National Theatre Wales _ Artistic Director National Theatre Wales Artistic Director Candidate Brief Thank you for your interest in National Theatre Wales (NTW). This pack includes information about the company, the role of Artistic Director and person specification as well as a summary of terms. More information about NTW can be found on our website www.nationaltheatrewales.org. _ Introduction _ Artistic Director Following Kully Thiarai’s appointment as Creative Director for Leeds 2023, National Theatre Wales (NTW) is seeking to appoint her successor. NTW has presented 63 powerful productions that are nationally significant, ranging from the intimate to the epic. The company has created work that is of lasting significance and global reputation, garnering critical acclaim and opening up new possibilities for theatre and for theatre-makers in Wales. NTW has experimented with multi-media theatre-making platforms, collaborated creatively across artistic disciplines and shared its resources generously with others. It has surprised, delighted and acted as a catalyst for debate and for action. We are looking for a theatre practitioner with an innovative vision and collaborative approach who will lead this newest of national theatres on the next step of its journey. The Artistic Director could act as sole Chief Executive Officer (CEO). NTW recently conducted an organisational review, and the Board would also be interested to hear from candidates who may prefer to be the Artistic Director with shared CEO responsibility, either with a senior member of the team or through a joint application. Continued… (2 of 21) National Theatre Wales _ Artistic Director “ Since its inception, National Theatre Wales have never been afraid to ask what theatre is and what it might be.” _ The Guardian UK Continued… (3 of 21) National Theatre Wales _ Artistic Director The Company _ Background Our audiences have followed us and Michael Sheen around his hometown, Port Talbot, to watch The Passion, and returned to the town in 2017 for We’re Still Here, a new production tackling the global steel crisis. Some partied with Neon Neon (Gruff Rhys & Boom Bip) in Cardiff, learning the extraordinary story of Italian publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, in Praxis Makes Perfect. Hundreds climbed the foothills of Snowdon to hear poems by the National Poet of Wales, Gillian Clarke and witness first-hand the annual sheep-gathering, at The Gathering/Yr Helfa. Many watched a marathon, overnight performance of Iliad in Llanelli. People donned boots to experience Mametz, written by poet Owen Sheers and staged in farmland near Usk – the show offered a chilling glimpse of life and death in a WWI trench. More than 140,000 were in Cardiff to witness Roald Dahl’s City of the Unexpected, Wales’ biggest ever arts event, staged to commemorate the writer’s centenary on the streets of his hometown. And thousands joined us online for Tim Price’s award-winning The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning, learning about a teenager in Pembrokeshire who grew to be one of the world’s most influential and divisive political figures. Others watched across the globe our live online broadcast of Tide Whisperer in Tenby, tackling the global phenomenon of displacement and mass movement. These are just some of the many productions we’ve staged on trains, military training grounds, beaches and mountains, in warehouses, nightclubs, cricket schools, tents, village halls, schools, aircraft hangars and libraries, all over towns like Barmouth, Laugharne, Rhyl and Aberystwyth, online and in apps, and in cities from Swansea to Tokyo. Theatre is a force for change in people’s lives. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to make and experience theatre that challenges, entertains and inspires them. The Company _ Vision We are committed to Making Theatre Matter. The Company _ Mission The nation of Wales is our stage. We collaborate with people and places to make extraordinary theatre that inspires change. From the intimate to the epic, our work is powerful, brave and unexpected. Created in Wales, with a global outlook, we are the English-language national theatre of Wales. Collaborate. Make. Inspire. Continued… (4 of 21) National Theatre Wales _ Artistic Director The Company _ Values _ Brave We are brave in the work we make, how we make it and how we present it. _ Open We are open-minded, accessible, and curious, being quick to adapt in a rapidly shifting world. _ Enabling We enable people to realise their own ambitions, acting as a catalyst for change. _ Inclusive We include our community in decision-making and stand firm in our belief that everyone has the right to make and experience theatre. The Company _ NTW TEAM TEAM is National Theatre Wales’s pioneering model of engagement. It is a diverse, worldwide network of people who create work in their communities, give feedback about NTW’s work and inform