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Theatre in the West Midlands: Introduction
Dateline:11th March, 2001
The West Midlands area covers the two major conurbations of Birmingham
and Coventry, and the counties of Hereford, Shropshire, Staffordshire,
Warwickshire, West Midlands and Worcestershire. It contains England's
second city (Birmingham) and four producing theatres: Birmingham Rep,
the Belgrade in Coventry, the New Vic in Newcastle-under-Lyme and the
Worcester Swan.
Birmingham also contains one of the country's largest and most prestigeous
arts centres: MAC, the Midlands Arts Centre, in Edgebaston.
There are two touring circuits in the region: Black Country Touring and Live & Local, delivering drama to places without theatres or theatrical venues, and there are numerous companies based in the area, many of which concentrate on community theatre or TIE.
West Midlands Arts, the Regional Arts Board, has identifed the following priorities in theatre and drama for the period up to 2002:
- The support and development of distribution of drama throughout
the region: through the rural and urban touring circuits, festivals
and arts centres, enabling increased access to theatre for audiences
and a high-quality experience; and by funding the creation of innovative
work of quality and distinction for touring
- Increased access: through participatory work by, for example, supporting
the creation of new work by non-professional groups working with professional
theatre artists - in particular in priority areas such as Youth and
Disabled Arts/Artists; through support for organisations specialising
in learning and the arts; and through the removal of physical and
attitudinal impairments to practice, experience and management of
theatre
- The celebration of cultural diversity in theatre e.g. by prioritising
support for international visiting work which widens cultural horizons
of both audiences and artists
- The development of creative practice through support for the commissioning
and presentation of new theatre work
- The encouragement of professional and organisational development
through, for example, targeted use of awards to individual artists
e.g. Year of the Artist; Go & See; Creative Ambition; facilitation
of networks designed to increase the exchange of information and good
practice.
Among recent developments are:
- the Regional Arts Lottery Programme, which offers producers access
to commissioning funds as part of production costs;
- Creative Ambitions, a scheme for funding the professional development
of artists including writers;
- the Writing House, a script-development initiative, links Theatre
Absolute with the Belgrade;
- Birmingham Rep’s Stabilisation-funded studio, The Door, has brought
a new and unusual resource to the area - a space outside London wholly
dedicated to the production of new theatre writing, supported by the
creation of a new Literary Department and with commissioning funds
for many new scripts annually.
Finally, the region claims to have the highest figure in the UK for participation in the arts which is reflected in the fact that there are twenty local arts development agencies across the region providing a wide range of participatory arts activities for their communities.
NEXT>> Birmingham
and Coventry
Herefordshire, Shropshire and Staffordshire
Warwickshire, West Midlands and Worcestershire
Theatre Companies
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Articles Indices:
2001
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