Reaching out to audiences
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Transcript of Reaching out to audiences
Reaching out to audiences
Our mission at the Arts Council is Great art and culture for everyone. We have five strategic
goals to help us achieve this. Goal 2 aims to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to
experience and to be inspired by the arts, museums and libraries, irrespective of where they
live or their social, educational or financial circumstances. Here we show how some of the
schemes that help us achieve this are being rolled out in the North.
Involving young Muslim women in Bradford and Manchester
The Arts Council is supporting Common Wealth Theatre in its development of a site-specific
performance event based on interviews with Muslim female boxers – in particular Ambreen
Sadiq, a former national champion. No Guts, No Heart, No Glory explores being young,
fearless and doing the unexpected and challenges the assumptions and expectations held of
young Muslim women in both the Muslim and non-Muslim communities. It is performed by
four 16-18 year old Muslim performers, recruited following a series of workshops in Bradford
schools. They helped develop the script alongside Pakistani new writer Aisha Zia. None of the
actors has been involved in either performance or boxing before and Ambreen Sadiq has been
coaching them in boxing skills.
Common Wealth Theatre’s production of No Guts, No Heart, No Glory. Credit: Christopher Nunn
2 | Reaching out to audiences
Common Wealth always seeks to stage its work right in the community, being – as Director
Evie Manning puts it – ‘really really committed to non-theatre audiences’. No Guts, No Heart,
No Glory is supported by a wide range of participatory audience development activities. In
May 2014 Common Wealth held a three day event in Bradford’s undercover Oastler Market,
involving readings from the play, taster performances, boxing workshops with Ambreen
Sadiq, and open discussions on such topics as being young, female and Muslim. On 15 June
they stage a big event at the Bradford Mela, and in September they are orchestrating a flash
mob in the centre of Bradford for which preliminary workshops are currently being held in
schools.
The play itself premieres at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August and runs at Huggy’s Gym
in Bradford from 9-20 September. There are also performances in Manchester from 4-8
November, where the show will be preceded during October by workshops in youth centres
and schools organised by Contact Theatre, who also co-produce. In addition to support from
Arts Council England, funding also comes from the Scottish Government, Bradford Council,
Theatre in the Mill and Contact.
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Working with the Ukrainian community in Bradford
Freedom Studios, the Bradford based theatre company, seeks to ignite passion for live theatre,
bringing in people who don’t usually watch or work in it. The company’s close relationship
with the Ukrainian community in Bradford began four years ago, during research for their
site-specific project The Mill – City of Dreams, based on the stories of local and migrant wool
workers. Interviews with people from the Ukrainian community and time spent with first
generation older people at their Wednesday lunch club, run by second generation Ukrainians,
all contributed to the creation of a Ukrainian character featuring in the final production.
The Ukrainian’s community’s reaction to the portrayal was positive. As Deborah Dickinson,
Freedom Studios’ Creative Producer, puts it: ‘They felt we had got it right. It was true to
their experience.’
Freedom Studios kept up the connection and when researching their 2014 production Home
Sweet Home – about the experiences of growing old in contemporary Britain – went back to
the community for help. Deborah Dickinson explains what emerged:
‘The older women enjoy singing traditional folk songs at their Wednesday meetings and we
commissioned Josh Goodman, a composer and choir leader to work with us and them in
shaping something for performance. We spent time with them listening to their songs and
understanding their meaning and importance in the lives and culture of the women. The
songs had been part of their lives from birth, during the trauma of Stalin and upheaval in their
homeland, in the German prison camps, and in Britain where they were relocated as ‘aliens’.
The songs had given them courage and continuity as the world around them changed. We
decided to focus on bringing out the emotional meaning of the songs for audiences who did
not understand Ukrainian.’
‘In the final production four older women come on during the last scene in their beautiful
traditional blouses and sing unaccompanied. Despite being in their late eighties, they were
determined to perform. It is incredibly moving.’
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Many members of the Ukrainian community attended the performances in April 2014, and
the relationship continues. Home Sweet Home returns to Bradford from 16 -20 September
2014. It is a co-production with Entelechy Arts and performances are also being given in
Stockton and London.
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Focusing on those places of greatest need
Through the Creative people and places programme we are focusing on parts of the country
where peoples’ involvement in the arts is significantly below the national average. The
programme takes a new approach by allowing communities and grass roots organisations to
play a leading role in inspiring others to get involved with the arts.
