Partnerships

Partnerships are an important part of our work to support artists. Key partnerships include:

The Albany

ARC and the Albany – an arts centre in Deptford, London – have worked closely together for a number of years: leading the national Future Arts Centres network with over 100 venue members across the UK, jointly leading the A Theatre Trip for Every Child initiative developing a new model of philanthropy for arts venues, co-commissioning six new Christmas productions for families, premiering at each venue, co-commissioning innovative new productions such as THE HOME in 2019, and sharing expertise and projects such as Artists of Change and Pizza and Pitches.

Venues North

Venues North is a network of venues from across the North of England who are committed to supporting artists to create new work. Our aim is to work together as venues to support new and emerging artists from the North to get their work more widely seen regionally, nationally and internationally.

By new work, we mean new theatre and performance, usually devised work or new writing, or work that explores the boundaries of theatrical form.

Venues North is not a closed network or an exclusive group of venues. It is a paid membership organisation open to any venue in the North that shares our commitment to supporting artists making new work.

The group was brought together and is chaired by ARC’s Chief Executive & Artistic Director, Annabel Turpin, and meets three times a year.

Current publications include:

Routes In: A Guide to Getting New Work Programmed in the North of England – Download the Routes In guide

Previous publications include:

COVID-19 Status Reports
Annual Edinburgh festival guides for work made in the North

Find our past publications on our resources page.

Current members include:

Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle
ARC, Stockton
Blackpool Grand Theatre, Blackpool
Bolton Octagon, Bolton
Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal
Carriageworks, Leeds
Cast, Doncaster
Crewe Lyceum, Crewe
Darlington Hippodrome, Darlington
Georgian Theatre Royal, Richmond
Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle
Harrogate Theatre, Harrogate
HOME, Manchester
Hull Truck Theatre, Hull
Interplay, Leeds
Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield
Leeds Playhouse, Leeds
Live Theatre, Newcastle
Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse, Liverpool
Liverpool Lighthouse, Liverpool
Liverpool’s Royal Court, Liverpool
Northern Stage, Newcastle
Oldham Library Studio, Oldham
Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester
Sheffield Theatres, Sheffield
Slung Low’s HUB, Leeds
Square Chapel Arts Centre, Halifax
Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough
Storyhouse, Chester
Sunderland Culture Company, Washington
The Atkinson, Southport
The Civic, Barnsley
The Dukes, Lancaster
The Edge Theatre & Arts Centre, Chorlton
The Lowry, Salford
The Octagon, University of Sheffield, Sheffield
The Old Courts, Wigan
Theatre by the Lake, Keswick
Theatre Delicatessen, Sheffield
Theatre in the Mill, Bradford
Theatre Royal, Wakefield
Unity Theatre, Liverpool
University of Salford, Salford
Viaduct Theatre, Dean Clough, Halifax
Waterside, Sale
York Theatre Royal, York
Z-arts, Manchester

If you are a venue interested in joining, please email Annabel Turpin.

North East Exchange

North East Exchange is an initiative designed to help connect artists, creative, venue and festival programmers working in performance.

It builds on previous events such as Meet the Programmers (pre-pandemic) and the North East Culture Socials that emerged during the pandemic. This new iteration has been shaped by a group of artists and venues, following the pilot event in March 2022.

Purpose:

To connect artists and creatives, venue and festival programmers working in performance
To provide a platform for people to share their work and/or practice to provide an insight into what is being made, and what opportunities exist to support or present work
To provide a forum for collective action, where specific needs or themes emerge

Who is it for?

Artists – at all stages of their careers
Other creatives working in performance, including designers, production staff etc.
Venue and festival programmers
Students preparing to leave performing arts courses

Details of North East Exchange events will appear on our opportunities page.

Co-commissioning Relationships

ARC has two major co-commissioning partners:

The Albany

Since 2017, ARC and the Albany have co-commissioned Christmas shows together.

The co-commission packages include cash funding plus in-kind support. Every two years, we support two companies to make exciting and diverse Christmas shows which have a wide appeal to local primary schools, nurseries and family audiences in both South East London and the North East.

Each successful company makes and presents a new show, performing in one venue the first year and in the other venue in the second, delivering up to 50 performances each year.

The commissions grew out of a shared desire across our organisations to provide exciting, original and excellent work for our audiences, and to champion companies making that work. We look for companies who can bring a contemporary approach – taking familiar titles or a seasonal theme and using them to create something that reflects modern British audiences.

To date we have co-commissioned:

tutti frutti – Ugly Duckling (2017/2018)
Nearly There Yet – Pinocchio (2017/2018)
Dumbshow – Humbug! The Hedgehog Who Couldn’t Sleep (2019/2020)
Stuff and Nonsense – The Man Who Wanted to be a Penguin (2019/2020)
Kitchen Zoo – The Tin Foil Astronaught (2021/22)
Wrongsemble – The Snow Queen (2021/22)
LAS Theatre – The Light Princess (2023/24)
Can’t Sit Still – Well Done Mummy Penguin (2023/24)

We publish details of these commissions on our opportunities page.

Find out more about the Albany on their website.

The Civic, Barnsley

ARC and The Civic have been co-commissioning shows for February half term since 2016. The partnership grew out of challenges finding good quality children’s work for ages 3 – 7 that felt relevant for our audiences.

To date we have co-commissioned: