GROW
We’re passionate about supporting a flourishing, representative freelance workforce for theatre in Northumberland and the North East.
What is GROW?
When we’re in production our small core team can double, triple and even quadruple in size with freelance professionals. From performers to production managers, directors to designers and stage managers to sound designers, all bring skills, experience and perspectives that are integral to how we make our work and connect with communities across Northumberland.
Going forward we are renewing our commitment to and strengthening the support we offer our freelance colleagues. We’ll be doing this through GROW, a development programme offering a range of opportunities for individuals at all stages of their career, working across performance, creative and production roles.
Who is GROW for?
GROW is for individuals at all stages of their career working across performance, creative and production roles, and those who support individuals to understand and navigate their careers options.
By incorporating GROW into our creative programme we aim to both support individuals’ personal development and build dynamic teams that enable us to realise our artistic ambitions. Each opportunity will therefore be bespoke according to the scale and needs of the production.
The three strands of GROW
By weaving GROW opportunities throughout our artistic programme we hope to inspire people to work in theatre and help to ignite and sustain careers, contributing to a flourishing and representative workforce for theatre in the North East.
Inspire
We want to inspire people to work in theatre, changing perceptions of who can, the roles available, and the value placed on creative careers. We will partner with secondary schools, further and higher education institutions to provide careers presentations, work experience, industry placements, and workshops.
Alongside the co-creation within our artistic programme, we’ll offer open rehearsals and site visits during productions, highlighting production, technical and backstage arts.
Ignite
We want to help ignite careers and support individuals to develop skills and build confidence. We will create paid assistant or trainee roles within our productions, with development packages including:
External mentoring
Personal CPD budgets
Facilitated introductions to regional contacts.
Sustain
We want to help individuals to sustain and continue their practice in the North East. Recognising the difficulty of investing in continuing professional development whilst sustaining a freelance career, we will offer development packages alongside freelance contracts including:
Development bursaries to support CPD, training or creative development of own work.
Free hot desk space
Facilitated introductions within a national network of contacts.
GROW: RESEARCH
In early 2023 we undertook our own research through an online survey and paid focus groups to help us better understand the barriers to starting, developing and sustaining a freelance career in the North East, and what types of opportunities freelancers felt would help support them.
Find out more in GROW: Freelance.
If you’d like us to keep you updated about the programme, you can sign up to our GROW mailing list to get direct emails about opportunities.