Manifesto for UK Theatre

Manifesto for Theatre Background Equity has had a long record of opposing Government policies which have failed to serve theatre, of fighting Arts Councils cuts, and of making clear what should not be the case.

However, this is not enough. Members decided recently that in a changing world, with constant threats to companies, our livelihoods and theatre as a whole, we needed to develop a clear statement of what we as a union believe and what our aims and aspirations for theatre are.

This need for a clear, forward-looking policy was reinforced by the 2007 Arts Council England’s cuts to 185 companies, and the lack of consultation leading up to them, by cuts to the arts in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and by severe Government cuts in 2010 attributed to the economic crisis which the arts had no part in creating.

Members have decided that Equity needs: • A comprehensive, proactive policy on subsidised theatre.

• A policy that gives Equity clarity, support and strength when dealing with Government during Spending Reviews, funding bodies during shifts in policy and funding criteria, and managements during wage negotiations.

The Equity Council responded to members’ concerns by establishing a Theatre Manifesto Working Group which coordinated company and open meetings throughout the country and a conference in March 2010. During this process three key issues were addressed: • What is the state of subsidised theatre today?

• Who does it serve?

• Where should it be going?

This document summarises the issues discussed and points made at these various forums by members.

This Manifesto for Theatre is intended to provide Equity members and staff with information to use in discussions with colleagues, audiences, funders and managements; with a clearer understanding of the issues around which we need to organise and campaign; and with better ammunition with which to defend and advance theatre and, through that, the entertainment industry as a whole.

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Introduction Equity believes that theatre is important and valuable to our society and that we should be clear and outspoken about this, particularly when public funding of theatre is under attack. The second half of the twentieth century saw an unprecedented expansion of theatre practice in the UK and with it a growth in the range of professional work opportunities for members. ‘Theatre' in this document is used to include the breadth of theatre practices and encompasses building-based performance, small-scale touring, experimental theatre and socially-targeted workshops and productions, carried out both by companies and individual practitioners.

Equity believes that theatre has an intrinsic value to the whole community. Theatre is the most directly human of art forms, creating a living record of our history and civilisation. It challenges, enlightens, entertains, and provokes thought, feeling and change in audiences and participants. It brings joy and explores human experience in ways factual material cannot. It engages our senses, feelings, will and imagination as well as our intellects. It helps us to get our bearings in the world and understand ourselves and others and our place in society. In times of crisis people turn to theatre for support. Katya Doric, an actor and teacher from Sarajevo, reported that during the conflicts in former Yugoslavia theatre was experienced not as ‘the cream on top of the cake’, but as ‘essential for life.’ [1] Equity believes that theatre plays an important social role. Theatre artists deal directly with social and political issues and relate them to the social and cultural identities, and aspirations and rights of audiences and participants. Examples of this are theatre In education, forum theatre, outreach work, workshops and community projects, all of which embrace inclusive participation and diversity, social understanding, tolerance and empowerment.

Equity believes that theatre has huge economic benefits. A small subsidy yields great benefits to local communities, business, civic regeneration and the economy as a whole.

•

Arts Council figures for 2004 show that a public investment in UK Theatre of £121.3 million generated £2.6 billion through impact on employment, purchases, local companies, visitor and tourist spending. [2]

•

Theatre as a whole pays back £100million in VAT. [3]

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25 million tickets are sold each year. [4]

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The performing arts, taken together, contribute £3.7billion to the economy in terms of gross value added, and around £240million in exports. [5]

The subsidised theatre is the bedrock for a thriving creative performing arts industry as a whole. The West End and commercial theatre, as commercial producers have affirmed, rely on the subsidised sector for material. It’s in subsidised theatre that many performers and other theatre workers get the training which equips them for other media.

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Equity’s Theatre Manifesto/November 2010

1. An End to Low Wages It is Equity policy to win minimum wages which increase progressively to the level of the national average wage – currently £709 median weekly pay for professionals. [6] Equity will have achieved a £400 minimum in most subsidised repertory by April 2012, which brings sub rep minimums into line with independent and commercial theatre contracts, and will have re-established parity for Assistant Stage Managers over six years.

This has been very difficult to achieve which is one of the reasons the full terms of the new sub rep arrangements will not be implemented until 2016.

The average member works 13 weeks in the year, and earns £10,500 per annum, although around half earn less than £6,000 per annum. [7] Even if a member were employed for 52 weeks a year the newly agreed subsidised repertory theatre weekly minimum of £400 would bring an annual income of only £20,800. A salary of this level was rejected by nurses as an inadequate London wage and is significantly below the national average.

