After years of funding cuts and uncertainty surrounding Scotland’s arts sector, creatives from all over the country will come together on October 24th for a conference at Glasgow’s newly reopened Citizens’ Theatre. The conference, entitled State of the Nation: A Strategic Gathering for Scotland’s Arts Sector, aims to “rethink our power as a sector and build a collective strategy that works for us and for making art,” emphasising collaboration between theatre-makers.
The conference will focus on three areas of discussion: resource sharing, advocacy and the future of Scotland’s arts scene. By combining current issues with long-term aims, the hope is to create a shared, communicative space that will enhance the power of Scotland’s arts sector.
In practical terms, the conference will feature individual discussion panels, a space for creatives to share their urgent action points, and an area to share unproduced projects and seek alternative methods to realise them. Attendance has been confirmed by several of Scotland’s leading voices in theatre, including the Lyceum Theatre, Rockfield Centre, the Society of Scottish Playwrights and the National Theatre of Scotland.
Tickets are free and sold out quickly before capacity was doubled, which Rebecca Atkinson-Lord, artistic director of An Tobar & Mull Theatre, described as “a powerful signal that our sector is ready for change,” opining that “there’s a real hunger for connection, solidarity and strategic action” and that the conference is a “step towards reclaiming our collective power […] this space is for all of us.”
State of the Nation comes in response to Creative Scotland’s Multi-Year Funding programme, a scheme designed to provide long-term support to organisations within the arts sector. This programme aims to replace several different routes to funding by creating a single unified process, providing more effective support across the theatre sector. However, as of yet, there are no formal structures established to support the programme, which the upcoming conference hopes to address and build upon.
While the conference is intended for those directly affected by Multi-Year Funding, it aims to eventually “lead to spaces where any organisation is connected, whatever their funding status,” championing creative progress over financial exclusivity. The conference will focus on shaping, rather than simply reacting to, policies such as Multi-Year Funding, and will be led by the artists themselves.
The conference will be hosted in collaboration between An Tobar & Mull Theatre, Playwrights’ Studio, and Citizens’ Theatre, the latter of which reopened in August with a production of Small Acts of Love after a nearly six-year-long restoration process. The newly refurbished theatre aims to create a “vibrant hub” and a “space to inspire creativity for all,” emphasising community engagement and support as one of Scotland’s leading producing theatres.
One key change was the creation of Studio Theatre, a new studio space that will enable the theatre to produce more performances and support a new generation of creatives. Actor and writer Maryam Hamidi said: “This building truly feels like an offer to all of us and to all the new kids on the block to believe, imagine and create.” Chair of the Citizens Theatre Board Paul McNamee stated that the theatre “represents the best of Glasgow…It makes art and drama feel, as it should, like a vital voice, culturally, socially and politically.”
‘State of the Nation’ will take place on Friday, 24th October at Citizens’ Theatre, Glasgow, from 11:00-17:00, and is completely free to attend.