The national Theatre of Scot-land is asking schools to partner it in its full blown version of Trans-form. This is a theatre residency that sets out, with financial support from Determined to Succeed and Scottish- Power Learning, to make a permanent change in the creative and confident mindset of the school and community it engages with.
It is a bold and imaginative concept, because imagination is a major commodity in the National Theatre of Scotland, under its artistic director Vicky Feather-stone. She quotes Goethe: “You cannot become what you can- not imagine.
“The NTS has no building, or any great tradition to weigh it down. Instead, it builds in the minds of the people, work- ing with their creativity and imagination. Learning is at the heart of everything we do”.
Transform has been piloted in schools and communities, and the experience, says Simon Sharkey, associate director of Learn NTS, “has taught us much, and encouraged us to make the programme available to 10 schools over the next two years, and after that make it continuous across Scotland”.
His broad plan is that a director, assistant director and producer are placed in the school, leading the teams of National Theatre of Scotland artists who work alongside the teachers for two terms, operating across the whole school curriculum in a transformational and enterprising style, culminating in a performance focused on school and com- munity coherence.
For its part, the National Theatre of Scotland is looking for schools that already have a commitment to creative learning through theatre, and are part of a robust infrastructure with the local authority and a school cluster.
Each project can cost as much as pound;68,000 and, although the National Theatre of Scotland and its backers promise to meet this cost, at the same time they would require a contri- bution of pound;20,000 from the local organisers.
T 0141 221 0970
