School Theatre Support Group

Following a very successful annual conference on 28th May 2022, STSG's Chairperson/Administrator, Paul Durose, has announced his "retirement" from the position.

Paul was one of the founding members of STSG in 2005 with two other former school technicians/managers who are no longer members. Since then, he has managed the day-to-day running of the organisation, as well as looking after the membership database, finances, sponsorship, website, communications, and arranging the many STSG events which have taken place over the years; starting from the early days of informal inter-school visits, to 13 successful conferences, plus training courses and annual trade show meets.

In that time, STSG has grown to be the recognised organisation for technical production, venue management and backstage education in schools, with the support of the ABTT since 2014. Over the last 15+ years, we have also seen an increasing awareness and acceptance of the professionalism of school theatres from our industry contacts and peers.

However, after 17 years in charge, Paul felt that the time has come to stand down from the position of Group Administrator, which he will do in June.

At a meeting held in November 2021, it was agreed that the committee will fully take-over the management of the organisation. The structure of the committee will change, with the duties of running the Group spread amongst several members to avoid the burden falling on any one person. There will be a new Chairperson, plus other traditional committee roles such as Treasurer and Secretary, and any other roles as deemed necessary.

The constitution requires any major change of policy for STSG to be presented and agreed at an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) at which all members can attend. This took place as an online meeting on Saturday 19th February, at which the changes were formally accepted.

The new committee met for the first time on Sunday 29th May after the conference.

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We are supported by RB Health & Safety Solutions who provide essential Health & Safety services to STSG members, including free email consultancy, plus discounts on audits and training.

STSG also runs training courses for members, including IOSH 'Working Safely for Theatre' (every 3 years). If you would like to host a training course, or have specific training needs, please contact us.

Members can find details of STSG services on the Member Home Page.

ABTT's Bronze, Silver and Gold professional development awards for technicians are available every summer in Coventry and elsewhere in the country at other times.

Please visit the ABTT website for details of the next available courses.

Since June 2014 the STSG is affiliated as a committee of the Association of British Theatre Technicians (ABTT), giving us wider recognition as an organisation and also raising awareness of theatre work within schools.

We are continuing to operate independently with our own Constitution and Committee, but we will be adhering to the principles and objectives of the ABTT.

We are represented on the ABTT Council by Alexander Cann (former STSG member).

STSG membership is separate to ABTT membership, although from January 2020 eligible ABTT members can join STSG for free. For each member enrolled in this way, the ABTT will contribute a subsidy to the STSG at no extra cost to the member.