According to the latest statistics from our annual Taking Part survey, there are 17 areas of low
engagement in the North West, nine in Yorkshire and 14 in the North East. This has resulted
in nine diverse and innovative Creative people and places projects throughout the North area:
Time to engage with art in Northumberland
bait – the Creative people and places project in South East Northumberland – is working with
partners to support people to create and take part in quality arts activities and experiences
Community leaders taking part in bait workshop. Credit: Jason Thompson
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across the area. The consortium, comprising the Woodhorn Charitable Trust with
Northumberland College, Northumberland County Council, Northumberland County Council
Public Health, Queens Hall Arts and VCS Assembly, seeks to create long-term change in levels
of arts participation, driven by the creativity and ambition of people living in the area. It also
aims to have a demonstrable effect on the well-being of local people and levels of social
energy and activism within communities. The consortium has been awarded £2,461,400 from
the Creative People and Places programme.
Current and future projects include a partnership with the Royal Voluntary Service to set up a
new friendship group for older people in Seaton Sluice; a scheme with New Writing North to
launch a new writers group to support young people to develop their writing skills and
Market Stall, a co-commission with C-12 Dance Theatre, first seen in South East
Northumberland, now on a UK tour.
Leftcoast programme raises engagement in Blackpool and Wyre
LeftCoast, Blackpool and Wyre’s Creative people and places consortium, which we are
supporting with a £3 million grant, has launched its programme to bring great art to everyone
on the Fylde Coast – an area where involvement in the arts is currently in the lowest 20 per
cent of areas nationally. According to the Active People Survey 2009/10 only 37.21 per cent
of Blackpool’s population and 38.74 per cent of Wyre’s population took part in the arts.
The consortium behind LeftCoast seeking to improve these statistics is made up of The Grand
Theatre in Blackpool (a National portfolio organisation), Blackpool Council, Wyre Council,
Merlin Entertainments and lead partner Blackpool Coastal Housing. Under joint directors
Michael Trainor (Artistic Director) and Julia Turpin (Executive Producer) Leftcoast is prioritising
work around four key strands of activity. These are: engaging more audiences with high
quality art, developing individuals and infrastructures working in the arts and cultural sector;
importing, exporting and generating great art; and changing perceptions both internally and
externally.
The project is just seven months old but past and future initiatives already include:
• Two acts programmed as part of Showzam, Blackpool’s Festival of Circus and Variety held in
February 2014: Acrojou’s Wheel House, a rolling theatre directed by Flick Ferdinando and
commissioned by Without Walls and Les Enfants Terribles Marvellous Imaginary Menagerie
• A flagship international collaboration with the Grand Theatre to bring Danish Physical
Theatre Company Neander to the theatre in summer 2014 for their only UK performance
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with the aim of introducing new local audiences, particularly teenage boys and men, to the
theatre
• A collaboration with voluntary-led Fleetwood Festival of Transport to introduce a new arts
strand to the hugely popular festival on 20 July 2014: the Blackpool based creative business
Squirrel & Tiffin will be turning a vintage tram into an art installation terrarium using real life
trees and knitted insects to create a Secret Garden environment
• Eight new leadership programmes for artists and art activists based in Blackpool and Wyre
Going Right Up Our Street in Doncaster
Iconic and experimental art will be going Right up our street thanks to a Creative people and
places grant of £2,570,924 towards developing arts bases in five communities across
Doncaster. The consortium behind the project is led by Doncaster Community Arts (DARTS).
Other consortium members include Doncaster Voluntary Arts Network (DVAN) and the trust
behind Doncaster’s new performance venue CAST, which opened in 2013. CAST is one of our
National portfolio organisations and has also received funding through our National Lottery
funded capital programme.
Wheelhouse by Acrojou, Left Coast Shazam. Credit: Claire Griffiths
8 | Reaching out to audiences
Turning a canal into a creative corridor
The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is set to be the centrepiece of a creative corridor for the arts
following a £2 million grant from our Creative people and places programme to a consortium
led by the Canal and River Trust. The money will be used to connect the communities that live
on and alongside the canal, and beyond, in Pennine Lancashire through high profile, world-
class arts and events. The other consortium partners are Burnley Council, Blackburn with
Darwen Council, Groundwork Pennine Lancashire Trust, APPL (Arts Partners in Pennine
Lancashire) and Barnfield Construction Limited.
Over the next 10 years, local people will be involved in programming, producing and
experiencing high quality arts projects that have roots in the waterway communities they pass
through. Ideas include festivals, screenings, performance, environmental arts projects,
temporary digital installations, exhibitions and pop-up cultural spaces. The aim is for the Leeds
and Liverpool Canal to become known locally, nationally and internationally as place to come
for a unique heritage, cultural and leisure experience.
