Show Me The Money

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Now UC us

or at least you've seen all my bank statements for the last year

brilliant and blistering post on the financial difficulties of being a writer rn, by the tremendously talented and often innovative Hannah Silva

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Artistic Programming: Small Changes for Better Collaboration

Following my last post on job-hunting in the arts, here's Part 2 - a wish list for better artistic programming practices. These are specific to theatre, but I think many can extend to other performing arts programming in general.

Like my previous post on better recruitment, these aren't radical demands, just small, resource-light changes to make the process smoother for both artists and organizations. This isn’t to say I don’t want big changes too, but as recognition that even these small changes could make a big difference for applicants. 

From my experience:

12-15 years as a theatre-maker, facilitator, mentor and lead artist

Having organised 2 U.K. tours and 2 digital tours 

Currently booking Spring 2026 tour for my latest show Nine Sixteenths [https://paulavarjack.com/9-16ths]

5 Low-Effort Fixes for streamlining Programming Enquiries 

1️⃣ A Clear "How We Program" Page Every organisation should have:

How and when and what they program

Who to contact + expected timelines

Links to current/previous seasons (All of the above exists in some orgs—let's standardize it!)

2️⃣ Dedicated Programming Email - e.g., [email protected]

 (Not Just 1 Person's Inbox)

Avoids chaos when staff change

Can be managed/monitired by more than one person (including freelance staff) 

Auto-reply with: ✓ Confirmation of receipt ✓ Programming timeline/link to info

Only shift to direct contact after initial offer

3️⃣ Transparent Staff Pages

List roles/responsibilities and ideally emails

If not listing emails (because of spam etc) describe email format (e.g., [email protected])

Update when someone leaves, & auto-reply at their email: "X has departed; contact Y")

4️⃣ "Working With Artists" Page

For orgs that use freelance facilitators: ✓ How/when to apply ✓ Mailing list for opportunities

For orgs with in-house creative learning lead or teams: ✓ State this clearly to avoid cold calls

5️⃣ Artists: before cold contacting 

Look for any info you need on their website, before making enquiry

Enquiries should show why your work aligns with their program, and when possible, reference their past/current programming in pitches

Why This Matters: Fewer misaligned emails → less inbox overwhelm → more space for genuine connections.

Your Turn: What would you add to this list?

Ps. This isn’t the first I’ve written on better practices in working with artists.

See my co-authored doc as member of freelance task force

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An arts freelancer's plea for better arts recruitment practices.

(My first  post for linkedin.. gasp) 

I've been active on  Linked in for a few months now, watching posts and comments like it's a game of double Dutch, trying to work out how and when to jump in. After establishing my practice to the point where work came from previous work, consistently somehow even through the pandemic, I'm writing this with the awkward energy of someone at a networking event (annnd I am not a big fan of networking events…)

I am writing this, after fifteen years in the arts, for a platform that until very recently I had no presence with, as an extremely online person who felt they had banged on enough previous about improving arts’ working practices. (See Here , Here,and  Here, )  here, I mean essentially this is a follow up to a blog I wrote here in 2017 FFS) 

And yet, here we are - I’m several months deep in applying for all kinds of work (part-time, full-time, freelance, fixed term - across admin, participatory, production, creative roles, and artist open calls) listening to peers consider what options they have outside of the sector, or if this is finally the sign they should leave (and with the youngers, if it's even worth the fight of getting properly invested).

I realised the most useful thing I could post on Linkedin would be this: an open admission about how exhausting applying for work has become, and small changes I can see that could make it better, for everyone, both applicants and recruiters 

I'm writing this because:

I've noticed many more artists activating LinkedIn profiles, who like me are also looking across all avenues to find work  

I've received multiple "we were overwhelmed by the volume and standard of applications" emails from organisations, and often weeks and weeks outside of the original stated notification timelines. 

Many arts professionals I know are either: struggling to find work, or if employed:  under-resourced and overstretched.

We're in a perfect storm: experienced practitioners can't find work, early career folks have even less of an in than before, while under-resourced teams are buried under application piles.  None of this is working. All of this makes it impossible to give feedback, or know as an applicant how to improve chances going forward. 

To be clear, I have zero interest in fueling division between freelancers and organisations. (We have enough of that! It’s the endless rage cycle that makes me not mourn the demise of twitter!) I’ve been on both sides, as applicant and assessor. The truth is, the system is broken for all of us. anecdotally,  it only seems to be getting worse. 

