ASSOCIATE COLLABORATORS
Collaborating with Ad Infinitum has been a rewarding experience… the opportunity to investigate meaningful relationships between organisations and freelance creatives has provoked rigorous and effective conversations about rights, rules and responsibilities which I hope will continue into the future.
Tracy Gillman, R&D Associate Collaborator (North East)
I think theatre is still trying to figure out what it looks like post-Covid. We're grateful to be back making work but there's a clear sense that the world has changed and no one wants to miss the opportunity to reflect on what theatre should look like going forward. The Associate Collaborator programme does just that, it tries to unpack what the next steps could look like and connect theatre back to its community-driven purpose.
Ife Grillo, R&D Associate Collaborator (South West)
The R&D phase for our Associate Collaborator programme is now finished. Supported by Tobacco Factory Theatres and Northern Stage, we worked with artists Ife Grillo and Tracy Gillman to explore how underrepresented creatives can affect systemic change in the theatre sector through gaining deeper and more wide-ranging equity and influence.
Through speaking with freelance creatives in the South West and North East, desk-based research and drawing on their own experiences, they examined the relationships and power dynamics between arts organisations, venues and artists and considered what’s working and what isn’t. Exploring the aftermath of the pandemic, approaches to equality, diversity and inclusion and models of good practice, they asked ‘what does democratised theatre look like?’
Over nine months they spent time with different members of the Ad Infinitum and Tobacco Factory Theatres teams, led creative sessions with our Co-Artistic Directors and made time for thinking and writing, together and apart. They also watched our latest production If You Fall being made, acted as ‘outside eyes’ during the rehearsal sharings and brought the testimonies of lesser heard communities into the devising process of this show which is centred on care for older people through Tracy’s beautiful and personal collection of care home narratives.
With them we thought about how regions and cities create and are shaped by their own distinctive cultural ecologies and discussed how the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement has shifted (but perhaps not fundamentally changed) the structural relationships between organisations and artists. We explored what the next phase of this iterative programme could look like, what principles we want to work by and what it means to be an Associate Collaborator in the context of Ad Infinitum’s role in the sector as a diverse-led theatre company.
I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to work with Ad Infinitum, Tobacco Factory, Tracy Gillman and the wider theatre community, it's been a way for me to make sense of my own experiences and get new perspectives. It is so important to create spaces where creatives can connect with companies as partners. The relationship feels different as I'm not here to create a piece of work for a company, I'm here to work with them to ask big questions and come up with even bigger answers.
Ife Grillo, R&D Associate Collaborator (South West)
We asked Ife and Tracy to share their thoughts, and reflect those of the freelance creatives they spoke to, in two blog posts - one during the process and one at the end. Their writing is personal, political, angry and hopeful - and above all foregrounds the perspectives of artists. We’re delighted to present the thoughts of these brilliant independent thinkers. Click below to read them.
BLOGS
Ife: What does democratised theatre look like?
In this blog Ife suggests three principle ways that power is exercised and exchanged in the arts and wonders if greater intentionality is key to improving how venues work with artists.
Tracy: Long Spoon
Tracy explores the metaphor of gathering for a banquet in hell to reflect on how creative freelancers experience power imbalances in the arts.
Ife: Beyond Democracy - Where does all our anger go?
In his final writing piece, Ife asks if attempting to democratise theatre is a worthwhile endeavour and if a more radical, anarchic approach is needed to reform the sector.
Tracy: Refraction
In her last blog Tracy ruminates on the inherent challenge between creating theatre and making a living, and asks if only the financially independent can afford to become freelance artists.
Thank you
Bringing Ife and Tracy into the heart of our organisation has been thrilling and joyful and reminded us of the enlivening nature of truly collaborative work. We’d like to thank them both for their unique and important role in the development of this programme.
Thanks also to our partners Northern Stage and Tobacco Factory Theatres and Arts Council England for supporting the R&D, and to freelance creatives across the South West and North East for your valuable contributions to this process.
We’re now developing the next iteration of the Associate Collaborator programme as part of our Arts Council England National Portfolio activities and will share more on this soon. If you’d like to learn more about Associate Collaborators, or have any questions or comments about anything we’ve shared so far, please get in touch with Polly (Ad Infinitum’s Executive Director) at polly@ad-infinitum.org.
