A downloadable document of Case Studies showing the rich and varied models of how theatre and dance companies tour and the mounting challenges of sustaining it. 

Over the last few years an informal network of Artist Led touring companies have met from time to time to support each other, share opportunities and challenges and to advocate for the needs of organisations such as ours. (get in touch if you'd like to join)

The group is comprised of practitioner-led organisations, aligned through our commitment to a specific creative practice, often evolved by its founders.  Organisations within the group generally create new work that sits outside of the traditional theatre cannon, with a commitment to experiments with place, space and form. They are committed to people led processes of making work; collaborating and creating with artists, audiences, participants and groups often outside of the artistic sector.

One of the themes we return to in our meetings is the challenge of touring. We have articulated that to The Arts Council over ther past 2 years so its good to see the new Audience Agency research into the current status of touring 

Earlier this year the Artist Led Network pulled together 10 Case Studies on how we currerntly tour and the joys and challenges of the practice. This has become a rich resource to learn more about our different models and shared challenges.  From participatory practice, work for younger audiences, digital, audio, outdoor, pop-up, main stage, community, school, new work and adaptations these Case Studies open up the challenges, the succeses, the frustrations and the opportunity for change . Here is the full document for download:

Some themes that emerge:

(this is a general picture NOT a moan and this doesn't represent all venues or all companies but the themes within the Case Studies)

1)        Touring grows artists, it helps many enter the sector for the first time and get early career employment. It allows companies to get their work seen and meet an audience. It helps the work grow and be inspired to change by its sharing. It also connects different parts of UK, creates cross pollination of ideas and people and stiches venue relationships together. Venues can’t move but artists can and this national and international journeying is exceptionally dynamic, with more diverse funding sources, presentation models and ways to meet an audience.

2)        In recent years communication has become much poorer between venues and artists. Apart from a few brilliant examples (see Case Studies) there is little sense of shared strategies or partnership working over a longer period. Do venues have an artistic and audience development strategies for the work that it buys in from the touring market? If it does sometimes this is not always clear for artists. The venue/artist relationship is a relationship that goes both ways but there a few forums for larger discussions and joint problem solving.

3)        Place based funding models, the cost-of-living crisis, Covid and the desire for work to reach specific audience groups means touring has become a compromised and confusing picture. There seems to be less traditional touring opportunities yet more potential in partnerships where organisations are based (place-based funding) or where their work aligns with partner strategies (reaching specific audiences).

4)        The new models that are appearing do not neatly fit into the touring market. They are either happening in non-venue spaces (shops, schools, community spaces), are participatory pieces made over longer periods of time or playing with form (digital, audio, co-created) (see Case Studies). These new ways of touring or staging work come with much longer making periods, multi partner funding models and more embedded audience development plans (which all need venue buy in and money).

5)        Venues are hugely under capacity; their teams have been hollowed out. Artistic, Marketing and Technical teams seem to have borne the brunt of this and these are often the departments where artists meet venues. Poor comms, being ghosted, hidden costs and cancellations are common. Often venues need lots of support and artists are ready to give it, but it needs more funding and more understanding of each other’s needs.

6)        Any tour involving D/deaf and disabled casts, access workers, participatory elements, audiences of children, SEND audiences is beset with extra costs, more communication and potentially associated training for staff. As the touring picture becomes more and more challenging it is often this work which will be most at risk.

7)        The Marketing of visiting company work is often compromised as (already squeezed) Marketing departments must prioritise in house productions or longer runs to maximise financial return. There is little time for long term audience development and targeted work to grow new audiences over time- if the work doesn’t sell it can sometimes be written off and not seen as a longer-term investment.

8)        There seems to be huge reticence to take risks, finances are tight and fees for artists are at an all-time low. This is creating a low ambition touring sector as no one can afford to make ambitious new work that might not immediately find an audience. Finances are tight for venues, marketing resources limited, audience development underfunded so there remains little choice from our sector to stage work that gets bums on seats. The risk is that the theatrical cannon will not move forward, and fresh ideas or new ways of working will never get space (see Case Studies for fresh ideas!)

9)        There is very little commissioning money for new touring shows outside of a few small consortia offers. New work is made via artists taking financial risks (playing the funding lottery), international funds, NPO subsidy or long-term partnerships with a few venues.

10)  The effect of the challenges of touring are most keenly felt by the freelance teams on the road who are often paid at minimum rates and bear the brunt of venue burnt out and smaller audiences.

11)  Collecting audience data for touring organisations needs some major re-thinking. It doesn’t sit easily in current models and often either doesn’t gather meaningful feedback or misses out entire audience groups or is entirely based on venue evaluation models. Some really interesting new models are emerging (see Case Studies) but they don’t work within the current feedback methodologies.