Our flagship project is the Festival - the world’s largest youth drama festival.
About our impactWe are proud to unveil our new strategy, setting out the next chapter for the charity and responding to the changing world young people face.
Drawing on consultation with young people, educators, supporters, and partners, and shaped by the urgent needs in education today, All the World’s Our Stage affirms our unwavering commitment: Every young person, whatever their background, deserves access to creative opportunities.
Together, we will give young people the chance to shine.
Donate Now to help unlock our ambitions for 2030.
Our goal is to work with 25,000 pupils in the next 25 months across our festivals, targeted programmes and partnership projects. We’ll achieve that across 3 areas of work:
CONFIDENCE UNLOCKED
Participatory programmes for all young people
Access to expressive arts in schools is shrinking. 41% of mainstream state schools no longer offer GCSE drama and the gap is most stark for children in disadvantaged areas.1
The need for social capital and skills-building opportunities at school has never been greater. Rising absenteeism and 'opt-out' culture2, growing regional disparities, and a decrease in levels pupil wellbeing3 indicate that too many young people are being left behind. Our strategy will guide the evolution of our work to meet new challenges and enrich learners’ experience at school — linking creativity to curriculum outcomes, supporting learner engagement and attendance, and championing key skills like communication, and collaboration.
Every year, our renowned Theatre Festival and expanding International Film Festival will give young people access to high-quality participatory arts experiences at school. By 2030, another 50,000 children will have participated in these programmes and unlocked the confidence and essential skills they need for life.
Through strengthened relationships with regional partner theatres and artists, we aim to bridge what the Cultural Learning Alliance has described as an ‘enrichment gap’ — the gulf between affluent pupils and their less advantaged peers — by ensuring cultural experiences are not a privilege, but a right for every child.
Help us close that gap. By becoming a donor and supporting our work, your gift will give another child the opportunity to shine on a professional theatre stage. Click here to support us.
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1 Cultural Learning Alliance, 2024 Report Card (2024)
2 Department for Education, “State of the nation 2022: children and young people’s wellbeing” (2023).
3 Child of the North & Centre for Young Lives, “A country that works for all children and young people” (2024).
OPPORTUNITY UNLOCKED
Supporting young people facing disadvantage
Following successful pilots with Leicester City Virtual School, Coram Ambitious for Adoption, and the Criterion Theatre, we will grow our programmes tailored for young people who face structural disadvantage — including care-experienced children, pupils in Virtual Schools, learners with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), and those from underserved communities.
A literature review commissioned by the Hadley Trust indicates the positive benefits of participatory creative interventions for young people facing disadvantage, but the need for further investment and research to understand the long-term impacts.
“Children and young people [are] observed to have grown in confidence, self-esteem, social skills and communications skills and to have forged strong relationships with peers and programme facilitators. Other benefits relate to self-awareness, self-identify, wellbeing, resilience and empathy... Creative interventions provided young people space and freedom to express themselves and explore their identities.”
Read the full report by Coram Impact & Evaluation here.
Through specialist partnerships and the rich experience and skills of the Coram Group, we will take our work to new spaces and settings, increasing access to the performing arts for vulnerable children and young people.
Read more about our impact last year and how partnership working is shaping our targeted programmes across settings. Click here to read more about our impact.
CREATIVITY UNLOCKED
Fostering creativity through teacher development
A narrow curriculum and emphasis on EBacc subjects has resulted in scaled back provision for drama and expressive arts subjects at school. The total number of drama teachers has dropped by more than a fifth in just over a decade4 and creative approaches to learning are employed less frequently in the classroom.5
Through dedicated professional development opportunities – including events, networking, partnership and consultancy – we will support educators to embed creativity in their classrooms and boost the validity and visibility of creativity at school.
In July, our inaugural event with Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, Playful Spaces: the classroom as rehearsal room, will launch this strand of work with contributions from Prof. Bill Lucas, Matthew Xia, Tinuke Craig, Rich Weinman, Jordana Golbourn and Mischief Theatre.
Find out more here.
Our Youth Board launches our Strategy 2030
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4 Department for Education, “School workforce in England: Secondary subjects taught 2011 to 2022” (2023).
5 House of Lords Education for 11–16 Year Olds Committee, “Requires improvement: urgent change for 11–16 education” Report of Session 2023-24, HL Paper 17