Although Arts Council funding to subsidised repertory theatre has increased since 2004; over the same period actor weeks and income from work on the TMA/Equity sub rep contract for in-house productions fell. In some companies as little as 1% of income is spent on actors employed on the TMA/Equity sub rep contract (Equity Research, 2008).

Members must be properly rewarded for their years of training, their dedication and their ability. There must be a fair balance between the pay of creative workers and that of administrative staff. Equity believes that theatre managements across the board should recognise that the current earnings levels of creative professionals in theatre are unacceptable.

Equity is opposed to the growing practice of drawing Stage Management into buyouts for overtime that are less beneficial than Equity agreements.

Equity believes that Arts Councils and other funding bodies should adopt a strategy to address low pay by insisting their clients provide agreed industry standard wages and conditions, as defined by Equity agreements. Arts Councils should provide funding levels to enable this.

Equity believes that no company employing artists and other practitioners should pay less than the National Minimum Wage. The union needs members to be diligent about informing Equity where the National Minimum Wage is breached so that appropriate action can be taken.

It is Equity’s aim to take into membership all relevant professional workers. This will increase our unity and strength of organisation. Equity will also aim to develop contracts to cover the newer areas of workshops, community work and role play.

Equity calls for equality of gender opportunity. In 2009, the Arts Council England’s Gender Equality Scheme promised: “We must show proactive promotion of equality of opportunity and not just avoid discrimination.” However, although women constitute 52% of the population, there are usually at least two men employed in casts to every woman (Equity research 2009). This particularly affects older women. This figure is further skewed against

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women as more are employed in the low paid fringe jobs and fewer in subsidised repertory and on in-house agreements used by the larger and better-funded theatres.

Few could claim that equal opportunity has been achieved across ethnicity, ability, sexual orientation and age. Job opportunities for actors and other creative practitioners in the traditionally disadvantaged areas of the membership are very limited. Agreements on equality must be put into practice, and not left as statements of remote intent. Equity will continue to campaign for equality of opportunity for all practitioners face discrimination.

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2. Increased Production and Less Bureaucracy Equity believes that theatre companies exist to present artistic work to audiences, not to provide a home for growing administration. It is Equity’s policy to restore the emphasis on the core creative work and resist the predominance of ‘business models’ as opposed to ‘artistic models’.

Equity research shows that after 2004, despite an increase in funding to subsidised reps, actor employment and income on in-house productions declined.

Graph demonstrates that across 51 companies income from funding rose by 42%, while actor employment on the Equity TMA subsided repertory contract for in-house productions fell from 24,000 to 21,700 weeks – a 10% reduction.

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Members have continued to report that managements have invested significantly in modernising their administration and marketing structures which members believe to have been at the expense of funds available for production and other creative output. Equity believes that funding should finance productions first and foremost, not the expansion of administration.

Performers are the only group without whom theatre cannot take place. Other practitioners – directors, stage management, designers, choreographers – and good, creative administration are equally important for the modern theatre experience. But excessive administration takes money away from performance.

Equity believes that Arts Councils and other funding bodies should set minimum levels for the proportion of grant spent on in-house production, and maximum levels for the proportion spent on administration.

Equity believes that every repertory theatre’s future should be defended. New forms of operating and connecting with the public and other areas of the industry should be welcomed as long as production levels are sustained or expanded. Subsidy should not be used as a safety net for managers who want to receive productions rather than create them.

The Ensemble Theatre Conference, organised by Equity and the Directors’ Guild in 2004, recognised the value to production quality and connection with the community of having companies with practitioners on longer contracts building a shared vision of working. The Conference agreed that it would be beneficial for audiences and performers if Ensemble companies were established in every major population centre.

Independent theatre is an established part of the theatre landscape in the UK and has been for the last 50-60 years. However, it is frequently insecure and short-term, providing neither stability nor sustainable work and too often based on uncertain project funding.

Funding bodies need to recognise the importance of this area as a source of new work and practices which are taken out to a wider range of audiences and participants.

Independent theatre may take any one of a number of forms, from workshops or forum theatre, to Theatre-in-Education or classics. Funders need to be clear that not all theatre is building-based and fitting the one pattern. This wide range of work in the independent sector, employing large numbers of members, must be encouraged and adequately financed to ensure its expansion.

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3. Secure Funding Equity believes that public funding and investment must be sufficient and continuous enough to sustain and enhance the whole field of work.