Burnley Canal Festival. Credit: Canal & River Trust
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St Helens Saints Community Development Foundation. Credit: Karen Wright
St Helens Dream. Credit: Karen Wright
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Celebrating St Helens’ cultural heartbeat
Two iconic emblems of St Helens’ heritage – glass and rugby league – are at the core of an
ambitious arts project after a consortium led by Saints Community Development Foundation
secured a £1.5 million grant from the Arts Council. Public art, dance, music, theatrical
displays, creative writing, digital and visual arts will all be on the agenda to celebrate themes
that have been described as the town’s ‘cultural heartbeat’. Many of the events will be staged
in St Helens town centre and organisers hope to involve thousands of people, including those
who have never participated in the arts, to celebrate what is distinct about the town. Saints
players, past and present, and glass workers will be among those taking part. The scheme will
build on the success of Dream, the 2008 Big Art commission by Jaume Plensa. The other
organisations in this consortium are Helena Partnerships, FACT (Foundation for Arts and
Creative Technology), St Helens Council and St Helens Arts Partnership.
Exploring Hull’s rich cultural and social histories
Roots and Wings is a programme to be delivered by a consortium in Hull led by Artlink
following receipt of a £3 million grant. The project, which has three exciting commissioning
strands – Producing City, Discovery Programme and Made in Hull: Celebrations – will draw
inspiration from Hull’s rich cultural and social histories, and be driven by existing and
emerging creative talent in the city. Other consortium members are Hull Truck Theatre,
Volcom, Hull City Council, and Hull and East Yorkshire Community Foundation.
Making a Scene in Kirklees
Hundreds of arts and cultural events will be delivered in North Kirklees over a three year
period thanks to a Creative people and places grant of £2 million made to a consortium led
by The Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield. Other consortium members include Batley
Festival Group and Kirklees Council. The Making a Scene programme will support the
development of long term relationships between local communities, artists and arts
organisations. It aims to create a permanent change in the way the arts contribute to the
quality of life for people in North Kirklees.
Shaping cultural experience in Durham
A £1.5 million award from our Creative people and places programme will provide a huge
opportunity for the people of East Durham to shape their cultural experience over the next
three years.
Generating inspiring, engaging and quality arts activity – festivals, exhibitions and events – for
people living and working in East Durham, the scheme will make the most of the area’s
11 | Reaching out to audiences
unique towns, intriguing villages, dramatic landscapes and sweeping coastline. The goal of
the project is to produce great art that is valued and appreciated by those living and working
in East Durham. The consortium behind the scheme includes Beamish, The Living Museum of
the North, East Durham Trust and Forma Arts and Media.
A cultural Spring Awakening in Sunderland and South Tyneside
A consortium has been awarded £2 million for a scheme entitled The Cultural Spring which
sees communities in Sunderland and South Tyneside working with local, national and
international artists and producers on a series of transformational arts events. Highlights will
include empty homes being transformed into art galleries, large scale commissions with
organisations such as the Royal Shakespeare Company and local mentoring from Sunderland’s
home-grown music scene. The University of Sunderland is lead partner in the consortium and
the other core partners are The Customs House in South Shields and the Sunderland Music,
Arts and Culture Trust, a new charity formed to develop the arts and cultural provision in the
city. The Great North Passion – the BBC’s flagship Easter broadcast 2014 – was the scheme’s
launch event: devised in partnership with the BBC, and made possible with an extra £100,000
awarded to the BBC from the Arts Council’s Exceptional award scheme.
Current Cultural Spring projects include Summer Streets, an afternoon event to celebrate
community music and local musicians in Sunderland and South Tyneside at Margaret
Thompson Park in July 2014; and a series of art taster sessions for summer 2014.
12 | Reaching out to audiences
Follow the Herring: bringing inspiration to the East coast
In 2011 the Arts Council launched a £45 million Strategic touring programme which is
designed to encourage collaboration between organisations, so that more people across
England experience and are inspired by the arts, particularly in places which rely on touring
for much of their arts provision.
It is this source of funding that has helped launch such imaginative projects as Follow the
Herring. Thanks to a grant of £218,832 from the programme a life size knitted boat is touring
to13 towns the length and breadth of the east coast of Scotland and England celebrating our
coastal heritage through a combination of theatre, singing, arts and crafts. A theatre
performance of Get Up and Tie Your Fingers will recreate the story of the 19th century
Follow the Herring knitted boat. Credit: The Customs House
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‘herring lassies’ who followed the herring fishing fleets down the coast to meet the catch at
each port of call. The show’s opening night in Musselburgh in May 2014 was a sell-out.
The tour echoes the women’s journey, taking the tale back to the communities where it
began and giving them the opportunity to create and participate in a piece of theatre
alongside a professional production team. Local people have been encouraged to join in as
part of the performance choirs or by knitting a herring or through the Ch-arted website which
offers educational tools, projects and class room activities.
