On the road

A recent study by Katherine West into ‘The Impact of Rural and Community Touring on Performers and Companies in England and Wales’, found that many performers and companies did not know that rural touring existed. Discussions within the dance policymaking world suggest that there is a lack of identifiable touring circuits for dance, especially on the small scale. And yet at last count, the 37 touring schemes that sit under the National Rural Touring Forum (NRTF) umbrella worked with 1,600 communities over 12 months, promoting over 5,500 performances with £1.5m artistic expenditure. The same study indicated overriding support for rural touring from performers, not least for financial reasons: “One of the key factors respondents raise is that the guaranteed fee offered by schemes makes a huge difference and allows them to plan and budget.” Over 50% of those involved in rural touring received no funding, and rural touring provides a core part of their livelihood.

SUCCESS STORY
Arts Council England’s (ACE) 2009 Theatre Assessment states that “rural touring has been one of the success stories… with a marked increase in confidence, skills and profile”. The quality and range of work within rural touring both complements and contrasts with other UK touring activity, with new companies and major performers from across the arts relishing the creative and performing challenges. The Portico Quartet, shortlisted for a Mercury Prize in 2008, has recently undertaken an eight date tour of Somerset villages. At the recent NRTF AGM, held in Manchester to coincide with Decibel, there were readings from new scripts produced by black writers, and the NRTF hopes to co-commission at least one full production in partnership with regional rural touring companies and the Theatre Writing Partnership for a national rural tour. The NRTF has established new links with international partners and artists such as the Riksteatern in Sweden, as a result of our recent International Village of Culture Conference. We reach audiences of over 250,000 every year and can claim through François Matarasso’s seminal study into rural touring, ‘Only Connect’, that a third of audience members in village halls had not attended other arts events in the previous year. Rural touring also challenges the perceptions of regular arts attenders as to how and where they can explore the arts.
This is achieved because of partnerships between the local volunteers who choose and promote the events and the professional expertise provided by the scheme managers and the performers. Beyond the arts and audience development outcomes, rural touring develops the capacity of participating communities to be more effective, inclusive and forward looking and increases opportunities for lifelong learning, creativity and personal development – thereby meeting a range of local authority targets. From an environmental perspective, rural touring makes a valuable contribution the sustainability and climate change agendas. We work with local promoters to add richness to community life, and it is better for the environment to take one vehicle accommodating a theatre company into a village than to ask 80 or 90 people to drive to their local arts centre or theatre. Rural touring provides new audiences for the arts, offers financial benefit to artists and performers, is a platform for new writing, meets local strategic targets and offers a communal and intimate experience for both performer and artist. At its best it stays in the memory and adds to the social ties that bind us.

LOOKING FORWARD
The arguments for rural touring have been made. We now need to ensure that we get the message across. The Independent Theatre Council now runs workshops for companies interested in rural touring, and at our AGM 20 companies and artists dropped in to find out more about what we do. We also publish a number of user-friendly documents including ‘Eyes Wide Open’, an introduction to rural touring for companies and artists.
Difficult times lie ahead. The principal funders of rural touring are local authorities and ACE. Rural touring support across the regions is uneven, with schemes in the East and South East not recognised as regularly funded clients by the Arts Council of England. Local authorities will be scrutinising their discretionary budgets – so we will have to be on top of our game to survive. On the plus side, ACE has recognised that a fresh strategic approach to touring is needed, which should bring fresh opportunities for NRTF member schemes. We are a broad church and are open to developing ideas, projects and possibilities – so whether you are an artist, a village promoter, a policymaker or a funder, if you want to share the secret then do get in touch.