During the Conservative Government of the 1980s and 1990s, subsidised theatre suffered from underfunding and increasing costs which resulted in reductions in theatre activity, falling standards and declining audiences. Funding improved significantly under Labour, particularly between 2000 and 2004 when it increased by 45%, and there was a growth in theatre activity resulting in more productions and education work, longer rehearsals, a 23% increase in commissioned new writing more diverse and 40% larger audiences. This increase in activity in subsidised theatre has had the effect of boosting the West End through the consistent movement of work from subsidised to commercial theatre. [8] When the growth in funding slowed down, activity also reduced and actor weeks on inhouse productions fell by 2.5% between 2004 and 2006. [8] Although the subsequent arts funding allocation for the 2007 to 11 funding period was larger than expected, the Arts Council made cuts according to its own notions of ‘excellence’ in an atmosphere of secrecy, surprise and confusion. Some companies were saved, but casualties included Derby Playhouse.

The McMaster Report [9] on supporting excellence and the Genista McIntosh report [10] on the 2008 funding round both made points Equity can support and which are included in this Manifesto.

During the same period Equity made the discovery, referred to above, that too much funding appeared to be going into administration rather than the core creative work. Equity also identified a tendency towards more co-productions, which make financial sense for managements but which are strongly believed by practitioners to lead to fewer jobs for actors, stage management, designers, directors and others. A recent Scottish Arts Council survey, undertaken before the 2010 Comprehensive Spending Review announced severe cuts to arts funding, revealed that some companies are already planning less ‘risky’ work, fewer performances and smaller casts. [11] Over the years theatre has faced funding that has been inadequate, intermittent, sometimes wrongly allocated, and determined according to questionable criteria and without proper consultation. When good ‘catch-up’ funding has come through, however relatively small it may have been, the benefits have been absolutely clear, and when funding levels decline the adverse effects are immediately obvious.

Under the coalition Government’s spending cuts theatre now faces cuts to arts which could threaten the existence of many companies.

Equity believes that: •

Public funding for theatre and theatre practitioner training should increase year-on-year at least in line with inflation.

•

Overall funding must be flexible enough to accommodate the fluctuating needs of different companies or theatre sectors.

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•

There should be no more cuts in arts funding due to events such as the Olympics.

Already £2.25 billion has been cut from the National Lottery ‘good causes’. The loss to arts, sports and heritage in the period 2005-12 will be £322.4 million. [12]

Inadequate funding levels means that the theatre world urgently needs to change the mindset of the Governments on the arts, at UK, national and local level.

Funding and investment levels for the arts in some other European countries – France, Germany, and Austria – show that a two to four times greater spending per head of population has been possible. [13] In September 2010 the budget of the Ministry of Culture and Communication in France, which is facing an economic situation similar to the UK’s, was increased by 2.1%.

Theatre cannot rely on private funding to compensate for lost public funding, as the current Government has proposed.

Business investment in the arts has declined since 2002, falling by 7% in 2007-08 and 6% in 2008/09. Overall private investment fell by 7% over the last year, reflecting the recession. In 2009, combined business and private investment in the arts constituted only 15% of total arts funding, while public funding was 53% and earned income 32%. Private funding of theatre specifically was down by £7.7m in 2008-09, a 16% drop, and represented only 7% of all theatre funding. [14] This decline in business and private funding as a whole is unlikely to change in the current economic climate.

Equity believes that practitioners and companies of proven worth and vision, in whatever area of theatre, large-scale or small, national company or community-based, should be guaranteed secure public funding for ten years and that tax breaks should be given to all publicly-funded companies and practitioners.

Equity has welcomed Arts Council England’s commitment to transparency in its new funding regime, announced in November 2010, and welcomes the decision to give some arts bodies the certainty of longer funding periods.

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Equity’s Theatre Manifesto/November 2010

4. Local Focus The United Kingdom is a diverse and culturally rich country, but too often policy-makers appear to think in terms of London and South East England.

Only 15% of theatres in the UK are subsidised by the national Arts Councils. Most receive support from their local councils, but reductions of between 7.5% and 15% are anticipated in local authority support for theatre in the 2011-14 funding period. [15] It was reported that in 2008-09 71% of local authorities had made cuts in arts provision despite it generating additional funding and income greater than the original investment, and despite rises in Council Tax. [16] In November 2010 Somerset County Council decided to cease all funding for the arts. Funding the arts is not a statutory duty for local authorities. Equity believes that this should change and that local authority funding of the arts should increase in real terms.

Equity believes that Arts Councils should use their advocacy role to promote an increase in public funding at both national and local levels. Equity also believes that the funding bodies should aim to support a form of live performance company in every major town and encourage the Ensemble company model. In addition, funders should use subsidy to foster original productions which involve opportunities for local professionals, thus ensuring that opportunity and reward are equally distributed throughout the UK. Funding bodies should encourage companies to make connections with their specific communities and address diversity issues.

The independent theatre sector has the capability to extend audiences in both rural and urban environments through site-specific and outdoor touring theatre, and by addressing specific social and political issues relevant to local audiences. The range of this work needs to be recognised by funding bodies and supported properly.

