I was delighted to be contacted a few weeks back by Eleanor Turney, co director of Incoming Festival to do a little feature on my blog! Eleanor also very kindly agreed to do an interview to accompany the piece. Live locally and want to see some brilliant new theatre? Of course you do.

From  Wednesday 26th to Sunday the 30th of June Bristol’s Tobacco Factory will be playing host to Incoming Festival. Over these five  days, the venue will showcase work from some of the best and brightest emerging theatre companies. The theatre’s fabulous  new  space, the Spielmann, will feature a different double bill, with a deal on food and drink available to all audiences who want to make a night of it! What’s more, while Bristol is being entertained, so to will Manchester and London, thanks to presentations at HOME in Manchester, and New Diorama. The evening of theatre will be accompanied by an eclectic mix of workshops and masterclasses, at only £3 per ticket. Spaces on these are limited, so book early to avoid disappointment. Read on to find out what’s in store…

Wednesday 26^th June

12pm  Fundraising Masterclass with David Byrne
3pm  Introduction to Marketing your Show Workshop with Eleanor Turney
7pm  Sh!t Theatre: Sh!t Theatre Drink Rum with Expats
8.30pm  Lost Watch: Shorts and Socks Included

Thu 27 June
12pm  Introduction to Producing Workshop with MAYK
3pm  Making your Work Accessible Workshop with Trish Hodson
7pm  Kopfkino Theatre: The Grand Scheme of Things
8.30pm   Sleepless Theatre: Nine Foot Nine

Fri 28 June
7pm  This Noise: No One is Coming to Save You
8.30pm  Chalkline: Testament

Sat 29 June
7pm   Wildcard: Electrolyte
8.30pm  Zanetti Productions: The Basement Tapes

Sun 30 June
7pm  Sounds Like Chaos: Wow Everything Is Amazing
8.30pm   Burnt Lemon Theatre: The Half Moon Shania

Now in it’s sixth year, Incoming Festival is run by Jake Orr, Eleanor Turney and David Byrne. Championing new talent and encouraging audiences to support new work and take a risk by perhaps seeing something they wouldn’t normally get or choose to see, it’s a hugely exciting opportunity to witness how our wonderfully rich and diverse theatrical landscape is continuing to develop and shake things up! 

Eleanor very kindly took the time to answer a few questions I had….

• Incoming Festival is now in its sixth year… massive congratulations! How did it start and how has it grown over the years?

Thank you! It’s been such an exciting journey. It was born out of a desire to nurture and support emerging theatre companies, something that is at the absolute heart of the New Diorama Theatre’s mission. They – amazingly! – took a punt on me and Jake when we were taking our first tentative steps into producing, and gave us the theatre, for free, for a week. We programmed a brilliant mix of emerging companies, guided and supported by New Diorama’s team all the way, and after the first festival they wanted to keep going, and so did we! It grew from a week to ten days in the first few years, and then we went back to a week but in two cities (we premiered in Manchester last year). This year, we’re in three cities simultaneously, which is so exciting but also quite nerve-wracking.

• For the very first time, the festival is coming to Bristol! It seems so exciting to take a festival like this to different places; what do you look for in a location and does the location influence the way you work, e.g.how things are put together?

It is really exciting to take the festival to a new place, and to introduce this work to a new audience. Bristol is such a wonderful city (all of my family live here) and I love its ethos and its energy. I really think there will be an audience willing to take a risk on something new and it’s really fantastic for the companies to be able to start a relationship with a new venue, too. We look for somewhere with a thriving arts scene (check), a welcoming venue (check), an understanding of what we’re trying to do and why (check) and a sense of adventure (check). The location doesn’t influence how things are put together, really. We programme a double-bill of the best emerging companies every night and then we work really hard to shout about them and get bums on seats. All the tickets for every show are just £5, which is really central to Incoming’s philosophy: we want to be as accessible as possible.

• Being a disabled writer and theatre fan, I love any chance to see new work I can get. Why is championing new talent so important?

That’s great news – we hope to see you there. Championing new talent is important because getting started in the theatre industry is so, so hard. There’s not enough funding to go around and it’s so expensive to make and put on shows. Lots of theatres and organisations support emerging companies, but we think it’s really important to showcase and celebrate them in a festival like this, so not only can audiences experience a real mix of work, but also the companies get to meet their peers.

• Leading on from that question, do you feel that the theatre industry is stepping in the right direction in terms of supporting new work? What more can be done?

I do think we’re generally moving in the right direction, but there can be no doubt that the arts world is still massively white, middle-class, able-bodied, male, cis and hetero. It’s not just about supporting new work, but seeking out and supporting work made by different people. Jake [Orr] and I, as Co-Directors, are both very aware of our privilege and want to make sure that Incoming as a platform and an organisation is as inclusive as possible. There’s much more to be done, especially in terms of programming more diverse work. The other problem is that although there is a relatively large amount of support for new work, as an industry we are wedding to the new, to novelty value. A lot of people find they can get funding and support for their first show, but not their second, third, fourth – there’s no way to make a sustainable career. That said, a lot of people struggle to make their first show, too, so there’s definitely more to be done there, too.

• What do you look for when programming work for Incoming?

Good work! It’s as simple and as complicated as that. We want to bring the most exciting, surprisingly, challenging, clever, funny, brilliant emerging companies together and showcase them for new audiences. We get invited to many more shows than we can hope to see, but we see as wide a range as possible and then invite the ones that have something special to be part of Incoming.

• What advice would you give to artists and writers interesting in submitting their work for festivals?

Read any published guidelines, and follow them! Look at the past few years’ programmes and think about the kind of work that each festival programmes. Does your work fit their model, or not? It won’t be right for everywhere, so be selective about where you apply and for goodness sake follow their application guidelines.

 

I’m hoping to get down to the Tobacco Factory to see some of the shows myself, watch this space! If you want to follow my lead, go to: https://www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com/campaigns/incoming-festival/ 

http://www.incomingfestival.com/

Links to the festival’s social media are:

Twitter @IncomingFest

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