The Youth Theatre Support Schemes were developed to respond to some of the needs of youth theatres where alternative funding options could not be identified.
The Youth Theatre Support Scheme is open to all affiliated youth theatres that are in good standing and have renewed their membership. Organisational and Individual members are not eligible to apply.
There are several stands to the Youth Theatre Support Scheme.
Youth Theatre Ireland Climate Action Training
In this new strand, Youth Theatre Ireland Climate Action Training, our affiliated youth theatre members will work with leading Irish theatre makers, and pioneers in sustainable theatre practice, to help create a greener, more sustainable future in youth theatre.
By bringing together some of the leading minds and changemakers working in Irish theatre, youth theatre, film, and youth work, to focus on sustainable practices in youth theatre.
Following on from our Sustainable Practices in Youth Theatre, Youth Theatre Practice Symposium in 2024 we are delighted to invite back Maeve Stone, Sinéad Wallace, Luke Casserly and Alex Konieczka.
You can hear then talk abut their work here:
There are four awards available and each such successful partnership will receive:
- A day long workshop from an expert artist along the themes of Climate Action and Theatre Making
- A cash grant of €1250 to cover associated costs including but not limited to, transport for up to three youth theatre groups, venue hire, leader's fees, lunches and snacks
To keep down the environmental impact and reduce emissions these workshops are only available in counties:
Clare, Limerick, Galway, Dublin, Kilkenny, Kildare, Carlow, Laois, Louth, Meath Longford, Roscommon, Wexford, Wicklow, but can draw from neighbouring counties as part of a partnership.
The funding for this scheme was made possible through a €10,000 grant from the Climate Actions Work Engagement Fund and Community Foundation Ireland.
You can apply here by completing this form before 5pm Sept 19th.
If your Youth Theatre took part in Empower Youth Theatre Encounter 2025 and will be in receipt of the Youth Theatre Connects Fund, you are ineligible to apply as the lead youth theatre on this project.
We are delighted to announce the four , day- long workshops from these incredible artists:
Maeve Stone - Strategies For Hope And Storytelling In The Climate Era
Workshop Description:
What keeps the head lifted when you're making work about - or just thinking about - climate breakdown?
Maeve will share some principles for hope and creative thinking when it comes to the future. In a hands on workshop we'll explore some barriers to hope and how to overcome them, generative exercises that help to unlock a future vision, and some important ideas for how we begin to challenge the systems we're inside to become more sustainable."
What to Expect:
I'm focusing on the creative aspects of practice; how to ask generative questions, ways of reframing the future, important ideas around language and exclusion, how to cope with feelings of overwhelm and despair when dealing with the climate crisis, filling the well and staying connected, good resources for those just beginning.
This workshop invites participants to sit with some of the biggest emotional and creative challenges of making work in a time of climate crisis. There are feelings of overwhelm, powerlessness, and uncertainty about the future that stop us feeling creative at all. Together, we’ll explore how these very challenges can become sites of imagination and action.Expect to be gently challenged: to think beyond the doom, to confront systems that feel immovable, and to notice the ways language, assumptions, and creative habits might be limiting how we imagine the future.But also expect joy, collaboration, and surprising moments of possibility. We’ll use practical, creative exercises to unlock new ways of thinking, support each other in naming what feels hard, and explore tools for sustaining hope and curiosity in the face of urgent issues. This is a space for artists and facilitators who care deeply and want to find empowering, imaginative ways forward together.
Available When:
Sunday November 2nd,
Saturday November 8th, Sunday November 9th
Saturday November 15th, Sunday November 16th
Saturday November 22nd, Sunday November 23rd
Saturday November 29th, Sunday November 30th
Available Where:
Clare, Limerick, Galway
Luke Casserly - What’s Already There: Rethinking Creativity & Sustainability
Workshop Description:
This workshop led by artist Luke Casserly will invite young people to explore the question “what’s already there?” as a way of reimagining the relationship between sustainability and creativity. Participants will discover how everyday landscapes and found objects can become the starting point for making a new piece of theatre. Through group discussion and playful creative exercises, we will experiment with repurposing what already exists rather than constantly seeking the new. The day will encourage fresh ways of seeing, spark meaningful conversations, and hopefully empower participants to craft ideas that not only imagine a better world but leave a positive environmental legacy.
