New Ideas
We are always seeking to enrich and deepen existing partnerships with the artists and companies we work with as well as forging new ones. If you are an artist, collective or company with an innovative idea to make something new for children, families and young people, please get in touch.
We value diversity in our artistic programme and are driven by our desire to create and present stories that reflect the diverse communities we serve in London and across the county. As a result, we place a particular emphasis to support under-represented artists in developing their practice aiming to not only create new bodies of work, but to make the Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) workforce more representative.
Get in touchExchange for Change
Exchange for Change allows artists to work in an environment of play and experimentation supported by Half Moon’s team and associated creatives, and always in partnership with the young people and children who experience and inform the R&D process. Our methodology provides the conditions to create excellent art, allowing artists to take risks or change direction, whilst always considering and respecting the target audiences.
Much of this work is then fully commissioned and becomes part of our touring portfolio – be that work for babies, teenagers and young adults, or all ages in between. Most recently this included work for the unborn child in the womb through our piece, Bump.
Explore the Exchange for Change programme
Narratives of Empathy and Resilience
Seventeen artists were recruited with a particular drive to recruit those with protected characteristics under-represented in the TYA sector, including Disabled, D/deaf, neurodivergent and LGBTQI+ people; those from Black, Asian and Ethnically Diverse backgrounds; and those who are excluded from participating in the arts due to socio-economic circumstances or background.
These dynamic and enquiring artists worked over a three month period, and were drawn from a range of disciplines at all stages of their careers – from those starting their creative journeys, to those who are established but who have never created work for the TYA genre previously and who are keen to try something new.
Discover more about Narratives of Empathy and Resilience
Co-Producers
Our passion is collaboration and co-production, and frequently we work with companies and venues to create and present new work. This allows us to think differently about how we approach creating work, keeping us fresh and responsive to our many stakeholders, as well as allowing us to share our expertise and experiences of making work for our young audiences.
Half Moon Presents
Half Moon’s touring portfolio: the place where the professional work developed through our programmes, takes its journey across the UK to theatre venues, libraries, community settings and schools.
Research
We welcome partnerships with academic and similar research-based organisations across both our professional and participatory programmes. Examples include, Challenging Place, led by Dr Sally Mackey at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council which explored how young people think about place both in real life ad through digital media.
With Queen Mary University of London, we worked with academic Dr Ozlem Eylem from their Centre for Psychiatry, Wolfson Institute for Preventative Medicine, and created A Strangeness of Mind, which explored mental health and suicide among women within first generation immigrant communities, based on her verbatim research.
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Half Moon’s recent collaborative partners, associate artists and companies include: Z-Arts & Elayne Ogbeta; Tatenda Matsvai; Amal Khalidi; Azan Ahmed; Daniel Naddafy and Marty Langthorne; Daryl & Co; David Gibb/Little Seeds Music; Full House Theatre; Lots of Odds Theatre; Zest Theatre; Johnny Tomlinson; Sorcha Corcoran; Mark Newnham; Tower Hamlets Arts Teacher Consortium; Queen Mary University; Rose Bruford University College; Central School of Speech and Drama; Manchester University; Steve Tasane; Joe Nerssessian; SPINE Library Festival; Tangled Feet; St Margaret’s House, E2; Canary Wharf / The Space (Isle of Dogs); AEG / All Points East Neighbourhood Festival; Polka Theatre; Children’s Writers and Illustrators for Stories and Literacy (CWISL); TYA UK; Theatre Porto, Ellesmere Port (Elaine Collins); Apples and Snakes; Rich Rusk; plus our many, many school and community youth group partners.
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