Theatre 2021: Jo Crowley on… the independent sector

Capacity in the independent sector has always been stretched – infrastructure limited, opportunities too few, investment insufficient, livelihoods fragile.

Powered by self-employed artists, independent producers and small companies, it is the lifeblood of theatre – where you find the innovators, the experimenters, the disrupters, the game changers, the new and what’s coming next. Covid-19 exposed the fragile livelihoods and hand-to-mouth existence of so many at the grassroots.

As theatre rebuilds, change is needed. We must ensure the burden of risk is no longer placed on artists and independents developing, creating, presenting and touring work. Institutions, funders and buildings, in particular, must now truly nurture, commission, invest in and empower artists, different voices, different stories, different forms and different ways of doing things. This will be key for a relevant and viable sector going forward.

The big players should look to the independent sector as they plan for recovery. Use our expertise in running alternative, efficient and resourceful operations. They can explore and discover how to take risks, experiment and make inventive new theatre with so little.

The independent sector must sit at the heart, and be at the table of all industry-wide conversations going forward.

Being fleet of foot has been a necessity for many of us for so long, but it has perhaps also been our saving grace over recent months. We are used to working with uncertainty and minimum resources. With an in-built adaptive resilience, rather than hibernate or mothball, the independent sector is used to retreating and reimagining. We are nimble, flexible, resourceful, with small and efficient teams. What could the bigger theatres learn from those of us used to working remotely, digitally and flexibly?

There can be a new vision for theatre drawn up by working with and learning from we who, chameleon-like, flex and contract business models, continually re-profiling, reshaping and reorganising.

With an inevitable shrinking of resources ahead, collaboration will be key – and collaboration is something the independent sector does best as it seeks to sustain itself through turbulent times by working together, exchanging ideas, sharing resources and expertise. Theatre should, can, and must, work across scales and sectors to better understand each other, to learn from one another and carve a better, fairer, more diverse and equitable future.

Vitally, let’s be collaborative and establish new ways of working together. More independent artists, producers, creatives and production specialists must be engaged at the heart of, and paid by, organisations in different, reimagined ways that does not stifle independent practice, but which helps it flourish, sustains livelihoods and imbeds change within organisations. Old hierarchies, systems and gatekeeper-led decision-making needs to change. The independent sector must sit at the heart, and be at the table of all industry-wide conversations going forward.

The industry has wrongly determined that risk and resilience is achieved through hierarchical systems, large infrastructures, huge staff teams, governance and reserves – overlooking the value and expertise of being inventive, responsive, alternative and vitally – artist led. As we carve our way into a new future, now is the time to change, trust and let artists and independents take the lead.