On 21st February Applause facilitated a Rural Touring 101 Workshop in Newbury, Berkshire. We had a brilliant time meeting loads of new artists and talking about the practicalities around touring in rural spaces and with rural communities.
Presented with 101 Outdoor Arts, this practical and informative professional development event aimed to give artists insight into how rural touring works in the UK and how to apply for outdoor arts rural touring commissioning opportunities.
Participants took part in a carousel of activities facilitated by a range of artists and producers who had been successfully touring small-scale shows in rural settings for many years, giving them the low down on how to get gigs on the rural touring circuits, pricing models and producing tips, the practical do’s and don’ts, and what to expect when on the road.
In the afternoon, there was also an opportunity to share ideas around the challenges and opportunities for co-creating work with residents and audiences in rural touring locations and what this might look like during the research and devising process and also during performance and touring.
A huge thank you to all our speakers & facilitators! It was great to have a mix of artists and organisations leading conversations around rural touring both on the stage and during roundtable sessions: Take Art, Black Country Touring, National Rural Touring Forum – NRTF, #MattPang, Casson & Friends, Enter Edem, Feasible Ferret Theatre, Grace The Space Project, Smoking Apples.
