The survey will track the careers of people in the industry, and the talent that has emerged from it, in order to better understand the impact that public investment in the theatre sector makes.
The aim is to collect the views of a range of theatre professionals currently or previously working in the sector, as well as those who have aspired to do so, on how their careers have developed. The wider the range of participants, the more valuable the research will be, and the more we will know about the success story of British Theatre.
TBR and BOP Consulting, who developed the survey, will also undertake in?depth interviews with theatre practitioners. Key questions for the research include:
• Does public subsidy enable individuals to engage with more innovative and
riskier work?
• How do individuals build skills, experience and contacts in the theatre sector?
• How do practitioners move between different mediums (theatre, film, TV,
advertising)?
• How and why do individual practitioners choose particular projects and roles
over others?
• What are the influences on these choices, and do these vary at different
stages of their careers?
James Evans, Director of Research at Creative & Cultural Skills comments: "Many theatre productions start as publicly funded ventures before growing into large commercial projects, crossing over into film, television and other mediums. Individual practitioners with specific skills, experience and working practices are critical to this process. We hope this study will contribute to an increased understanding of the impact of different types of funding on the movement and working patterns of
people working in the theatre industry, the performance of the sector and the potential impact on the broader economy."
Richard Russell, Director of Strategic Partnerships at Arts Council England adds: "The arts could be described as the R&D division of the creative industries, which are the fastest growing sector of our economy. Anecdotally, we know how much things like tourism, box office and talent career paths contribute to the creative industries' success, but it's vital that we can also understand these contributions in a more quantifiable way. Hopefully this research will be a significant step in our being able to do so. "
Hasan Bakhshi, Director, Creative Industries at Nesta comments: "We sometimes take for granted that public investment in the subsidised arts have 'spillover' benefits on the commercial creative industries. Such arguments are usually supported by anecdote, not rigorously evidenced, and the precise mechanisms through which these benefits occur are poorly understood. By surveying the experiences of a wide group of individuals with different career histories in theatre this research should provide unique insights into the contributions that public funding makes in one of the UK's
strongest creative sectors."
The survey can be found at creative?blueprint.co.uk/theatre?survey and findings from the research will be published in the summer of 2012.
(Claire Beeson)
