Resilience in the Performing Arts sector - RSA Performing Arts Network event

What does the future of the performing arts look like post-Covid and what have we learned? The next meeting of the RSA Performing Arts Network will be on Thursday 3 September at 18:00 via Zoom.

Everyone is welcome to join this event, in particular people who are involved with or interested in the performing arts sector.

In the spirit of the RSA’s Bridges to the Future initiative, the Performing Arts Network is meeting to look at how the current pandemic has developed and, for some, changed the way the sector works in and collaborates with communities. We believe that the sector does considerable work that contributes to the RSA's aims of creating a future that protects people and the planet, invests in communities at scale, and supports people-led health, care and local services.

There will be time for breakout group sessions to consider the implications of the presentation, and to consider priorities and a possible action plan for the network to harness the power of the performing arts within the RSA to work towards a bold new future.

About the speakers

We will hear from RSA Chair Tim Eyles as well as two individuals whose perspectives and projects dovetail with RSA research and values.

• Slung Low, based in a former working men's club in Holbeck, Leeds, makes large-scale outdoor theatre, runs a cultural community college, and during Covid became the ward lead for social referrals for 7500 homes. Slung Low emerged from this time of crisis as exemplars of community spirit. They run the bar as a traditional members' bar but the rest of their building is an open development space for artists, a venue for performances, and a Cultural Community College. During the current pandemic their work has included providing food boxes, cabaret, and art on local lamp posts. Slung Low's Artistic Director, Alan Lane, will be talking about how they intertwine their commitments to art and community. 
• Clare Gage will talk about Create Our Future, a response to the coronavirus crisis that uses creativity to facilitate mass participation in considering how our world should look after this crisis has passed. Clare is encouraging collaboration in the project from across the arts spectrum: artists, craftspeople, musician, poets, photographers, actors, all those with creative ideas to offer.

This event is free to attend but please do register so we know you will be joining us.

Any questions, please contact Jackie Elliman FRSA (RSA Performing Arts Network Lead): [email protected] or Tracey Sage (Event Co-Organiser) [email protected].

If you have any access requirements or require any reasonable adjustments, please let the team know: [email protected].

About the Network

The RSA Performing Arts Network is for the widest range of performing arts professionals in the RSA working in drama, dance, music, live art, opera, circus, and more.  The aim is to consider the current role of the performing arts in the RSA, how we can contribute to there being more, and how we can increase awareness of the many ways in which work in the performing arts sector dovetails with the RSA's mission to enrich society through ideas and action.  Meetings of the network have considered such topics as Verbatim Theatre projects, drama in schools, commissioning in the health sector, and community focus and funding. We believe that the performing arts sector is not just about entertainment, it empowers audiences with knowledge and new perceptions, and many practitioners’ work ties in closely with the ambitions of the Power to Create.

Location: Zoom