Supporting artists

Mercury Theatre Colchester is extending three dedicated talent development programmes for promising and innovative playwrights, producers and directors from the east of England.

The programmes enable creatives to work with leading theatremakers and gain experience working in the industry.

Each programme is designed to nurture future talent. Evaluation statistics from the previous cohort show that programme beneficiaries have enhanced employability of up to 60%.

The Mercury Playwright Programme will mentor a group of writers through the process of creating a full-length play or piece of theatre, under the guidance of stage and screenwriter Kenny Emson.

The Mercury Directors Programme will support mentees through the through page-to-stage directing process under the guidance of Mercury’s Creative Director Ryan McBryde.

And the Mercury Producers Programme will provide an overview of the skills and craft of theatre producing, including setting up companies, pitching, planning, budgeting, fundraising, audiences, marketing, touring and press, led by Dilek Latif, Mercury’s producer.

“The success of our [Playwrights, Producers, Directors] PPD scheme has proved to us how vital it is that regional theatres support local artists and so we’re extending and reaching out for the applications from playwrights, producers and directors at any stage of their career who have a strong link to Colchester and or the wider Eastern region having originated, studied or lived here,” said McBryde.

“This year, our PPD offer will be enriched by unlocking additional expert knowledge from guest session leaders from our new Associate Companies: Graeae, English Touring Theatre, Paines Plough and Frantic Assembly,” he added. 

“Partnering with these extraordinary, world-renowned theatre companies will allow us to broaden the scope of our work and provide further opportunities to springboard artists across our region.”

The nine-month-long programmes are set to run from July 2023 to March 2024.

Antony Stuart-Hicks, Talent Development Producer for the Mercury, said the theatre is looking for “creatives who are bold, ambitious and theatrically daring”,  particularly those underrepresented in the industry, “whether this be by class, disability, ethnicity, gender or sexuality”.

The Made in Scotland programme will fund 18 Scottish shows at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

The programme, funded by the Scottish government’s Festivals Expo Fund, will support shows created by local companies, spanning a range of performance styles including dance, music and theatre.

This year’s selection of shows focus on themes including life and death, loss, violence and drug addiction, as well as exploring everyday life through the lens of emerging parenthood and family.

Performances will also delve into Scottish traditions, exploring how they embody culture while questioning the concept and nature of a country.

The 18 shows selected for the 2023 festival are part of more than 250 funded by the Made in Scotland showcase since its inception in 2009.

Christina McKelvie, Minister for Culture, Europe and International Development at the Scottish Government, said the programme gives “Scottish talent a well-earned opportunity to perform on the international stage”. 

“Together, the Fringe and Made in Scotland help nurture and encourage the exceptional creative talent that flourishes in Scotland, showcasing the creativity and innovation that’s right on our doorstep,” she said.

The showcase is “the main mechanism through which Scottish government supports local artists at the Edinburgh Fringe”, said Shona McCarthy, Chief Executive, Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society.

“It has been a vital platform for artists from Scotland to have their work seen, promoted and presented alongside their international peers.”
 

A grant scheme run by PRS Foundation has generated more than £22m for the UK music industry over the past decade, an evaluation report has found.

To mark a decade of its PPL Momentum Fund, a new report commissioned by PRS Foundation details how it has helped musicians including Little Simz, Sam Fender and Kae Tempest.

Launched in 2013, the fund has awarded more than £5.2m to artists across the UK.

The fund provides "career-boosting grants" of between £5,000 and £15,000, and is targeted at a pivotal time in the creative and business development of artists.

The report reveals that almost half of grantees are of Black, Asian or other ethnically diverse heritage, and more than half of grantees are based outside London.

Joe Frankland, CEO at PRS Foundation, said that 10 years of the fund was a "fantastic milestone".

He added that the fund has been "a vital stepping-stone for so many incredible artists who have gone on to top the charts, sell out shows around the world and scoop multiple music awards".

A new five-day rehearsal week is to be trialled across the subsidised and commercial theatre sector as part of new agreements secured by performers' union Equity.

A working party has been established between Society of London Theatres (SOLT)/UK Theatre and Equity to develop plans.

The trial will begin across six organisations in the subsidised sector: Northern Stage in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Curve Theatre in Leicester, Hull Truck Theatre, Sheffield Theatres, Chichester Festival Theatre and the New Vic in Newcastle-under-Lyme.

