This network and venues event has now finished.
If you like the sound of alt/control/forward, perhaps you could check out the Culture Geek conference from 14-16 June 2021
In the meantime, here’s what we got up to at alt/control/forward:
The past year has seen an abundance of experimentation with offstage and digital programming models. But what’s next for our venues? What do our audiences want? Can we sustain a blended programme after we reopen? What’s the strategy?
This online conference-style event will platform key speakers to explore what’s been achieved, and how arts venues can continue to develop alternative forms of content and serve audiences beyond their four walls.
alt/control/forward is open to venue colleagues in the house network and from other venues across the UK; venue leaders, programmers and marketing staff and other team members are warmly welcome.
SEE THE DAY 1 PROGRAMME (24 March)
Read the session descriptions and timings.
SEE THE DAY 2 PROGRAMME (7 April)
Read the session descriptions and timings.
SEE THE DAY 3 PROGRAMME (21 April)
Read the session descriptions and timings.
Meet the speakers and contributors
- Lucy Askew (Creation Theatre)
Lucy Askew is the Chief Executive of Oxford based Creation Theatre Company. Creation Theatre has operated in Oxford for 24 years producing exciting and accessible Shakespeare and classic titles. They have produced 68 shows attracting an audience of over half a million. At the start of the pandemic Creation rapidly pivoted to making digital work and within 3 weeks of the March 2020 lockdown opened their first Zoom production, 'The Tempest', to international critical claim. They have since become leaders in the emerging artform that is digital theatre. Creation were 2020 Oncomm Winners for 'Alice: A virtual Themepark' and Lucy was listed in the Stage Top 100 for Creation’s work throughout the pandemic. They have been funded by Innovate UK to continue to develop their digital work creating a new platform for digital performance and employing a rep company of actors for six months specialising in digital work.
- Suzanne Bull MBE (Attitude Is Everything)
Suzanne Bull MBE is the Founder of Attitude is Everything, growing a short term pilot programme into a fully-fledged charitable organisation, over 21 years.
She is disabled and has both a personal and professional interest in improving access to live music.
Attitude is Everything improves Deaf and disabled people’s access to live music by working in partnership with audience, artists and the music industry. Their Vision is that Deaf and Disabled People can be audience members, employees or artists at any live music event of their choice: music without barriers.
She was honoured with an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list in June 2013 for services to music, arts and disabled people. She was also awarded Access All Areas Editor’s Award at the Event Production Awards 2015.
In February 2017, she was appointed as one of the Minister for Disabled People, Work and Health’s Sector Champions, who help to tackles the issues disabled people face as consumers. Suzanne represents the music industry, and she will use her influential status as a leader in her industry to promote the benefits of being inclusive to disabled people. In May of the same year, she was listed in She Said So’s Alternative Power 100 List – celebrating the music industry’s unheard voices – and then in that same November, she was enrolled in Music Week’s Women In Music Awards Roll Of Honour, built to provide lasting recognition to the executives who work hard to further both the interests of women in the music industry and the industry itself.
In November 2018, Suzanne was awarded Music Week’s Women in Music 'Campaigner of the Year' Award, in recognition of her work to make live music more inclusive and accessible.
She has been listed in the Power 100 – 100 most influential disabled people in the UK – 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2020.
- Flo Carr (Indigo Ltd)
Flo Carr is an Associate with Indigo Ltd.
She is an experienced marketer with a passion for audience development and CRM. For 10 years, she has worked in a variety of marketing, communications and venue management roles in arts and cultural organisations in London and Cambridge.
Her previous roles include Head of Communications and Marketing at Arcola Theatre, Marketing & CRM Manager at English National Opera and Press & Marketing Manager at Cambridge Live.
She is a trustee of Spectra Ensemble, an experimental opera company championing lesser-known works, and co-founder of bind collective, a creative platform which aims to raise awareness of the climate emergency.
Having collaborated with Indigo co-founder Katy Raines to deliver the After the Interval surveys during Covid-19, Flo joined the Indigo team full-time in November 2020.
- Toby Coffey (National Theatre)
Toby Coffey is Head of Digital Development at the National Theatre.
After the success of the 2015 immersive exhibition enter wonder.land which saw audiences in excess of 90,000 experience VR and other interactive installations over a five-month period, Toby Coffey established the National Theatre's Immersive Storytelling Studio in the summer of 2016. The Studio examines how Virtual, Mixed and Augmented Reality along with other emerging technologies can widen and enhance the NT’s remit to be a pioneer of dramatic storytelling and to enable an audience to stand in the shoes of another.
The Immersive Storytelling Studio has had its portfolio of immersive projects shown at the Venice, Sundance and Tribeca Film Festivals, National Theatre, The Young Vic, MoMA and TATE Modern. The Studio’s work includes: fabulous wonder.land a VR music video to accompany the wonder.land stage show; enter wonder.land a 10-installation immersive exhibition to accompany the same; HOME : Aamir, a cinematic VR verbatim documentary; Draw Me Close, a VR performance between one audience member and a live performer; All Kinds of Limbo, a communal, volumetrically captured, musical performance and Madame Kalamazoo, a magical journey into storytelling where daily stories are emailed to parents / guardians during the 2020 lockdown that are set in their own homes, featuring the children themselves as the main characters.
