Alan Lane unravels the spirit, rather than structure, that keeps Slung Low theatre company swinging high
Slung Low was founded in 2000 and gradually became more collective-based as the scale of our projects expanded. This model – sharing administrative, financial and routine duties – worked well for a number of years. In this spirit, rather than strictly organised structure, we made our first pieces. We were making large-scale work, drawing respectable levels of funding and still working from my dining room.
The guiding principle for us was to keep overheads to a minimum. Keeping as much of the process in our control was key and when that meant learning new skills (video editing, spreadsheets, websites, mailing lists), then we did. That principle was also pragmatism – we didn’t have money to pay anyone and it was unrealistic to hope that other people would work for nothing with the same level of commitment.
With relative success came a number of changes. Bigger budgets meant it was not practical to go through them together with the spreadsheet on a projector. We used to supplement our artistic work with properly paid jobs, but there wasn’t time left anymore; Slung Low was going to have to start covering basic living costs, or we would have to scale back.
Our operating model was chosen because it gave us the best chance of making the work we envisioned. Rather than scaling back we expanded. But the company is still project based. No one is on a wage so if we’re not making, we’re not paid. As a result we still fight to keep overheads minimal, although I’m not sure that there is an arts organisation in the country which doesn’t do likewise. The website, mailing list and accounts are still done by people who are primarily artists. At its heart, Slung Low is a group of artists trying to get stuff done, by any means necessary. I’m not convinced that this is revolutionary.
We talk a lot about what our ‘purpose’ is within the theatre landscape. We, after all, don’t make anyone money. I passionately believe that our job is to explore new ground – that’s the function of a company like Slung Low. Anything that is useful to that aim gets learnt. And anything that isn’t is ignored. It’s a rubbish business model I am sure, but it allows us to keep doing what we do. If it didn’t, we’d change it.