An open letter to
theatre professionals and Artistic Directors
I recently
posted a blog about how many writer development opportunities are for young
people only, and how older emerging writers feel shut out by theatres.
The response
I had was overwhelming.
There is a
tidal wave of anger from writers who are excluded from opportunities that didn’t
exist for us when we were younger.
Focusing resources
on a tiny demographic of an ageing population does not make sense.
It’s time to make a
change and you can help.
Any form of
discriminatory practice is unacceptable, and the arts world often leads the way
in breaking down barriers.
At the
moment a vast number of development opportunities being offered by theatres are
not open to people over the age of 25-30. But surely the goal in theatre should
be to find the best ‘new’ voices and that doesn’t have to mean ‘young’ voices.
Although
there are many opportunities that are age-blind, there is a growing suspicion that
by ticking boxes on equality monitoring forms older writers are condemning
themselves to the rejection heap. Even when an opportunity is not age
restricted, it’s often younger writers who seem to benefit most, causing a
suspicion of surreptitious ageism.
However, given
the amount of developmental support offered to young writers it could simply be
that they are then able to produce work that is tailored to current theatre
trends more closely than writers struggling to develop their work in an
unsupported void.
One truly
unsettling thing that came out of the discussion my blog prompted was how the
practice of shutting out older writers had a disproportionate effect on women and on people from working class backgrounds.
I understand
that in many cases the age limit of development opportunities is down to the
funding available to theatres. And this is where you can help.
We are
asking that you challenge the trusts, charities and organisations that fund
your writer development projects, and that you commit to exploring further opportunities
for older writers.
People emerge
creatively at all ages and at all stages of life, so please make it your
artistic policy to strive to support all emerging writers with development
opportunities so theatre can truly reflect a broad range of voices and life experiences.
Well said, Jarek.
ReplyDeleteAnother element of prejudice and exclusion is perpetrated by arts organisations who insist on importing writers / performers / theatre companies from other regions, other countries - anyone except the wealth of local talent! OK you're never a prophet in your own land, but it's got ridiculous when GOOD quality people in our region are *repeatedly* passed over. It's elitist, it's excluding people from opportunity ... it's every kind of messed up wrong.
ReplyDelete...Oh and btw it's not just working class who don't get a look in. As a performer, never be female, apparently middle class, white middle aged. It doesn't matter if you can captivate 200 stroppy teenagers or an arena of 3,000 concert goers: you are not wanted on voyage.