These issues are of course rooted in much larger socio economic issues, but,  there are small, administrative fixes that could at least make it all less painful. I wrote these in relation to arts related jobs, but imagine they are applicable across many other sectors, at the very least in regards to use of e-forms....

So Here are Seven Low-Effort Changes for Better Recruitment. :

Have an e form? Share application Questions in a Word/ Google Doc If your application is an online form, always provide the questions upfront. Forcing applicants to complete fields blind, is like making someone cook a meal while revealing ingredients in installments. It makes the process of applying needlessly more fiddly, and time consuming. And online applications crash... Iif you can’t share the questions on the application info page, include a download link to the questions in an editable format: Word/Google doc, so applicants can draft. 

Inform your Applicants when Timelines Change If your recruitment timeline changes, due to volume of applications (or any other reason) let your applicants know, when you know. If you need more time to work out a new timeline, tell applicants that - within your original timeline, and then contact them again with the new timeline, when you have the new date/s.  A two-line email saves weeks of anxious waiting, and enables those who block potential interview dates  to free that time. Speaking of interview dates…

Announce the interview timeline at point of application, but! Allow for flexibility If there is a significant gap between interview announcement and application deadline, it is not realistic for freelancers to block interview dates indefinitely (esp. as they can change!) because of other work, caring responsibilities or sudden life events. In these instances, let in person interviews happen online. If it must be in person, allow for at least one back up date. 

Ditch Character Counts for Page Limits Page limits (one page, half page etc) are more accessible for everyone. Failing that,  at the very least opt for word counts over character counts.  Few people do their best work battling character counts (Here’s looking at you,  grantium...) Character counts also differ across platforms. And I won’t dare wade into the divisive issue of AI in applications, but what I will say,  is the main way I hear people admit using it, is for character counts. Do with that info, what you will…

Auto-Reply to Every Application Even just: "Received. We'll respond by [date] or if you don’t hear by [date] assume you’re not successful ." It’s a simple but important courtesy.

Share Interview questions in advance Thankfully this has become much more common. Interviewing in current climate is tough enough. Your applicants will show their best if they can prepare. 

Send Rejection Emails (sounds obvious, sadly isn’t) When you've hired someone, send one bulk BCC email to everyone who applied.(Saves anxious applicant email checks) 

Bonus: Add “Want to hear about future opportunities? Reply YES." so highly interested applicants, don’t have to stalk your website and socials.

Mostly these are administrative tweaks - auto emails , updates to web pages. But they can all significantly help. In the spirit of this  type of easy wins, What’s one small change you wish you could see? 

PS. Because now more than ever we need to shout out those who help us negotiate the knotty process of being creative and freelancer, extra special thanks to the very brilliant Lily Einhorn (check out her link in Her presence and engagement on here, is something i'd like to emulate). She encouraged me to write this post. 

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‘I lost nine teeth filming Squid Game’: BBC on set with show’s director

The South Korean hit drama returns for a second season in December.

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At this year’s Edinburgh fringe festival I saw 26 shows across 5 venues ( including a cabaret I performed in one night, and a show I was part of the creative team for). Since my first fringe trip in 2008, where my weekend was mostly made up of blagging my way into parties and guest spots, I have collected more varied experiences at the fringe than most.

In Fergus Morgan’s recent piece for The Stage Why is the Edinburgh Fringe flooded with solo shows about awful experiences? he laments an overwhelm with what he experienced this year as a “ surfeit of solo shows about awful things” and calls it a problem for the festival. And while I think it’s a fair point that many artists don’t consider enough what they are asking their audience to experience, I think it’s deeply unfair to frame this as entirely an artist’s problem, particularly to point the finger at solo shows.

Since before the pandemic there has been a growing demand for confessional “authentic” and “vulnerable” content - across not just solo theatre, but comedy, television and of course social media. It may be this is now on the turn after the late stages of a pandemic. However we are still amidst a mental health and financial crisis, without getting into the many horrific personal and political situations currently in the state of the world.

