Liverpool based young people’s theatre company 20 Stories High has been presented with The Jenny Harris Award at the National Theatre’s Foundation Awards.
The award includes a grant of £10,000, which the company will use to fund a new Young Writers Programme which will complement the work they currently do with young people keen to develop their performing skills through their acclaimed Youth Theatre and Young Actors Company.
The Young Writers Programme will be led by two award winning playwrights, 20 Stories High’s Co-Artistic Director Keith Saha and Associate Artist Philip Osment, and will help develop the playwriting skills of young people who have important stories to tell but for whom literacy can be daunting or challenging.
The brand new award was given in memory of Jenny Harris an inspiring and deeply influential practitioner who was at the forefront of community and educational arts practice since the 1970s.
20 Stories High – which celebrates its 10th Birthday this year – was set up by Julia Samuels and Keith Saha in 2006, and over that time has won a string of prestigious awards for it’s work bringing together world class artists with young people from diverse communities both in Liverpool and across the UK.
Co-Artistic Director Samuels, who worked with Jenny Harris at the National Theatre’s Education Department in the 1990s, says: “We’re absolutely over the moon with the news we’ve been granted this award. It is a deep honour for our work to be celebrated in this way, and in honour of Jenny who had such a profound influence on my career. Jenny believed wholeheartedly in making the arts accessible to young people from marginalised communities. This award will allow us to set up a young writers project inspiring exciting new voices to be heard.”
In recent years, the Toxteth-based charity has been reaching an average of 2,400 young people per year from culturally diverse communities in Liverpool and across the UK, engaging them in free creative activities that develop their skills, employability and confidence.
Samuels says: “Over the years, many of our young people have expressed an interest in writing – poetry, plays, lyrics and films. These are young people who often have not excelled academically in school, and may have few formal qualifications. But they have been inspired to write by the work they’ve been doing with 20 Stories High. This new programme will allow them to work with award-winning playwrights to hone their skills, develop their ideas and create brand new pieces of writing for performance.”
And Co-Artistic Director and Programme Leader Keith Saha is equally as excited: “When I was at school I never dreamed I would one day become a published playwright because I left school with no notable qualifications. I think it is important that young people who have something to say, to get off their chest and who want to write the stories that come from within their communities get a chance to and in turn understand that these skills can be developed in a non-academic setting through creative programmes like this one.”
