The ground-breaking Danish programme Kultur Crew uses the expressive arts to set new challenges for young people and the first Scottish version has been launched in Edinburgh’s Craigmillar district by the charity Lyra.

Lyra has existed in Craigmillar for seven years, with a vision to positively impact lives of children and young people living in the community through delivering a wide-ranging programme of performing arts.

​In introducing the Culture Crew programme to Scotland, Lyra is offering young people, aged 10 upwards, the chance to learn technical theatre, backstage operations, marketing, organising and hosting events. It includes decision making, in conjunction with the Lyra team, about the professional performances it presents. These behind-the-scenes roles introduce young people to different aspects which are critical to support a show in reaching the stage.

Front of house, marketing and publicity, hosting, curation of work and public will be among the broad range of skills young people learn from industry professionals, enabling them to have the confidence to host events. As well as a core group of 15 young participants aged between 12 and 18, the programme will connect with the wider community, who will be invited along as audience members and event attendees.

Lyra was awarded £16,653 from Aberdeen Standard Investments Charitable Foundation, to deliver the project over a nine-month period and has been working in collaboration with the Danish organisations behind Kultur Crew in devising its own Scottish version.

Kirsty Brownlie, head of charity partnerships for Aberdeen Standard Investments, said: “Lyra is a registered charity based in an area of deprivation not far from our office in Edinburgh.

“We’re pleased to support a project to directly increase the life chances of young people through building skills and offering the most vulnerable young people a forum to express themselves, with a strong focus on education and partnerships.

“It was great we were able to invite Lyra participants to attend a Scottish Ballet performance, tickets which were made available through a corporate sponsorship. We look forward to learning of the self-esteem, creative skills and aspirations blossom in this community.”