Good news. The government has finally noticed that the theatre community not only exists but might be of value.
Rather than a set piece speech in which Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy announces the government’s intention to restore funding back to 2010 levels, the strategy is less focused but happens to embrace at least one theatre.
As part of its mission to reduce unemployment and, more particularly, bring teenagers into the job market, earlier this week, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall announced a £45 million regional scheme designed to provide work or training opportunities for young people in a limited number of sectors. This means that, alongside the Premier League and Channel 4, the Royal Shakespeare Company is to receive a chunk of the funding in return for providing skills training and work opportunities, the details of which remain somewhere beyond vague.
Ms Kendall elaborated to an extent when she said, “these organisations are already doing inspiring work with disadvantaged young people and helping them build the skills and confidence to get on. We need to champion this and build on it—because our young people deserve the best start in life.”
This is part of a wider policy initiative attempting to address the shocking statistic that 9 million people out of an adult population that is probably only around 40 million are currently, to use the latest buzz term, economically inactive.
What might this mean for the RSC and any other theatre companies that are included in the scheme?
Presumably, from their perspective, it will come at zero cost, which is a good start given the financial constraints that have been tightened thanks to reduced grants from Arts Council England in recent years. Assuming that the scheme is exclusively directed towards teenagers, then allowing for recent increases in the National Living Wage for youngsters and employer’s National Insurance contributions, the numbers involved—tens or hundreds?—may be more gestural than intended to make huge inroads into the 9 million figure.
It is also quite difficult to imagine how much benefit a theatre can derive from employing a large group of teenage apprentices. Would the plan be to let them work behind-the-scenes, train to be set-builders, front of house staff or maybe work as general dogsbodies? The Theatre’s joint Artistic Directors, Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey, will need to be remarkably creative and lucky in recruitment to come up with actors or directors of the future, but you never know.
Looked at differently, the government may have misfired in recruiting the RSC for this particular venture. They might have been far better advised to utilise the theatre’s resources to bring a different cohort of those seeking work back into the fold.
As we are so often told, at least 95% of actors are “resting”—in government language “economically inactive” or in common parlance “unemployed”—at any time. Had the RSC been offered funding to return to the halcyon days when casts could be of almost unlimited size, elaborate sets were de rigueur and canteens and public areas properly staffed, that might have been much greater value for all concerned.
At almost the same time, RSC has managed to garner a further £6.75 million of government funding for an innovative new project named CreaTech Frontiers. Working with Birmingham City University amongst others, the plan is to help organisations in the creative sector to find new ways of using cutting edge technologies. This is likely to include innovative techniques such as virtual reality, 3D modelling and animation.
On the plus side, seeing HM Government acknowledging the existence and value of at least one theatre company is welcome. Let’s hope that this is the opening of much-needed floodgates.