News: Media

Imaginate is delighted to announce it has received a Young Start award from The National Lottery Community Fund which will fund the development of Creative Encounters. Pupils from our partner Forthview Primary School share more about the project in this blog.

The Edinburgh International Children’s Festival has launched its exciting and timely programme for 2023, helped by a group of young children protesting for their rights to culture. The programme features an exciting lineup of activities, events and performances for young people, schools, families, and industry professionals to immerse themselves within.

Protest is a bold new play from award winning writer Hannah Lavery (Lament for Sheku Bayoh, The Drift, Eavesdropping), exploring what it takes to make a difference, the power of friendship, and the importance of believing in your own voice.

Imaginate's 2022 Festival commission I am Tiger has won the Best Production for Children and Young People at the CATS Awards, Scotland's main critics' awards for theatre.

Research commissioned by Creative Scotland and Imaginate found that theatre, dance and drama are seen as hugely valuable by a large majority of Scottish primary schools.

The show Mixed Up, which was commissioned by Imaginate and first shown at the Children’s Festival in May this year as a digital project, can finally be presented live into schools as part of a partnership between Edinburgh International Festival, Imaginate and Starcatchers.

We are pleased to confirm that we are planning an exciting festival for next year, and that it will go ahead in one form or another from 25 May - 6 June.

Belinda McElhinney has been appointed as Imaginate's new Chief Executive, starting on 1 February 2021. She succeeds Paul Fitzpatrick who is leaving Imaginate to take up the post of Director of Creative Engagement at the National Theatre of Scotland.

After nearly six years at the helm, Imaginate’s Chief Executive Paul Fitzpatrick is to leave to take up the newly created post of Director of Creative Engagement at the National Theatre of Scotland.

We are delighted to announce that we are offering a career-changing programme for artists to make performances for children with additional support needs, thanks to a grant from the Jerwood Arts’ Development Programme Fund.

We are delighted to announce that Belinda McElhinney has been appointed to undertake a PhD over the next three-year in partnership with the University of Aberdeen, on the following topic: Valuing Young Audience: how children experience and value live theatre and dance, and why it matters. This research project seeks to explore and evidence the value of watching theatre and dance for children as audience members in a school setting and in an arts venue. It will use a combination of ethnographic tools including participant observation, semi-structured interviews and workshops to engage with children, teachers, parents and artists to understand the children’s experiences. 

Imaginate has announced the programme for its 30th anniversary year, which will feature an enhanced Children’s Festival programme including an immersive production from ground-breaking Punchdrunk, two new commissions from Scottish theatre makers, an exciting year-round schools programme, new international partnerships and more development opportunities for artists.

As part of an effort to promote the highly regarded children’s theatre and dance sector internationally, Imaginate and Creative Scotland are supporting a delegation of Scottish artists, producers and companies making work for young audiences to the prestigious International Performing Arts for Youth showcase event in Philadelphia, IPAY 2019, from 15-19 Jan 2019.

Our statement about Creative Scotland's funding and how it is affecting the children's theatre sector.