About Us
British Youth Music Theatre (formerly Youth Music Theatre UK) is a national performing arts education charity that specialises in creating brand new music theatre.
We work across the UK and Ireland with leading industry professionals to offer unique opportunities and high-quality training to young singers, actors, dancers and musicians as well as emerging artists and stage technicians.
As an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation, BYMT is a youth theatre like no other putting young people at the centre of the creative process to produce vibrant, innovative and original works in some of the UK's top venues and festivals. We work with people aged 11-21 from any and every background and our courses offer significant personal and educational benefits: developing self-esteem as well as improving communication and team-work skills whilst working in a professional environment.
BYMT bridges the gap between local/regional drama groups and formal training at drama school/conservatoire. Since 2003 we have trained over 8,000 young people, many of whom have successfully entered the creative industries such as Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, Lauren Samuels, Charlotte Ritchie, Jack Bence, Lucy Griffiths and many more. We've also created over 80 brand new musicals, including Loserville the Musical, which went on to be produced professionally at the West Yorkshire Playhouse and in the West End and was nominated for Best New Musical at the Olivier, Whatsonstage and BroadwayWorldUK awards!
NEW MUSIC THEATRE
Creativity is at the heart of our work and we receive support from Arts Council England as a strategic arts organisation to develop new music theatre. Each year we create at least eight brand new full-scale productions across the UK and Ireland with over 300 young people - the BYMT Company.
We pride ourselves on working with some of the most exciting and respected theatre practitioners in the industry, drawing on a wealth of experience from commercial West End theatre, the National Theatre, the RSC, regional repertory, experimental and fringe theatre. Our young people are heavily involved in the creative process and we define 'music theatre' incredibly widely allowing us to explore everything from chamber opera to dubstep, pop/rock to folk, from Greek myth to contemporary politics, from physical theatre to actor-musicianship.
Our shows feature a wide range of genres from Pop to Folk, Classical to Rock showcasing New Music Theatre writing at its best and most diverse. Since 2003 we have commissioned more than 80 works from a wide range of British Composers and Writers.
ARTISTIC PROGRAMME
SUMMER PRODUCTIONS
These are two/three-week residential courses that take place across the UK during the summer holidays with young people drawn from our National Auditions tour, resulting in performances in professional theatres
SUMMER COURSES
Week-long open access courses to develop acting, singing and dancing
BACKSTAGE COURSES
Training opportunities for young people interested in working backstage
CREATIVE TRAINEE SCHEME
Opportunities for emerging artists on professionally-staged productions
WORKSHOPS and OUTREACH
Bespoke workshops in musical theatre skills, theatre careers, lighting, sound, stage management. Our work in schools offer even more performing arts opportunities.
OUR FUTURE
Over the next ten years we hope to build on all we’ve achieved so far:
We have trained over 8,000 young people, and our alumni have gone on to have success in a wide range of careers, with many currently working in the West End, regional theatre, music industry, television and film.
We have devised and commissioned over 100 pieces of new music theatre, with more than 80 world premieres performed at top theatre venues across the UK.
All our courses are now assessed by Trinity College London, so participants receive a certificate in Music Theatre in Production at Grade 8 (Summer Productions) and Grade 6 (Summer Skills Courses) benchmarking our work against the Qualifications and Credit Framework
We are committed to offering opportunities to young people from any and every background and continue to fundraise for our Bursary Scheme to encourage the widest intake of young people from a range of backgrounds
We are developing our Outreach programme in schools to offer even more performing arts opportunities to young people
We have a long standing relationship with the UK’s largest teaching union, the NASUWT, who are our principal sponsors, and we rely on our other supporters to fund our work, to whom we are extremely grateful
We hope that you will join us on that journey, whether as a performer, a creative practitioner, a parent, a friend, an audience member or a supporter.
Welcome to BYMT!