The initial trial will finish by Christmas 2023, with Equity hoping to roll it out more widely afterwards.

Equity Industrial Official Charlotte Bence said the trial "will incorporate lots of different types of production – including children’s shows and pantomimes – so we can unpick what that way of working will look like across different scales of shows".

The five-day week is part of a raft of new agreements on pay and conditions brokered by Equity, that also includes the sector's first code of conduct for digs.

The quality of accommodation has become a big issue for theatre workers, with Equity members regularly reporting unsafe accommodation.

Equity general secretary Paul W Fleming said the negotiations had also delivered "strong percentage increases in minimum rates of pay, the payment of touring and subsistence allowance four weeks in advance, and good increases to swing and understudy payments".

Plans have been announced to transform a Grade II-listed theatre in Glossop, Derbyshire.

Partington Theatre has said it is hoping to purchase the vacant former NatWest Bank which sits next-door to the venue in the centre of the town.

The Manchester Evening News reports that the bank closed two months ago, but the theatre wants to bring it back into use as a performing arts centre, including new facilities for thespians, musicians and the wider community.

Mark McDonough, Chairman of the board of trustees for the theatre, said: “Purchasing this building would see our little theatre expand with more community space, rehearsal and storage areas, and most importantly make the theatre truly accessible to all. 

"This is a very exciting opportunity which would make a huge difference to not just the theatre and its patrons, but to the entire Glossop community.”

Theatre company Graeae has reopened applications to its artist development programme for disabled creatives, Beyond.

Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent artists are being invited to apply to the programme, which works to remove barriers and support the development of under-represented creatives.

The next edition of the programme will run from September 2023 to March 2025 and support 20 artists in total.

The scheme is open to applicants at all career stages, with a commitment to creating live performance as a performer, writer, director, producer, designer or technician.

To deliver the next round, Graeae is teaming up with the seven venues nationwide - Cast, Derby Theatre, Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse, Hull Truck Theatre, Nottingham Playhouse, Octagon Bolton and Shakespeare North Playhouse in Prescot – which will each offer tailored development support, advice, training, mentoring and use of creative spaces to the chosen artists.

“[These venues] will ensure that Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent artists are at the heart of everything and not on the side-lines,” Graeae Artistic Director Jenny Sealey said.

Selected artists will also receive micro bursaries, networking opportunities and support with funding applications.

An expression of interest form is open until 26 June, with more information on Graeae’s website.

A London charity concert for musicians in need has been hit by a copyright claim from the Performing Rights Society (PRS).

The event held at Cadogan Hall on 1 April was in aid of Help Musicians and starred Dame Evelyn Glennie and BBC Radio 4 announcer Zeb Soanes.

While it mostly consisted of humorous arrangements of out-of-copyright classical pieces, PRS is charging the organisers more than £1,000 for two short pieces by Earl Okin that are still in copyright.

The royalties would amount to nearly half of the charitable earnings from the night. 

The event's organiser, Rainer Hersch, said the move by PRS was “pretty shocking, especially given this concert and the beneficiary, Help Musicians, which is the backstop for freelance musicians in this country”.

Okin, meanwhile, said he does not want the money and that he will donate it to the charity if he receives it.

A PRS spokesperson said: “We are working with the composers whose works were included in the 1 April concert at Cadogan Hall to ensure that they can identify all earnings from this concert.

“From our experience, this makes onward donation simpler for all involved.

“PRS for Music works closely with Help Musicians, including recently co-ordinating efforts to support music creators through the pandemic."

Southbank Centre in London has launched a new artist development initiative that will support ‘creative innovation and experimentation’.

The first stage of the Studio programme will invite nine artists to undertake individual residencies in its Purcell Room.

Each five-day residency is designed to help the artists develop existing ideas as well as inspire new ones.

The main focus will be on supporting collaborations across artforms to provide ‘a meeting space to create new ideas borne from collaborations between writers, visual artists, designers, choreographers and musicians’.

Mark Ball, Artistic Director at Southbank Centre, said: “The launch of Southbank Centre Studio further underscores our commitment to making the art of the future, to developing bold artistic endeavours and providing artists with the opportunity to explore exciting and surprising new hybrid collaborations.”

Artists selected for the launch programme include Le Gateau Chocolat, voted by Time Out London as one of its Top 10 Cabaret Stars, and audio-visual artist GAIKA, self-described as a “hard-to-place person".

The residency programme begins in May.