Less public money has been invested in theatre in Wales, Scotland and N. Ireland, each of which has a different funding system from England and from each other. The Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen have been replaced by Creative Scotland. Companies like 7:84 and Borderline have already been cut. In Wales, the Assembly has decided to fund some companies, such as Welsh National Opera, directly while Arts Council Wales has axed funding to 31 companies. In Northern Ireland £1.1m has been cut from the Arts Council’s budget.

All theatre is facing cuts, but Equity needs some differences of approach in each area of the UK in response to the cuts.

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5. Respect for Artists and Artistic Leadership Equity believes that creative practitioners should be acknowledged by funding bodies and theatre boards as the core of theatre companies and that they should have a strong influence on decisions taken in the theatre.

Without creative practitioners there is no theatre. We create the artistic production. We create the value which brings in the revenues. We bring about social benefits through our imagination, technique and dedication. We are the ones who make Britain respected as a world theatre leader. But we are often the ones to be paid least, and sometimes not paid at all. We are expected to subsidise the industry through our commitment and low pay; we are employed least; we are applauded when the awards are given out and then sidelined when the artistic policies are made.

We want respect as professional practitioners, and as workers, in the industry. We say no to disrespect, being undervalued, underpriced, underused and overlooked.

We want fair pay, more work, progressive funding, more influence and artistic leadership.

Equity believes that funding bodies should recognise that public provision of the arts must involve adequate remuneration for professionals working in the field. Arms-length funding should continue but Arts Councils and other funding bodies must be open and accountable and offer: •

Clear and transparent criteria for funding that relate to the experience of artists, audiences and communities.

•

Consultation with clients so that priorities and criteria for funding can be debated prior to and following funding decisions.

•

Acknowledgement that artistic development only comes with the right to experiment and take risks.

•

Regular consultation with practitioners sitting on advisory bodies and through peer review groups drawn from a broad range of occupational areas, so that a creative hands-on experience, as opposed to the bureaucratic viewpoint, becomes more strongly present in the decision-making process.

•

A coherent and comprehensive overview of all the interrelated elements within the UK arts picture must be made before decisions are taken.

•

At least two arts practitioners on the board of every publicly-funded arts organisation and Equity members should be appointed to the board of every theatre company.

• Respect for the diversity of age, gender, disability and ethnicity in the Equity membership.

•

Secure funding to enable companies to offer free or reduced tickets to practitioners and students, who often cannot afford to see work in their own fields, and lower admission for all for specific periods to encourage new and more diverse audiences.

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Our work is there to serve everyone, and especially future generations. We must draw them in to support our campaigning and the survival and expansion of theatre.

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Sources 1

Equity magazine, March 1994.

2

Economic impact study of UK theatre, Arts Council England, 2004 http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/publication_archive/economic-impact-study-of-uktheatre/

3

Society of London Theatre Annual Report 2006.

4

Arts Council England, 2005

5

UK Trade and Investment, 2010, http://www.ukti.gov.uk/export/sectors/creativemedia/performingarts.html

6

Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 2009, http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/product.asp?vlnk=13101

7

Skillset, Performing Arts Industry Survey, 2005, http://www.skillset.org/research/activity/performingarts/

8

A Brighter Future: The case for investing in subsidised theatre, Equity, 2007,. http://www.equity.org.uk/Campaigning/CurrentCampaigns/PDF/ABrighterFuture.pdf

9

McMaster Review: Supporting excellence in the arts - from measurement to judgement, Department for Culture Media and Sport, 2008 http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.culture.gov.uk/reference_libra ry/publications/3577.aspx

10

Review of Arts Council England’s regularly funded organisations investment strategy 2007-08 – lessons learned, Genista McIntosh, 2008. http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/media/uploads/investstratrev.pdf

11

Impact of the Recession on the Arts: Arts Council England, 2009, www.artscouncil.org.uk/media/uploads/.../impact_recession_arts.doc

12

Cultural Capital: A Manifesto for the Future, Arts Council England 2010 http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/publication_archive/cultural-capital-manifesto-future/

13

Comparisons of Arts Funding in Selected Countries: Preliminary Findings: Canada Council for the Arts, 2005, www.ronbashford.com/Comparisonsofartsfunding27Oct2005.pdf

14

Private Investment in Culture 08/09, Arts and Business, 2009, http://artsandbusiness.org.uk/Media%20library/Files/Research/pics0809/pics0809_ful lreport.pdf

15

After the Downturn, Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, 2010 http://www.cipfa.org.uk/pt/cipfasolace/download/After_the_Downturn.pdf

16

National Association of Local Government Arts Officers Report, 2008/9, http://www.nalgao.org/e107_images/custom/spendreport08.pdf

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Equity’s Theatre Manifesto/November 2010