Every artist had a first stage.

For more than fifty years, Canberra Youth Theatre has been that stage — a home where young people discover their creative voice, make ambitious new work, and begin the journeys that shape them as artists and as people.

Your donation keeps that stage alive. The future of arts begins with youth. 

Why Give?

At Canberra Youth Theatre, young people are treated as creative practitioners from the start — making work that is honest, ambitious, and genuinely their own.

For some, Canberra Youth Theatre is where creativity begins. For others, it becomes an artistic home — the place where they grow from ensemble members into makers and leaders, shaping original Australian theatre. Along the way, they build craft, confidence, and often something more lasting — a clearer sense of who they are and what they have to say.

Youth arts organisations occupy a rare position within Australia’s cultural sector — sitting between professional arts practice, community engagement, and education. We are not a school or a major institution. We are something more unique: a place that treats young people as practicing artists right now, and creates the conditions for them to thrive. The work we make together is not a rehearsal for future cultural participation – it is a genuine act of it.

Our work is made possible through a mix of public funding and private support. Government investment sustains our core. Philanthropy is what allows us to go deeper — commissioning new Australian work, employing artists, producing youth-led work for audiences to experience, and ensuring no young person is turned away because of cost.

We are not only supporting participation in the arts. We are producing new Australian theatre, building creative pathways, and demonstrating what becomes possible when young people are trusted as artists in their own right.

When you give to Canberra Youth Theatre, you are backing young artists to take themselves seriously — and to be taken seriously in return.

“Canberra Youth Theatre was a lifeline for me. My time with the company was invaluable both personally and professionally, from the workshops I first attended at 14, to the plays I would go on to be in, to the stretch of time I was lucky enough to spend as a company ensemble performer. It’s the first stage I was ever on, the first place to ever commission writing from me. It’s where I learned to be an actor.”
Liv Hewson
Actor

Here’s what your generosity makes possible

Every gift goes directly into the work we do — supporting young people to make, develop, and share new theatre across the ACT.

At every level, it opens a door.
A first workshop.
A first time on a stage.
A first commission.

Your support can:

• Give a young person their first experience of ensemble theatre — creating work alongside others in a supported, professional environment
• Fund a bursary place in a creative engagement program, ensuring cost is never a barrier to participation
• Support the development of a new Australian work — from first draft to staged reading, with a young or emerging artist at its centre
• Enable paid opportunities for an emerging director, designer, or stage manager taking their first professional steps
• Bring theatre into a school that would otherwise miss out, reaching young people who may never encounter it any other way
• Sustain a full emerging artist program — the residencies, mentored productions, and commissions that keep the pathway from participation to professional practice open and real

What your gift ultimately does is simple: it gives young people the space, support, and belief to make work that belongs to them — and to have that work seen.

Keep the Work Going

A regular gift is one of the most powerful ways to support Canberra Youth Theatre — providing steady, ongoing investment that lets us plan ambitiously, sustain relationships with young artists over time, and respond when opportunities arise.

It’s not a one-off gesture. It’s an ongoing commitment to making new work possible, and to the young artists building their practice within it.

Your giving options

• Monthly — consistent, sustaining support
• Quarterly — a seasonal rhythm of giving
• Annually — a single gift with year-round impact

How it works

Your donation is processed automatically using your nominated credit card and continues until you choose to change or cancel it. You can update your details at any time.

Recognition

All donations over $2 are tax deductible. Recurring donors giving $9+ per month ($100+ annually) are acknowledged on our website for 12 months.

Canberra Youth Theatre is a charitable organisation registered with the Australian Charities and Not-For-Profit Commission and a Deductible Gift Recipient. All donations over $2 are tax deductible.Donations of $100 and above are acknowledged on our website for 12 months.