

What age groups do they cater for?

Each area caters for different age groups. In Drama there are three age groups. They start at 9 - 11 years, 12 - 14 years and 15 - 19. In Dance, they start at 3years and have a number of sub-groups up to 19 years. (Dance also has an adult group). In film they have two age groups 11 -13 years and 14 - 19 years. In Visual Art we cater for 6 - 8 years and 9 - 11 years. In creative writing they cater for young people 13-19 years. [back to top]

How much does it cost?

The costs vary from year to year. See the Latest News or contact the office for the current rates. To give you a general idea, here are the costs for the term beginning January, 2010:

Dance, film and drama cost €45 per 10-week term. Art was €65, including cost of materials. Creative writing was €50 for a 12-week term.

There are special rates for two or three family members. And we also have bursaries available in case the cost is prohibitive for any young person -- talk to Cathy or Ollie. [back to top]

Do you do productions?

Yes, we have productions / sharings / readings for all the various areas. Typically, in drama we would have 2-3 major productions a year, with a number of other events, e.g. works in progress / sharings within the workshop spaces. In general, we try to give young people an opportunity of performing and try to avoid audition-type entrance requirements. This example from drama equally could be applied to dance and film. With creative writing we also encourage the idea of a reading at the end of a series of classes. [back to top]

What makes you different from other Irish youth theatres?

After 25 years we have grown to become more of a youth arts resource organisation catering for the various art forms listed above. We also cater for the wider community including youthworkers, special youth projects, young people with learning difficulties, etc. We also deliberately place drama workshops within the community and thereby encourage young people who wouldn't have the opportunity of involvement otherwise. While relying on volunteers for a lot of activities, we also endeavour to pay professional arts workers and believe that this is necessary for the development of youth arts in Ireland. [back to top]

How many staff have you?

We have 2 fulltime positions (Artistic Director and Administrator) and two part time positions (Office Manager and Dance Development worker). We also have a number of people employed through contract work and part-time employment programmes, including Administration, Dance and Film Workers. We also employ a number of freelance Drama Tutors and a visual arts teacher to run workshops. We also employ a number of arts professionals for productions including Directors, Stage Managers, Production Managers, Lighting Designers, etc. [back to top]

Where does your funding come from?

The main funders are: The Arts Council, The Dept. of Education - through the local Waterford Youth Committee. We also are funded from Waterford City Council.

We are also indirectly funded through the various FAS employment projects. In more recent times we have tried to generate partnerships with various agencies and organisations for particular initiatives. We seek private sponsorship from various companies, again for particular projects, e.g. Bausch and Lomb Irland Ltd for 'The Land of Stuff' (2000) and The Book Centre for 'The Exam' (2001). [back to top]

I WANT TO ASK MY OWN QUESTION

Just send an email to ollie@waterfordyoutharts.com, and include your name, your email address and your question. [back to top]