Perspectives on the relationship between theatre and education: A West Australian case study

Many professional theatre companies incorporate education departments within their organisational structure to develop education offerings for schools. Education within the context of professional theatre companies offers multiple capacity building benefits. Consequently, education departments clearly have a role in strategically shaping contemporary Australian theatre companies. (Edwards & Upton, 2014). Likewise, the well documented positive impacts of arts learning is recognised by the sector. This has prompted widespread drama-education advocacy from education and theatre industries respectively, as well as through the combined efforts of education and industry partnerships. However, this project argues that for partnerships to sustain relevancy and cross-sector support, researchers must examine evidence-based partnership models that can flourish within changeable local, national and international external environments (Byrnes, 2015). This project investigates these issues by using case study methodology to examine the relationship between theatre and education within a West Australian context. Specifically, the project investigates strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to the education departments of Black Swan State Theatre Company and Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company. Likewise, it investigates views held by key company personnel regarding the role and value that education has within their company and within the arts ecosystem. Finally, it presents arguments advocating for future arts management research into the education and theatre sectors relationship to support the development and sustainability of the sector