Will Arnold, house Producer: South East

It’s been such a privilege to be part of the house family. The best of our industry is here: generosity, innovation, reciprocity. Whilst working as part of the house team I’ve seen how a network of venues can breathe new life into a long-standing touring ecology, delighting audiences and empowering artists. It seems that in a time where stakeholders rightly encourage us to think more locally, and where devolution defines us by our borders, there is more call than ever for a network based on sharing knowledge, resources and great art.

My main role in house has been to offer producing support to our touring artists. It’s been an eye-opening role to fill, providing an insight into the pressures and pleasures of making small-scale, post-pandemic contemporary theatre. Aside from the obvious learnings - every artist speaks of a harsh funding landscape and how little time they have to actually be creative - there were other, useful takeaways. External pressures may be forcing the relationship between a touring artist and the receiving venue to become more transactional, less collaborative, less creative. But where the contract is viewed more as a partnership, particularly in terms of audience development, both parties benefit, and so do the audience.

More generally, the feedback we hear from artists most is: ‘we wish we’d known about house sooner.’ This is partly a response to the current lack of funding opportunities, of course. But it would also seem that there’s an opportunity to speak up for touring, its possibilities and various models. One artist summarised it best when they told me, having completed three weeks of touring through the house network, that the experience had reminded her of when Thames Water dug up her street and revealed the vast network of Victorian plumbing that lay beneath. I thought it an odd analogy, until she pointed out that it was the proximity of this network that had most reminded her of house: something so extensive - and so valuable - had been within reach all along.

The importance of advocacy, then, will be one of the many lessons I take with me from house, alongside a renewed conviction for the importance of collaboration, particularly where it is least expected. See you soon at one of the upcoming tours - this Autumn season’s a corker!

Will.