TO celebrate the Year of Young People, every week in 2018 The National is giving a platform to young Scots. This week, 25-year-old Sanjay Lago.
HELLO, my name is Sanjay Lago. I am third-generation Indian-born in Glasgow, a fourth-year student in Contemporary Performance Practice at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and also dyslexic, so writing for this paper is a fun challenge.
For the past year I have been a part of the National Theatre of Scotland's Youth Project Team helping to shape their Futureproof Festival, which sees 10 unique theatre projects taking place in 10 different locations around the country throughout October, all created with local young people. We were tasked with creating a huge opening event to launch everything last week. In all honesty, I can't believe that my time on the team is coming to an end as it doesn't feel that long ago that I joined. But a great opening event was created over the year, and the team and me couldn't be happier.
I came across the Futureproof opportunity during my third-year professional placement at NTS with their company in residence, Bijli, and after a brilliant placement they encouraged me to take my learning further by applying.
I never thought that I would be successful in gaining a place, and I'm so happy that my placement providers, Mariem and Umar, encouraged me to go for it.My time on Futureproof has been a time of learning and growing, but what motivated me most was my passion for diversity in the arts and creating more diverse spaces. I am a strong believer that the arts are a great way to educate and grow an individual. It was also exciting to learn about the others in the team.
The challenge I had this year wasn't really a challenge but more of a learning curve, and that was having eight very differing voices in the team, who all had various experiences in the arts and at different levels, all trying to come together to create a great opening event. Yes, we did go through many changes. Yes, we did have moments where we couldn't agree. Yes, we didn't think we would have an opening event. But we worked hard together and created something that was inclusive and fun.
One week in and the festival has already seen a giant shoebox on the streets of Moray, while this weekend there's a promenade performance in the National Museum in Edinburgh, and later in the month there'll be giant kites on the beach in Aberdeentruck rides through Paisley, radio transmissions in Ayr, and much more besides
Through Futureproof I learnt that no matter what age you are, you are and can be creative and you should never forget that inner child we all have. I'm glad to have had this opportunity to grow, and to all out there: no matter your age, enjoy every minute and grab every opportunity. That is what made this a great year; I've been given opportunities and grown as an artist.
For more information on the Futureproof Festival visit nationaltheatrescotland.com/futureproof
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