What to Expect:
The workshop will address sustainability by focusing on resource consciousness, ecological awareness, and a creative approach to repurposing materials. Instead of promoting consumption, it will instead ask participants to consider how we can work with what we already have - whether that’s through materials, spaces, or existing resources within their local community. By reframing overlooked environments and everyday objects as valuable resources, the workshop will hopefully nurture a mindset that reduces consumption and fosters long-term environmental care. The session will also focus on the importance of embedding sustainability into creative practice from the outset (as opposed to retrofitted solutions) by encouraging participants to see sustainability not as a burden, but as a foundation for making new work.
Participants can expect a day of playful and thought-provoking activities which are responsive to the interests of the group. The challenge lies in resisting the urge for “more” and instead learning to value what’s already around us - be it in nature, our community, or our imaginations. This shift in thinking might feel unusual at first, but it will hopefully open up exciting possibilities for creativity and sustainability that people can take away from the session and bring back to their wider youth theatre group afterwards. The workshop will include some discussion, practical exercises, and collaborative making in small groups. Expect moments of curiosity and reflection, as well as the chance to explore how the relationship between our landscapes and personal stories can become a powerful tool for change.
Available When:
Saturday October 11th
Sunday October12th
Saturday October 18th
Saturday November 22nd
Sunday 23rd November
Saturday 29th November
Sunday 30th November
Available Where:
Longford, Roscommon, Cavan, Leitrim
Alex Konieczka - Nature's Voices
Workshop Description:
Join Alex for an immersive, hands-on experience that challenges how we think about sustainability and climate action. You’ll step into different perspectives, experiment with repurposed materials to bring your ideas to life, and see how your decisions spread impact far beyond what you might expect. Interactive exercises provide space to reflect on your own theatre practices, identifying opportunities for sustainable improvements and creative innovation. The workshop develops insight, empathy, agency, and practical strategies, helping participants embed sustainability into youth theatre in playful, imaginative, and unexpected ways.
What to Expect:
The workshop focuses on creative sustainability in youth theatre, exploring how reclaimed and repurposed materials, imaginative practices, and systems thinking can transform theatre-making. Participants experiment with theatre-making choices — from props and materials to stories and collaboration, discovering how these decisions affect audiences and the wider arts world. The training develops practical skills such as perspective-shifting storytelling and theatrical advocacy, offering fresh ways to engage with climate action. By combining environmental awareness with imagination and play, participants gain tools to embed sustainability into their creative work, make actionable improvements, and inspire ongoing climate engagement.
Expect to challenge assumptions, spark creativity, and reflect on your own theatre practice, discovering fun, practical ways to make your work more sustainable while building insight, empathy, and agency. Along the way, you’ll see the world through an entirely new lens, stepping into perspectives you’ve never considered before.
Available When:
Saturday 29th November
Sunday 30th November
Available Where:
Wicklow, Dublin, Wexford, Kilkenny, Kildare, Carlow, Laois, Louth and Meath
Sinéad Wallace - Eco-conscious Theatre Making: How can we act when the house is on fire?
Workshop Description:
We all want the work we make to be relevant, to speak to people, to explore big ideas and challenging issues. One of the biggest challenges we face is Climate Collapse.
In this interactive workshop with Sinéad we'll explore a methodology for creating theatre that doesn't cost the earth. Using the Theatre Green Book as a guide we'll look at circularity, purchasing, fast fashion, materials, transport, paper vs digital and create our own Sustainable Theatre checklist for Youth Theatre. It will also be an opportunity to build a network of sharing in the local area to increase re-use and embrace circularity in a real and practical way.
What to Expect:
Through the lens of theatre production this workshop will address circularity, social justice, networks of sharing, re-use, data usage and making smart, greener choices in Design.
