Professional artists are used to having to pitch for their work projects. It’s just part of the job, whether it’s a funding application or an audition. But for the artists who want to work with children’s theatre group Lyra (based in Edinburgh’s Craigmillar) the pitching process they have to undergo is to an altogether younger panel.

‘Each spring we put a call out to artists and makers and ask them to pitch ideas to the different groups,’ says Lyra’s Engagement Producer Anna Plasberg-Hill. ‘Then the young people are asked to review this, and from those initial pitches they make a shortlist. And those artists come in and do a little workshop audition.’

At Lyra, the ethos is that the young people are in the driving seat, whether it’s choosing the artists they want to learn with, or joining the Culture Crew who work behind the scenes designing posters, managing the ticketing process and running the snack shop. ‘The key thing is that with everything we do, the children are at the heart of it,’ says Plasberg-Hill. ‘Wherever possible, we’re including young people in decision-making processes.’

Pieces which the children chose to develop became part of Lyra’s annual Bright & Wild festival, which each year adopts a theme drawn from the work created. This year, that theme is ‘embrace the strange’, and includes a dance piece about aliens, a musical exploration of dreams, and a play about a 1950s Glasgow legend, spookily entitled The Gorbals Vampire. The children have been led in in their devising by the artists, and supported by youth and arts workers, whose role is particularly important when exploring challenging material.

That said, Plasberg-Hill admits that darker pitches are often the ones these young people are most drawn to. Caitlin, aged 11, who has been working on The Gorbals Vampire, would concur. ‘The idea that there was an actual vampire roaming about in the Gorbals, and that the story was about kids our age was just really cool,’ she says. ‘We’ve being doing a lot of martial arts to come up with movement. Probably the most enjoyable thing was creating a graveyard scene, coming up with poses.’ 

Culture Crew member Zuza, also 11, is currently knee-deep in preparing the staging equipment, but also has some advice for anyone unsure if the backstage process is for them. ‘Definitely give it a try! The chances are you’ll really enjoy it. And if you don’t like something, you can always switch to something else.’

Lyra: Bright And Wild, Artspace, Edinburgh, Friday 19 & Saturday 20, Friday 26 & Saturday 27 May.