Follow the Herring is a co-production by The Customs House and the Guild of Lillians theatre
company. More information about the project can be read here.
14 | Reaching out to audiences
Providing cultural experiences for youngsters in rural areas
Youngsters in rural areas are benefiting from the presence of another organisation supported
in the North by the Strategic touring programme. Under the Create Tour programme run by
the Rural Arts rural touring scheme three professional performance companies work with
young people to create a short curtain-raiser performance that then tours with the
professional company as part of the ON Tour scheme. For example, Phoenix Dance Theatre
Company became involved in this rural touring scheme for the first time in 2013. In 2014,
Phoenix spent four days working with local young people at Brooklyn Youth Centre, Norton
to create a short piece to be performed as a curtain raiser for their REfined tour.
2014 has also seen the launch of Rural Arts Under this scheme groups of young people have
taken on the task of promoting Sarah Willan’s solo show The Novel Detective to their own
community via social media.
Both the show and the Young Promoters scheme are part of a national strategic rural touring
programme developed through a partnership between Contact and NRTF and supported by
the Arts Council’s Strategic touring scheme. Support for the Create Tour and for the Young
Promoters scheme also comes from Ryedale District Council, North Yorkshire Youth Service
and with support from Tuned In, Redcar, and Ryedale Youth Support Service.
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Opportunities for the homeless and for those feeling isolated or depressed
People who have experienced homelessness or suffer from depression and isolation are being
offered the chance to improve their lives through taking part in theatre workshops and
performances run by Collective Encounters. This Liverpool-based organisation, supported by
the Arts Council, specialises in theatre for social change through collaborative practice.
Collective Encounters has been working with the homeless community in the North West
since 2008. Its Transitions programme includes accredited training through performance in
hostels and day settings, out of town residencies, performances and a work placement and
mentoring scheme. The Professional Human Beings group, for example, is open to anyone
Collective Encounters’ production of Saintland. Credit: Mark McNulty
16 | Reaching out to audiences
with experience of homelessness who wants to make theatre. Seize the Day is a modern day
folk song they recently wrote and recorded together.
Collective Encounters’ Other Ways of Telling scheme uses music, story-telling and drama to
combat depression and isolation. Now in its second year, the scheme is delivered in
partnership with St.Helens Arts Service. The group’s third and latest production, Saintland
– Where Poundland meets Neverland, was performed in May 2014 at St Helens Central
Library.
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Putting ‘real people’ centre stage
All the world will be on stage – from toddlers to those in their seventies – in the latest
production by National portfolio organisation Quarantine, a company that uses the lives and
experiences of real people as the starting point for all their shows.
Summer, Quarantine’s new large-scale production, premiering at The Warehouse, Regent
Trading Estate, Salford in June 2014, is about ‘being alive, right now’. It involves 45 locally
recruited performers aged between 18 months and 78 years, from all walks of life including
an electrician, a joiner, a journalist and school children. None of them has ever been involved
in a performance of this kind before. A company policy of sharing a meal before each
rehearsal gives all the participants a strong feeling of a collective ownership of the play, which
itself opens with the cast doing the same thing as their audience: eating and drinking.
Quarantine’s production of Summer. Credit: Gavin Perry
18 | Reaching out to audiences
Summer is the first part of an exciting quartet of performances that look at the human life
cycle, to be created by the same artistic team at Quarantine over the next three years
Summer. Autumn. Winter. Spring will be made in four separate parts and then played as a
marathon event from 2016.
Quarantine is a tenant in Islington Mill, the independent arts organisation in Salford. The
warehouse where Summer is to be performed is just close by, and the show seeks to connect
with local people, living in tower blocks nearby, working in local businesses, and attending
local schools.
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Involve the whole family
This year’s Family Arts Festival takes place between 17 October-2 November and will involve
arts and cultural organisations across the North. It is part of the Family Arts campaign
supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, with
the aim to develop the range of arts events and activities available to families – the quality as
well as the overall experience.
The Campaign is the initiative of six leading UK arts trade organisations: The Association of
British Orchestras, Dance UK, The Independent Theatre Council, The Society of London
Theatre, UK Theatre and the Visual Arts & Galleries Association.
The first Family Arts Festival took place in October 2013, and entertained tens of thousands of
families across the UK with its ambitious and diverse first year programme. Over 900
organisations hosted over 1,900 events as part of the festival, across all forms of performing
and visual arts, and it was supported by leading figures from the arts including Lord Lloyd
Webber, Zoë Wanamaker and Ed Vaizey.
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