To be clear I don’t disagree with Fergus necessarily as far as his concerns about heavy content. In 2019 (remember we all thought was the worst year ever and couldnt’ wait for 2020…) I remember how excited I was to come to Fringe as a punter, to see as much as I could. But 3 days in of a 4 day trip, I was emotionally drained, having seen days of back to back shows about loss, assault, suicide, addiction, discrimination, and terminal illnesses (and some of these were not theatre but comedy shows …)

This was a time before content warnings were the norm. Sometimes the content was in the blurb, sometimes it was a surprise at the 40 minutes mark. I remember one evening, sitting on my own in a corner of the Summerhall courtyard, having cried so much I didn’t know if I could cry anymore.

I remember running into an artist I knew and trying to explain what I felt, and my takeaway was, well. I had booked these shows. But I hadn’t booked the shows because of themes necessarily. I had booked the shows because I had heard exciting things about them, and/or had loved the artists previous work.

In some cases I found myself seriously concerned about the artist’s wellbeing. I was left feeling like the trauma they were sharing hadn’t been processed yet. I was left sincerely worried about what the daily revisiting of that trauma (in the often brutal experience of bringing work to fringe) was doing to their mental health.

At other times I struggled to know what to do with how shows left me feeling, particularly when I hadn’t emotionally recovered from a previous show, or shows. The fringe is short on quiet calm spaces, not ideal in the aftermath of seeing traumatic work.

But - there is still a lot of lighter, funnier, left field and playfully unhinged work at the festival. By seeing them against the heavier content, all can become more dynamic. I appreciate as someone who isn’t a reviewer I have more agency in what I see, but also believe as a reviewer it must be possible to build a range of content and tone into the decision making of the order of what you see.

In terms of representing the audience experience, even as a die hard theatre buff, I can’t see someone deciding to book a full day of heavy content! (and they are also far less likely in one day to see six shows!)

As many of the replies on twitter in response immediately jumped on the issue of solo work, I wanted to speak to that too. In Alistair Smith’s recent piece The Dominance of the EdFringe solo show poses a problem for the touring market he raises concern about the disconnect between the prevalence of solo shows in the festival, against programming for receiving venues across the country.

Smith rightly identifies that economics are the primary reason for this, and questions the role of support for the festival and U.K. funding as whole. On the fringe end, the rising costs of accommodation, financial risk of making box office (during an ongoing cost of living crisis), the tight get-in times, and increasingly inexperienced technical staff, all go against mid-scale ambitious work. But I would take this further and look not just at funding structures for the festival, but for the changing face of national touring support.

I know many artists who were solo makers, who have had ambitions for making ensemble work for years now. But even outside of Edinburgh, finding the funding to do so has only grown more challenging. As mid-career makers what I am hearing (and experiencing ) is that we have never felt more precarious as freelancers, and we were pretty precarious to start with. So if it is indeed an issue for the festival, and the wider arts econoomy, that is issue that I want to see the industry ( that is meant to support us )addressing.

Add to this that fringe when I first came was much more of a mix of work that was developing itself alongside polished tour ready work,and now on the theatre end, at least - is first and foremost a showcase. None of this incentivises creative or financial risk, and the more people involved in your production, the more you have of both.

But what I would say in defence of my peers making work that centres difficult and even traumatic experiences, is this year I have seen a positive development in consideration of artists wellbeing. Wellbeing support is not only becoming common practice for work with traumatic themes, it's increasingly being built into most projects, a positive consequence of a number of artists modelling and making noise about centering care in artistic practice and rising awareness about mental health.

Far more artists these days have a healthy relationship to and awareness of therapy. I see far better general approach to physical wellbeing at the festival from performers. Far less people are drinking away their anxieties about the run (as used to be very common!) .

This is all a positive development worthy or recognition. I would even call it a generational shift. following from that, the next challenge I’m interested in at the festival, is how to hold audiences better after these shows, with that same sense of care. My hope is this raised sense of concern around wellbeing in the performing of work, will be the catalyst to that

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https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/03/realestate/vacant-bank-art-studio-brooklyn.html?unlocked_article_code=1.BE4._iaQ.FISdUtijAbIn&smid=url-share

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https://x.com/Loran_Dunn/status/1759157830706159866?s=20

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Arts workers get lowest pay rise of any sector

Low pay and real-terms depreciation of salaries could ‘severely damage’ arts sector amid record number of job vacancies, advocates say.

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‘If you break even that’s a bonus’: what it costs to perform at the Edinburgh fringe

Theatre and comedy acts at this year’s festival break down their expenses and consider the financial risks

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