Interested in joining NYFTE?

If you're interested in joining NYFTE, we can offer you:

• the friendship of young people sharing your interest in folk.
• opportunities to learn new skills and develop existing ones.
• the chance to learn from respected tutors and your peers. 
• teamwork and a chance to develop your leadership skills.
• opportunities to perform at festivals and concerts at home and abroad. 
• extra confidence in your own abilities. 

Each year we:  

• run a training event (usually in Chippenham, Wiltshire) on a weekend in February including audition / taster day for prospective new members
• run an intensive residential training week in the Easter Holidays (usually at a school in Staffordshire). During this time we devise, learn and rehearse our repertoire for that year. 
• perform at between 4 and 6 events across England, including at a variety of festivals. Members need to be accompanied to these by a responsible adult. Accommodation is often camping. 

There are expenses associated with NYFTE membership, such as team membership subscription, residential event fees, and the cost of food, travel and accommodation at events. We’ll provide more detail about these when you apply to join, but if the costs are prohibitive, please do talk to us as we may be able to come to an arrangement.  

Team members generally join between the ages of 10 and 14 and are welcome to remain in NYFTE until their 19th birthday. 

Currently, interest in joining NYFTE is high and so we're very sorry but we cannot accept applications from anybody born before 01/09/2019 since we wouldn't have space to invite you before you'd be too old to join.  If you wish to join the waiting list, we need you to wait until your 7th birthday before you ask to be added since younger children may (very reasonably!) not yet have a realistic understanding of what joining NYFTE could be like. If you are super keen but were born before September 2019, we'd still love to hear from you and can add you to our "no promises" reserve list and also signpost you to other organisations who may be able to help.

How to join NYFTE:   

• Check whether you meet the age criteria for the waiting list (see above).
• If so, email us at any point during the year (see the ‘contact us’ page), providing the name and date of birth for the potential member. Please also include some background information (do they already dance, play or sing? If so what, to what level, and with whom? How did you find out about NYFTE? etc.)  We will reply, providing more information about NYFTE and how the team works.  
• We will contact you in the Autumn months either with an application form for you to complete, or (while we are operating a waiting list) to let you know when we hope to be able invite you to apply.  
• Our audition / taster day is an opportunity for everyone involved to get to know each other. NYFTE directors will be looking at attitude, stamina, skills and potential as well as assessing how the young person would fit into the current team. The audition is also an opportunity for the young person to meet existing team members, discover how NYFTE works and decide whether it is an organisation they wish to commit to.   
• We will be in contact shortly after the audition to let you know whether the potential member’s application has been successful this time. New team members will be given details about the Easter Training Week (the next main event after the audition process) where they will be welcomed into the team. There are many reasons why an individual’s application may be unsuccessful. If this is the case, they may be invited to re-audition the following year.