all its decisions. There are hundreds of TEAM members throughout Wales and across the globe. TEAM is a catalyst for change, building long-term relationships with a focus on empowerment, leadership and creative activism. TEAM International encourages exchange with overseas participant-led networks, who share the spirit and methodologies of TEAM. nationaltheatrewales.org/collaboration The Company _ Creative Development Our mission is to enable artists to work more collaboratively and be braver in their artistic risks and ambitions. NTW’s Creative Development is a leading model for the support and development of artists and new work. Our raft of opportunities for directors, writers, designers, producers and more, invites artists to test their ideas, evolve their practice and up their game. Our programme is designed to feed a dynamic and ambitious independent arts sector in Wales and offers international connection and exchange. Across Wales and across art forms, we’re developing exciting talent and new ideas for performance. nationaltheatrewales.org/creative-development Continued… (5 of 21) National Theatre Wales _ Artistic Director The Company _ Finances The company has an annual budget of approximately £2.7m, in the current financial year. 60% of the funding is our core grant from the Arts Council of Wales, at around £1.6m. The company is in its penultimate year of its current funding agreement with Arts Council of Wales, and will be submitting a new application in Spring 2020 to cover the period 2021-2024 One of the company’s strategic objectives is to fund at least 40% of its expenditure annually from sources other than its core grant. We have been highly successful in generating funds from trusts, foundations and other third party partners (including co-producers and grant-making bodies) over a number of years. Income from these sources regularly exceeds £300k and is budgeted to approach £500k in the current financial year. Other income includes Theatre Tax Relief credits and Box office income, which forms a relatively small proportion of the total, reflecting the company’s audience development objectives. NTW always endeavours to keep overheads to a minimum and prides itself on devoting around three quarters of its funding towards artistic, creative and participatory activities. Continued… (6 of 21) National Theatre Wales _ Artistic Director Continued… (7 of 21) National Theatre Wales _ Artistic Director Strategic Priorities _ 2020 – 2023 The company recently undertook an extensive strategic planning process, involving the whole organisation and a diverse range of stakeholders, to help shape NTW’s future aims and ambitions. These are some of the headlines from the draft plan: As we enter our 10th year, we will align our focus on people and place with our ambitions for pioneering artistic practice, underpinned by our commitment to sustainability. We recognise that sustainability goes beyond environmental concerns and embraces our roles as cultural leaders to play our part in supporting the well-being of artists, communities, and our collective futures. _ Place NTW has celebrated and showcased the extraordinary diversity of the landscape and social settings of Wales as well as exploring the place that theatre and the arts might play in the cultural life of the nation. Place will remain central to our strategy as we deepen our roots in Wales and build our capacity to reach more people nationally and internationally. _ People The people of Wales are our most valued asset and an essential part of our DNA – artists, TEAM members, audiences, and those who enable us to tell their stories. A major priority for NTW is to diversify and grow its audience. Our pioneering artistic practice is questioning: What is theatre? Who is it for? How and where is it made? Who makes it? We will continue to explore this in the context of our vision of Making Theatre Matter. We are creating opportunities for a diverse mix of people to make theatre and helping to build sustainable careers for Welsh and Wales based artists. We will continue to support the creative impulse of artists to make their best work, engaging the public in a dynamic conversation, and also extend our reach and impact at home and abroad. We will listen and tell the stories that need to be told. Through TEAM we will continue to change the way a theatre works with, and embeds itself, within different communities. We will reimagine the role that a national theatre can and should play in the world by creating extraordinary, surprising experiences in Wales for the world. We are looking for an artistic leader who can embrace and be inspired by these aims and objectives, whose artistic vision will complement, advance and shape the company’s next ten years. Continued… (8 of 21) National Theatre Wales _ Artistic Director Working for NTW _ Every member of staff at NTW has a significant role to play in achieving the Company’s goals.