A new sustainable business model, involving partnerships with venues across England, is being developed by Sustained Theatre, a network of Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) artists. The project, ‘Making Spaces’, which has received £5m in capital funding from Arts Council England, aims to provide dedicated spaces for BAME theatre artists in existing building-based organisations, as an alternative to expensive specialised venues built from scratch. The project would identify and develop such spaces in partnership with their current owners. The intention is to bring new BAME work to the mainstream, by enabling productions to be workshopped, and shown to small invited audiences; providing a hub for companies which need rehearsal or office facilities; offering an artists’ retreat; and possibly creating a mobile theatre to take productions to areas with no permanent performing venue.. The project is the direct result of the Sustained Theatre report, prepared by Baroness Lola Young in May 2006, which noted a number of BAME arts capital projects that “have not fulfilled their promise, having overrun dramatically with regard to time and budget, suffered rapid turnover in key personnel and lacked the level of community engagement and support that would make the project sustainable”. Among its many recommendations, it proposed “developing a network of buildings in regional centres with different specialisms” to be run by members of the BAME sector. The project is open to both arts and non-arts spaces, and envisages developing partnerships with educational, charitable or private sector companies. Interested organisations are invited to submit proposals to be part of the project by 29 March.
http://www.sustainedtheatre.org.uk
Published: 15-03-2010