About house Young Audiences Cohort
This year we are launching a new three year project looking into the different ways venues are building audiences for the next generation of theatre goers.
We’re looking for five house network venues who share a commitment to growing a strong community with an appetite for Children and Young Peoples’ Theatre at their venue, to come together to create a cohort supported by house.
This Project Aims to:
- Support venues with the time, space and confidence to think differently and further their aspirations in cementing Children and Young People’s Theatre into their programming.
- Gather learnings and experiences from cohort members to share back with the wider sector, helping more organisations to broaden their cultural offer and audience development for young audiences.
- Have a deeper evaluative process and more robustly measure change and impact across the house network.
Find out more
What is the commitment from venues?
Each financial year, for the three years, members will commit to programming two house touring productions, and at least one further show from their own selection within the genre of Children and Young People’s Theatre.
This will provide a consistent base line of programming activity for house to track and evaluate each organisation’s work (alternative programming targets can be set for those venues already significantly programming for young audiences).
What are the application criteria?
We are looking for cohort members who are:
- Committed to the three year programme
- Ambitious about developing young audiences
- Committed to, and able to set aside time and resource for organisational development and learning
- Open to trying something new
- Able to commit one project lead, and one supporting role from their team
How will house work with the cohort?
house will provide individual surgeries and tailored support in response to each venue’s specific needs and intended outcomes across the three years. This could look like, guidance in Audience Development, or sourcing expert advice from makers or venues for young audiences.
house will collect quantitative and qualitative data through the project, working with an external evaluation partner to set the framework and to process the findings and share learnings with the wider sector.
How will the cohort work together?
The cohort of five venues will also serve as an action learning group, allowing the venues to share experiences and learnings with one another across the three years.
What are the timelines for next steps?
Thursday 22nd January, 1pm to 2pm: Q&A online session about the cohort (on Zoom)
Thursday 12th February 2026: Applications close
Friday 20th February 2026: house to contact successful applicants
March 2026: We will invite the five venues to their individual meetings to determine their objectives
April 2026: We will host an in-person meeting for all five venues to welcome you all into the cohort, collect your baseline data and define objectives for the next three years.
How can I find out more?
If you’d like to speak to a member of the house team before applying, please get in touch with our Senior Producer, Harriet Bolwell, on harriet.bolwell@housetheatre.org.uk
We’ll also be hosting an informal lunchtime Q&A session online on Thursday 22nd January from 1pm to 2pm.
Register for our house Young Audiences Cohort Q&A session on Zoom
How do I apply?
Complete our online application form by Thursday 12th February 2026. If you would like to apply in any other format, for example answering the questions by video or audio, please get in touch with Harriet Bolwell, on harriet.bolwell@housetheatre.org.uk
