D&D Roadshow 2013 - BRIGHTON

9 September 2013

D&D Roadshow 2013 - BRIGHTON

Brighton Dome, Church Street, Brighton, BN1 1UE

10AM - 6PM

Invitation from James Turnbull, Freelance Arts Manager:

We are a city brimming with doers – we have a wealth of venues from large to small, a myriad of theatre-makers (some who make exclusively in Brighton, some who live here and make elsewhere), an internationally renowned festival and fringe, a council that ‘gets’ theatre, a public that will take risks with their money. Geographically, we pull more than our fair share of Arts Council money into the city. With all the doom and austerity about it still feels as if we are growing (or changing at least).

Often it is not until we are in a crisis that we stop, recharge and think anew. That seems a little too late in the day for me. Along with Andrew and Orla from Brighton Dome, I approached Improbable to come and open some space for us to debate, argue, moan (if we have to) and feed new ideas.

The Devoted & Disgruntled Roadshow is an opportunity to be part of a national debate about theatre. It is a place to come together, share ideas and see if we can work together better. I extend this invitation to those who make theatre happen on and off the stage: makers, managers, marketeers, audiences who come and see our shows, audiences who don't, those who get paid to do it, those who do it for gratis, board members, bar staff, students, emerging companies, old hands. The opinionated, the jaded, the egos, the quiet ones. All are welcome. All Encouraged.

I hope to see you all there.

James Turnbull

Invitation from Phelim McDermott and Lee Simpson:

In summer 2012 as the UK was flush with the excitement and optimism of the Olympics we toured our first Devoted and Disgruntled Roadshow to 28 venues countrywide. Throughout this time we held space for hundreds of conversations to happen: conversations about what practitioners and audiences felt were important in the Arts. Some were angry, some were practical, many were inspirational. All had a sense of immediacy to them as our agenda in each place was created by the participants who were there and no one else.

These events made it clear that this was just a beginning and that we needed to continue the conversations in order to sustain the positive connections and actions that were coming out of the roadshow.

This summer the optimism doesn’t seem so easy to find. The circus has moved on and the cuts begin to bite deep, particularly outside London. So the chance to raise concerns about culture and the arts and to take positive action is more important than ever.

In September the Roadshow will return and visit 3 locations. One we visited last time around and two will be new for us. In all three we will once again open the space to support the work that you want to do on the things that you are passionate about. Some of those issues will be obvious, some not so obvious. Every issue that is important to someone will get heard. We cannot emphasise strongly enough that Devoted and Disgruntled is a space for you to work on the theatre and performance issues that are important and urgent for you, from the personal to the global and everything in between.

There is another element to Devoted and Disgruntled, that we think might be even more important than the ideas, actions, issues and projects that grow from it. D&D is a place where the people who make up theatre and the performing arts can come together and be a community for a while. That does not mean we all speak with the same voice, just the opposite. It is a chance for us to gather in all our combative and contradictory guises to celebrate our diversity and at the same time to connect to the something bigger that we are all a part of. We are a community, and we stand a much better chance to thrive as individuals if we get the chance to understand and feel that.

The conversation continues..

You can buy tickets in advance from brightondome.org, by visiting Brighton Dome Ticket Office or by calling 01273 709709. Tickets will also be available on the day.