The young members of our theatres are more than any previous generation concerned about equality of opportunities, diversity and inclusion as well as climate change, recycling and economical use of finite resources.  They will soon be at the forefront of important decisions that will make or break our historic membership model and we need to lay foundations now for them to work with.
 
This panel brings together three university professors who have close connections to amateur, community and professional theatre are also engaged in research that has paved the way for these topical issues. They will present latest thoughts and findings about how we   can improve our offer to members and non-members of our theatres as well as turning our buildings into places for the future.  

Helen Nicholson is Professor of Theatre and Performance at Royal Holloway, University of London where she specialises in theatre in community settings. Recent co-authored books include The Ecologies of Amateur Theatre (Palgrave, 2018 with Nadine Holdsworth and Jane Milling) and Theatre in Towns (Routledge, 2023, with Cara Gray, Gemma Edwards and Jenny Hughes) which is free to download Theatre in Towns (Routledge, 2022)

Anne-marie Greene is Professor of Work and Diversity at the University of York and Artistic Director of the LTG affiliated Criterion Theatre in Coventry. Combining her professional work with her theatre life, Anne-marie has spearheaded a diversity campaign at the Criterion, drawing on 25 years of academic work around equality and diversity (Kirton and Greene The Dynamics of Managing Diversity: A Critical Text, Fifth Edition, 2022, Routledge). She also has worked with a number of charities on the emotional challenges of managing volunteers www.managingvolunteers.org