We are past the point where we can make vague commitments without action. We must embrace circularity in our Theatre making with great urgency. The task is huge, but our potential to make change is exciting, and the moment to affect change is now. We will approach the subject both scientifically, looking at where we are and how we got here, and creatively, looking at where we can go from here and how we can shift our mindset to embrace new ways of working. Artists are creative thinkers and solution finders, to gather a group like this together and work out some real actions for Youth Theatre in Ireland is an exciting opportunity.
Available When:
Sundays October: 12th
Sundays November 16th, 23rd & 30th
Tuesday October Tues 28th Wednesday 29th also possible if in Wexford/ South Wicklow.
Available Where:
Wexford, Wicklow, South Dublin
Youth Theatre Connects
Youth Theatre Connects brings transformative youth theatre experiences and increased opportunities for artistic engagement to young people facing barriers of rural isolation, disability, and socio-economic challenges.
Youth Theatre Connects continues the important work of the Empower Youth Theatre Encounter, providing young people with further opportunities for creative expression, personal growth & community building. This ensures a continued and lasting impact, and pathways for continued and equal participation in the arts. Focused on young people facing barriers such as disability, neurodiversity, socioeconomic challenges & rural isolation, ensuring inclusive & accessible theatre experiences.
Participating Youth Theatres:
Ballyfermot Youth Theatre, Dublin
Breaking Barriers Theatre Group, Cork
Castletownbere Youth Theatre, Cork
Co. Clare Youth Theatre
Droichead Youth Theatre, Louth
Dublin Youth Theatre
Kildare Youth Theatre
Mr. Sands Youth Theatre, Wicklow
Snapped Youth Theatre, Tipperary
WACT Youth Theatre, Wexford
Youth Theatre Connects programme begins in late 2025 and continues into 2026.
Creative Workshops
Youth Theatre Connects offers creative workshops for 10 youth theatres who will collaborate in five pairs to host two, day-long youth theatre workshops in their own community space. Each group gets a turn being host & visitor.
Go See Theatre
The 10 Youth Theatres will receive funding to go to see a professional theatre production locally and the chance to support and attend another youth theatre's production. This includes a €10,000 ticket fund to support up to 200 young people to see professional theatres locally.
Partner With Us
If you are a theatre or venue and you would like to support the work of Youth Theatre Ireland as a venue partner, please get in touch with Alan King, Deputy Director, Youth Theatre Ireland.
This Programme is supported by a €40,000 grant from the Toy Show Appeal and Community Foundation Ireland.
Youth Theatre Partnership
Have you met another youth theatre leader or group and felt that you would like to bring your youth theatres together? Youth Theatre Ireland has a one off, single award of up to €1,000 towards the cost of groups coming together for workshops or other collaborations/events.
The Youth Theatre Partnership was awarded to UCC Youth Theatre for the Cork Midsummer Meet Up.
On Sun 16th June 2024 members of CastletownBere Youth Theatre, Glengarriff Youth Theatre, Rusty Forg Youth Theatre (Skibbereen), Lightbulb Youth Theatre (Mallow), Activate Youth Theatre (Cork City), and UCC YT (Cork City) met in the Theatre Lab (University College Cork) for workshops, theatre and fun. In total forty three young people and seven leaders attended over the course of the day.
Go See YT
A scheme to support youth theatres with ticket and travel costs to attend another youth theatre show or a professional theatre production. There are four awards with a maximum of €300 per award.
In 2024 the GO SEE YT fund supported
County Limerick Youth Theatre to attend The Creative Show by Limerick YT at the Belltable in Limerick on April 12th.
Carrigallen Youth Theatre to attend Open Your Mouth by Roscommon Co. YT at the Roscommon Arts Centre on April 26th.
Pod Youth Theatre to attend Stickman by Square Head Productions at the Town Hall Theatre Cavan on May 15th
Waterford Youth Arts to attend to Griese Youth Theatre's Double Bill at the Riverbank Arts Centre on June 28th.
Drama Facilitation Support
Do you need someone to relieve a facilitator over a few weeks? Youth Theatre Ireland will support up to 3 x 2hr. sessions of relief drama facilitation in your youth theatre. Applications accepted on an on-going basis until the fund is exhausted.
Please fill in the online application form here
This is an ongoing fund and applications will be considered until the fund is exhausted.