Riot Stage Youth Theatre

Riot Stage is holding a fundraising campaign in 2019 to keep our free youth ensemble going for another 18 months.

ABOUT RIOT STAGE

Riot Stage is a Melbourne-based independent theatre company that brings together teenagers and professional artists to create new plays by and about the young people who perform them. Riot Stage is free to the young people who participate. We believe that the arts should be accessible to any young person who desires to take part.

the 2018 riot stage company posing like it's 1918

School is great, maths is fascinating, tests have their place. However, school trains us to find the 'right' answer. To get the grade at all costs. School can sometimes inhibit boldness, and thinking outside the box. The arts can help counter this. Theatre requires vulnerability. It requires us to support one another and collaborate. Creating new works of live performance requires creative problem solving. It requires listening and speaking up. It requires risk taking and expressing ourselves in innovative never-been-done-before ways. It requires looking into ourselves and figuring out what is it we most want to tell an audience about our lives, about our world, about our future.

THE MONEY PROBELM

Since 2017, Moreland City council has funded weekly company training where we gather and hone our ideas and performance skills. This has allowed us to work consistently with a group of young people over several years. However, the money that Moreland provides is not enough to fully fund us. Much of what Riot Stage does still requires artists and producers to volunteer large quantities of time and resources. This campaign will allow us to raise enough money to fully fund Riot Stage for another 18 months. This means we will have enough money to pay our professional artists and producers for their time, as well as funds to buy or hire materials for our work (sound equipment, props, administrative supplies). Riot Stage has secured MATCH funding through Creative Partnerships Australia so every dollar you donate will be matched by CPA. So if you donate $25 we get $50!

We would love for you to contribute to our campaign so we can continue our free ensemble for the next 18 months. We have some great prizes that we are excited to share with you as a token of gratitude for your generosity and belief in our work.

PREVIOUS WORK

Since our founding in 2010, Riot Stage has created 9 performance works across Australia. We have participated in major festivals including the Melbourne Festival of Live Art, Poppyseed Festival, Melbourne Fringe, The Mackay Festival of Live Arts, and the Anywhere Theatre Festival. We have been nominated for awards, and received accolades from reviewers and audiences alike.

We have watched as young people we have worked with move on to careers both inside and outside the arts. We are witnessing their voices and creativity shape the future.

Here are a couple of videos of works we have made in the past:

UPCOMING WORK

This year Riot Stage has 2 new shows in development. One to premiere at the end of this year (a new physical work about meaning and meaninglessness), and one set to premier in 2020 (about persona and how it’s changed in the age of the internet). These works will develop through our weekly ensemble meetings as well as a few creative developments in the school holidays. Your contributions to our campaign will make these future shows possible!

coming soon...

We often get asked: “What don’t you just charge the kids money?” But we know this creates barriers, and we firmly believe that the work is better when everyone is there simply because they want to be. There is no financial commitment from any participant, or any participant’s family. Art, self-expression, and community should be available to every young person, free of charge. So we have always made Riot Stage free. This means a community of adults comes together to make this possible. Through a combination of government funding, in kind venue hire, private donations from people who have the means, and lots of donated time from artists, Riot Stage has always been free for any young person to join.

BUDGET

The operational costs of the Riot Stage ensemble are very low. The per year cost of running the ensemble is $9,000. This means, if we were to charge participation fees for the young people in the ensemble it would amount to $187.50 per person, per term. If you donate just $100, with MATCH funding, that covers the cost of a young person for one term of Riot Stage.

All funds raised go towards the following:

• Administration costs (printing, website, supplies, etc)
• Teaching artist fees
• Materials for rehearsals (costumes and props)
• Advertising (when we have auditions and showings)
• Designer fees (for showings)