What is Seize The Day?
Drama in schools and Theatre for young audiences has been dismissed, underfunded and undervalued for decades. We need decision makers, Government, MPs and school governors, to understand the value of Drama and Theatre Education.
Since 2015 there has been a 37% drop in students taking GCSE Drama, with a 7.3% drop since 2022! The government has reneged on promised funding for arts subjects in schools while slashed funding in higher education.
In March 2023, the DTEA co-ordinated 88 events led by schools, theatre companies and practitioners, who invited their local MP and press to visit them and witness their experience.
We are expanding our campaign for 2024 with a weeks worth of events across the UK in schools and theatres, featuring performances, workshops and more with children and young people.
Why?
Drama and Theatre with children and young people matters!
"Children need to go to the theatre as much as they need to run about in the fresh air. They need to hear real music played by real musicians on real instruments as much as they need food and drink. They need to read and listen to proper stories as much as they need to be loved and cared for.
The difficulty with persuading grown-up people about this is that if you deprive children of shelter and kindness and food and drink and exercise, they die visibly; whereas if you deprive them of art and music and story and theatre, they perish on the inside, and it doesn't show.”
Sir Philip Pullman
Get Involved
You don't have to do anything special - just do whatever it is you do best, but invite your local MP, councillors, and press to experience it with you!
You could:
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Run a drama class or workshop, perhaps with a visiting practitioner,
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Stage a short performance by children and young people,
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Hold a cross curricular drama project in a school,
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Deliver a drama-centred assembly,
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Stage youth theatre performance in a local theatre or community setting,
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Stage a student production, a work in progress, a rehearsal, or extract of a project in a university, perhaps with a local school invited to attend
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Stage a professional performance with school audiences in a theatre school, library or community setting.
Whatever you do, shout about it!
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Film it, photograph it, document the event.
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Interview those who take part and those who watch - get them to tell you why drama and theatre is important and the impact it has had on them.
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Read our sample press release, create your own, and share it, along with our manifesto, with your local press, MP, councillors and school govornors.
Invite your MP, Councillors, Governors, and local Press!
Running an event is one thing, telling people about it is essential, especially anyone who has any influence in what is taught in your school!
This is your opportunity to share your experience, of the journey the children and young people have been on, how drama and theatre has impacted them and the potitive effects it has had.
We need decision makers to witness this, to appreciate the value of drama and theatre in education, and to recognise the wider effect it has on schools and communities, so invite your MP, mayor, councillors, school governors, parents, and local press - anyone who influences how much drama and theatre is done for children and young people.
Find your MP here and invite them to visit you to experience your event.
Don't forget to tell us about it too!
Checklist:
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Register your interest in hosting an event here.
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Check whether your MP has been invited.
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If your MP is not listed, Invite them to your event. Use this link to find your local MP.
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View our template invitation letter in Microsoft word or PDF. We recommend getting the children and young people you work with to help adapt this invitation.
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Invite your local newspaper or radio station.
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Post about your event on social media and in newsletters to your community. See our sample social posts template in Microsoft Word or PDF, and use the #SeizeTheDay.
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Review the NGA & ACE Guidance for School Governors on the teaching of Drama in schools and share throughout your school community
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Read our #SeizeTheDay campaign briefing note for schools.
- Download and print the Drama, Theatre and Young People Manifesto and petition to hand to your MP
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Film the event and send it to us dtealliance@gmail.com via We Transfer or similar platforms. Please seek the permission of parents of any children filmed.
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Whether your MP or local press are able to attend or not, please share videos, photos, participant and audience testimony to them in lieu of a personal visit.
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Let us know how it went.
Press Release and More
Coverage from Seize The Day 2022-23
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Highfields School performed Avenue Q - Express & Star
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2022 National Drama/Frantic Assembly/Coombe Boys School 2022 Event Review
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Letter from Catherine West MP to Nadhim Zahawi - read it
Registered Partners:
88 schools participated in 2023. We hope to incease this in 2024, so please register below!
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Carshalton High School for Girls Not sure
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Ormiston Ilkeston Enterprise Academy Stage a performance
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Curve Theatre Run a workshop
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Beaumont School Stage a performance
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Furze Platt Senior School Not sure
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Redruth School Stage a performance
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Rainham Mark Grammar School Stage a performance
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Leeds Children's Theatre Stage a performance
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Chestnut Grove Academy Stage a performance
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Bellerive FCJ Catholic College Stage a performance
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The Perse School Stage a performance
