We are a family here at the Seagull Theatre

Social Investment Business is working with Heyday UK Films on a film project to capture the impact the Youth Investment Fund on young people and youth services in the most underserved areas of England, including The Seagull Theatre in Lowestoft.

The Seagull Theatre aims to transform the community through the arts, providing creative opportunities for young people, including specialist drama groups for young people with additional needs, a drama group for young adults with learning disabilities, and a support programme for young musicians with autism.

A Youth Investment Fund grant of £518,890 has enabled the Seagull Theatre to renovate and extend their much-loved theatre and make it accessible to all. The theatre had a long-term plan to try and renovate the building, and they expected is to take five or more years, by finding small pots of funding. They are fortunate to have a beautiful Victorian building, but it wasn’t built with accessibility in mind. A lack of accessibility was a huge barrier to their ambition of supporting everyone in their community.

Now they have a bigger and accessible community theatre space that everyone can enjoy.

Des Reynolds, Deputy Manager for the Seagull Theatre said.

“We were fortunate to come across the Youth Investment Fund. The application process was rigorous and thorough, and it meant that those five years’ worth of plans were able to be condensed into one year.”

“Being a young person growing up in our town is a real challenge in terms of finding opportunities, but also having aspirations, having role models, feeling as though that you can be successful.”

“And the role of the Seagull here is to provide all of that; to provide those role models, provide those opportunities to be a safe space where young people can come and explore, can feel hopeful and can learn about the arts.”

“Young people in our town now have the opportunity to come here and receive professional level tuition, have the opportunity to be nurtured and supportive in careers from acting, but also backstage in directing and writing. They now have a writer’s group, and young people have the opportunity to work in our brand-new workshop facilities and learn some of those practical skills.”

In the film you’ll meet Honey-Rose, a member of the Seagull Theatre’s  Young Producers Group.

“It’s helped me meet other young creatives, which is really cool because we’ve sort of started sharing our ideas with each other and it’s just a good place to let creativity flow, which is nice.

Now, thanks to funding we now have somewhere to go. And you often get people say, oh you know, you’ve got to move to London for that sort of thing. But hopefully it’s going to stop people from moving away and get people to come here instead, which is pretty cool.”

More than anything, funding from the Youth Investment Fund has made the theatre accessible to everyone:

“We’re really lucky in Lowestoft now that the Seagull can provide the full range of ability levels. So, we have young people now able to be supported with significant physical disabilities, as well as those with learning different disabilities. “

“So, no matter what your challenge might be, no matter what your special skill set might be in Lowestoft, you’re fortunate in having a, a facility here at the Seagull that can support you and can help you find a find your place in the arts,” adds Des Reynolds, Deputy Manager for the Seagull Theatre.

Theo, Assistant Technician at the Seagull Theatre reflects on the theatre’s impact on their life and so many others.

“We are a family here at the Seagull. It’s a place that helped heal me. It’s a place that helped heal a lot of people.”

We’ve had a life installed, so now all the studios are accessible to people with disabilities, which is phenomenal.”