When COVID-19 hit, the theatre industry grinded to a halt overnight. We at Frisky Arts were not alone in having to cancel all our shows, projects, and opportunities we’d worked so hard for. It was devastating. And yet, we saw an exciting opportunity, to call for a reset of the theatre industry post COVID, and to grow an artistic community dedicated to building a more supportive and accessible arts industry post lockdown.

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So, we published ‘Unconventional Theatre in Unconventional Spaces: A Punk Theatre Movement’  calling for action and before we knew it, we had started a nationwide conversation. Hundreds of people of all ages, regions and backgrounds across the arts sectors have subscribed to our community and united, demanding a reset of an industry.

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The response to our call for change was overwhelmingly positive but served to affirm how drastically we need a change, and soon. The nepotistic, inaccessible and hypercompetitive side of the arts industry cannot live on! And Fringe theatre artists have the tenacity to join forces and make it not so.

The community is ever growing, and we have been working hard to galvanise the ideas we proposed into action. We’ve been holding zoom focus groups, created punk theatre online platforms via Slack, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and online blogs. We’ve written to industry figureheads, gained support from multiple leading theatre venues in the UK, set up online channels and have facilitated conversations. We held a socially distanced day festival (!!) at the Fox & Firkin in September 2020.

And we have plans bubbling for all sorts of future festivals and plans… get in touch if you want to know more and watch this space!

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