Regionteater Väst (Regional Theater West) is Sweden's largest touring performing arts institution for a young audience and one of the country's largest producers of dance and theatre. We create accessible and challenging performances, with an appeal and subject matter aimed primarily at people between the ages of 6 and 16. Our remit comes from the Västra Götaland Region and Uddevalla municipality.
We want to make our performances relevant to our target audience, so it is important that we are close to it, gaining an insight into what it is like to be young in Västra Götaland. We do this in part by touring (about 80% of our performances are staged on tour), and in part by creating our productions in close collaboration with children.
One important component of our democratic mission is to perform for everyone in schools, regardless of background or previous experience of the performing arts. This means that we also have a responsibility to deliver a high level of artistic quality to an audience which has not always chosen to watch dance or theatre.
We have two production houses:
- Borås – where we rehearse and produce dance performances.
- Uddevalla – where we rehearse and produce theatre productions.
Children who live in the same municipality as, or close to, our theatres, often visit our production houses to supplement school visits. While everyone is welcome of course, because the region is so large, we have a duty to tour places that lie far from a theatre. One element in putting on more performances in the region, is our Performing Arts Agreement. This is a unique model that we offer to the municipalities of Västra Götaland.
We put on public performances at our sites in Borås and Uddevalla, and these stages also host guest performances by other companies and theatre groups, as well as by upper secondary schools and arts schools in the region.
Our annual turnover is approximately SEK 45 million and we have almost 50 people working to provide children and young people with an opportunity to experience live performances that put their voices first.
The film "CHECK OUT PERFORMING ARTS" is a short behind the scenes documentary for teachers and students to see before we visit (in Swedish).