M6 Theatre aiming high for children and young people

Photo: Lewis Wileman

M6 Youth Theatre 12 -14s Group

Rochdale based M6 Theatre Company has received a Small Capital Grant from Arts Council England to invest in building and equipment. 

The young people’s theatre company will receive £185,000 to improve its facilities including an upgraded stair lift to make the venue more accessible to audiences and artists.

New container cabins will create more set storage facilities and additional creative space to meet the increased demand for their participatory programme.

 M6’s youth theatre and outreach groups develop local young creatives currently under-represented in the sector and the money will provide a state-of-the-art platform to develop and share their skills more widely.

Critical infrastructure developments will help futureproof the company, keeping pace with and in some cases, setting the pace, of digital and environmental advances.

M6 will also be able to continue its pledge to make energy efficiencies with the purchase of a greener touring van. The company travels all over the UK and into Europe with critically acclaimed shows for young people and families and the van will help reduce its carbon footprint.

Digital improvements will be made including an archive of M6 Theatre’s impressive 41-year history, from its Theatre in Education roots to one of the country’s leading touring theatre companies. A new website will also be created to help increase engagement to schools, venues and audiences within and beyond the borough of Rochdale.

Deborah Palmer, Managing Director and CEO of M6 Theatre said: “We are really over the moon that Arts Council England have backed M6’s ambitious Aiming High project.

“In our 40th birthday year, M6 achieved record levels of excellent live audience and participant engagement alongside reaching new audiences through film projects, and demand continues to grow locally, nationally and internationally.  

“This investment in technical/touring assets, digital communications infrastructure and additional accessible creative space is key to our continued evolution, ensuring that M6 has the potential to reach, engage and hopefully inspire as many diverse children, young people and families as possible and to fly the flag for great art for everyone, far beyond our Rochdale home.”