Theatre Royal Plymouth’s (TRP) Chief Executive, James Mackenzie-Blackman has launched a year-long series of conversations under the banner ‘Your Voice Matters’ that will help steer the organisation’s future development.
The first set of conversations are for people working in the performing arts sector with a call-out for individuals to join one of a series of workshops that will consider what creative and artistic leadership of TRP could look like in the 21st Century.
To manage this ambitious project, TRP will be working with a team of independent creative industry experts, led by Producer David Micklem which includes Angie Bual (Artistic Director, Trigger), Suba Das (Artistic Director Designate, Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse), Emma Gladstone (Independent Producer, previously Artistic Director and CEO, Dance Umbrella), Ned Glasier (Artistic Director, Company Three) and Laura Horton (playwright and Plymouth Laureate of Words 2021-22). They will be facilitating the sessions and contributing to a report and action plan.
CEO James Mackenzie-Blackman said: “As we embark on a new chapter for our organisation, we are committed to our sector friends and colleagues having a voice in shaping our future priorities. That’s why we are hosting these conversations. Our organisation is in a period of transition, our industry is in a period of recovery from the pandemic and we want to ensure that how we operate in the future is relevant and responsive to the needs of artists, audiences and communities.
"In short, we want to matter more to more people. To achieve it we need to further embed creativity at the heart of all we do and we need the insights, perspectives and honest opinions of the sector to help us develop the right model to make sure we deliver.”
Workshops are designed to hear from different parts of the sector, regionally and nationally through a mix of in-person and online sessions in March. The workshops will cover what TRP can do to be special to more people in Plymouth and beyond, more of the time.
The outcomes will influence how TRP makes work, develop teams, how the spaces at TRP and TR2 are used, how it can develop better connections and create a welcome that works for everyone.
People are invited to register their interest in participating in sessions by visiting theatreroyal.com/your-voice-matters