Do you want all of the children and young people in your municipality to experience dance and theatre? In that case you have the opportunity to sign a Performing Arts Agreement. This is how it works: for one year your municipality buys dance and theatre performances for all children at primary school level at a subsidised price. Every year we enter into an extensive agreement with about ten municipalities. When the period of the agreement expires, the offer transfers on to another municipality. We combine our forces in this way to reach a greater number of children and young people in Västra Götaland, and all municipalities are given the opportunity to take part!
Västra Götaland is large and in our target group there are about 170,000 individuals. Our aim is to reach about 50,000 of those a year. Our role is also to facilitate the work of other stakeholders. This means that, in dialogue with you, we evaluate the year that the agreement has run, and help to find ways to continue making high-quality performing arts accessible. There are plenty of other stakeholders who can pick up the baton following a partnership with us.
What the target group of children and young people gain from this agreement is obvious; more performing arts. For us, and all our stakeholders, other opportunities arise. We are able to focus on the educational perspective - what does a performance communicate and how can we gain experience from its content? We are given the opportunity to integrate an aesthetic perspective into the learning process - what aesthetic qualities do staging a performance accommodate, and what value do they have? One part of this work is our publication "Talking Performing Art" that shows how art and the LGR 11 curriculum can work together. It also provides suggestions as to how to undertake the work in practice. Preparatory work, methodologies and analytical tools are insights that teachers and students in a municipality with an agreement will carry with them into the future.
Some of the municipalities that have completed a year long Performing Arts Agreement with Regionteater Väst include Tidaholm, Mölndal, Götene, Mariestad, Mark, Falköping, Gullspång, Munkedal, Tjörn, Bollebygd, Svenljunga, Vänersborg, Lilla Edet, Strömstad, Åmål, Lysekil, Tranemo, Töreboda, Färgelanda, Hjo, Tibro, Orust, Skara, Stenungsund, Essunga, Bengtsfors and Öckerö. In Uddevalla and Borås, where Regionteater Väst has its production houses and home stages, longer partnerships are in place.