A European Youth Theatre Network
Created by leading arts organisations from Scotland, Ireland, Norway, Belgium and Germany, and with funding from the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union. BUZZ aims to cross-pollinate youth theatre practice across the continent, enabling the sharing of knowledge, skills, contacts and resources across seas and borders.
The intial stage of the project ran from 2019 – 2024, establishing a new network for collaboration and development.
Throughout the BUZZ Network when we talk about Youth Theatre, we are referring to a distinct artform and youth work practice.
Youth Theatre engages young people as active participants in the performing arts, where their participation and interests are central to the motivation of the creative process.
This means that young people and youth theatre practitioners are co-creators and equal contributors in the creative project, empowering them to make creative decisions, develop personal, social and creative skills and, ultimately, take agency over their own lives.
BUZZ is undertaking mapping research of youth theatre across Europe, to identify leading venues and practice, creating this new web portal to increase awareness of cross-border opportunities for over 28,500 European youth theatre participants and professionals.
During the project, the BUZZ Network has delivered multinational training events for youth theatre practitioners, engaging professionals from twenty countries, through online and in person activities.
These events have brought together artists and leaders from all across Europe to develop their practise and learn from their peers, building a strong network of contemporary youth theatre makers.
All five Creative Europe project partner organisations are leaders in the development of Youth Theatre in their own country. National development organisations Youth Theatre Arts Scotland and Youth Theatre Ireland worked closely alongside prominent theatres Rogaland Teater (Norway), Theater Bremen (Germany), and BRONKS (Belgium) to advance practice in their region and across Europe.