The follow up study to the influential In Battalions report is to be published next week.
Since the report resulted from a chance meeting between one of it's authors, Fin Kennedy, and UK Culture Minister Ed Vaizey, it is rather apt that the Delphi study to which the report gave rise should have its launch at the House of Commons hosted by The Performers' Alliance All-Party Parliamentary Group, a cross-party group supported by Equity, The Writers' Guild of Great Britain and the Musicians' Union.
Vaizey had something of a change of heart as a consequence of the In Battalions report: having previously asserted that Arts Council cuts were having "no effect" on new theatre writing, his more recent position is that the report had been an influence on the Chancellor's Autumn Statement, which contained a pledge to hold a consultation on tax breaks for new plays and regional touring.
In Battalions, which was published last February, revealed theatres across the country had been cancelling new plays, commissioning fewer writers and curtailing development and education projects in response to Arts Council cuts. Such was the significance of Kennedy and co-author Helen Campbell Pickford's research that the report has had over 24,000 downloads and questions have been tabled in Parliament.
Award-winning playwright and Co-Artistic Director of Tamasha, Kennedy and Helen Campbell Pickford, a doctoral student at St Antony’s College, Oxford, have continued to give their time unpaid to produce the In Battalions Delphi study being published on Wednesday.
Fin Kennedy said: "This Delphi study is about finding solutions to the problems uncovered by the original In Battalions report.
"New theatre writing is one of our country's greatest success stories, internationally recognised and a huge driver for growth at home. It would be a tragedy if that success were allowed to wither on the vine due to the short-term effects of austerity.
"Our report aims to carve out some 'blue skies' space to find ways to prevent that. It isn't a silver bullet, and the greatest contributory factor to theatre's success remains sustained Government investment.
"But, given that our previous report appears to have been heeded by the Chancellor, I hope this follow-up will give policy-makers some more new ideas to take forward, as each party gears up for the 2015 election.
"The British culture industry is looking forward to seeing the approach each party takes to this issue in their manifestos."
The Delphi study, a form of expert consultation, aims to find some innovative ideas to protect new theatre writing from the effects of Government cuts; it takes the form of contributions from British theatre professionals with 36 proposals, presented with for and against arguments, and a voting system for ranking the proposals.
Contributors to the Delphi Study include the playwrights Roy Williams and James Graham, the directors David Jubb, Rod Dixon and Steven Atkinson and literary managers and other staff from theatres in Leeds, Newcastle, Liverpool and London, and proposals cover measures such as ring-fencing Lottery money, theatres working with drama schools to jointly commission new plays and local Councils commissioning site-specific work to regenerate run-down areas.
"This report could hardly have come at a more critical time," said Kerry McCarthy MP, chair of the Parliamentary Group. "The Arts Council is implementing further cuts to national portfolio organisations for the next funding round 2015-18 and local councils—which are in a dire financial situation—are in the process of agreeing further serious reductions to their budgets.”
The In Battalions report and a British Theatre Guide podcast with Fin Kennedy are available for free download. Further information is also available from Fin Kennedy's web site.
The In Battalions Delphi study will be available for free download online from 29 January.