- Haydn Corrodus (Digital Culture Network)
Haydn Corrodus is a Tech Champion for Social Media at Digital Culture Network /Arts Council England.
Haydn has previously worked with brands such as Coca Cola and Unilever on award-winning experiential, social and digital marketing campaigns.
He is also a founding partner of We Are Stripes, which works to increase opportunities in the creative industries for people from diverse ethnic backgrounds.
- Sarah Ellis (RSC)
Sarah Ellis is an award-winning producer currently working as Director of Digital Development for the Royal Shakespeare Company to explore new artistic initiatives and partnerships.
The latest partnership for the RSC is the Audience of the Future Live Performance Demonstrator funded by Innovate UK - a consortium consisting of arts organisations, research partners and technology companies to explore the future of performances and real-time immersive experiences.
In 2017, she became a fellow of the University of Worcester for her work in the arts and technology. In 2016 she was awarded The Hospital Club & Creatives Industries award for cross industry collaboration for her work on the RSC’s The Tempest in collaboration with Intel and in association with The Imaginarium Studios.
In 2013 she was listed in the top 100 most influential people working in Gaming and Technology by The Hospital Club and Guardian Culture Professionals. In partnership with Google, she produced Midsummer Night’s Dreaming winning two Lovie Awards for Innovation and Experimentation.
In 2012, she produced myShakespeare an online commissioning platform for the World Shakespeare Festival. In 2011, she produced Adelaide Road for the RSC, which mixed live performance with an app and website map.
As a spoken word producer, she has worked with the Old Vic Tunnels, Battersea Arts Centre, Birmingham REP, Contact, Improbable, Southbank Centre, Soho Theatre, and Shunt. She has been Head of Creative Programmes at the Albany Theatre and Programme Manager for Apples & Snakes.
She is a regular speaker and commentator on digital arts practice, as well as an Industry Champion for the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre, which helps inform academic research on the creative industries to lead to better policies for the sector. She has been appointed Chair of digital agency, The Space, established by Arts Council England and the BBC to help promote digital engagement across the arts.
- Mojisola Elufowoju (Utopia Theatre)
Mojisola Elufowoju is the CEO and Artistic Director of Sheffield-based Utopia Theatre, a leading African Theatre company resident at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre.
Winner of the 2021 Women of Sheffield - Marti Caine Award for Entertainment.
She was staff director at The National Theatre, working on Three Sisters by Inua Ellams. She was a recipient of the 2017 Opera Awards Foundation bursary, a founding member of Mosaic Opera Collective, guest director at the London Academy of Dramatic Arts and at London South Bank University.
Her work is to raise awareness and increase appreciation of African culture. She commissions new writing and presents established classics within a strong African context, and in so doing, dispelling stereotypes and encouraging authentic voices from the African diaspora.
She has recently launched a new initiative, Utopia Theatre Creative Hub, bringing African theatre experts together to offer courses, workshops, play readings and events online. The Creative Hub brings together some of the world’s leading African artists who share their own knowledge and experience through workshops and events as well as offering 1:1 sessions with artists. The programme is designed to support the development of a sustainable talent pool, give African theatre practitioners greater visibility and inspire the next generation of artists, ultimately strengthening African communities within the Arts.
Other credits include: How Far Apart? (Work in Progress - Arcola Theatre and Sheffield Hallam Performance Lab 2019), Far Gone (Theatre Deli - Sheffield and Sheffield Theatre Studio 2019), The Bogus Woman (Camden People’s Theatre 2019), On Missing (The Cockpit Theatre 2018), Shadows in Different Shades (Work in Progress - Sheffield Theatre 2018), The Pied Piper Of Chibok Opera (Opera North Residency and Arcola Theatre 2018), I am David Oluwale (Work in Progress - Leeds Playhouse 2018), Iyalode of Eti (Leeds Playhouse, Sheffield Crucible, Cast Doncaster and Ake Festival Nigeria 2016/2017), London Tales (Rich Mix and Lost Theatre 2015), This Is Our Chance (Cultural Centre Calabar, Nigeria 2013), The Shepherd’s Chameleon (CLF Art Cafe 2013), House of Corrections (Riverside Studios (2012), and Wake Me When It's Time (York Theatre Royal 2012).
- Lucy Garland and Amber Onat Gregory (Frozen Light)
Frozen Light makes multi-sensory theatre for adult audiences with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD) and tours this to theatres and arts centres across the UK. Over seven years, they toured four productions to 70 venues across the UK. In 2016, Frozen Light were the first company to take a show specifically designed for audiences with PMLD to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, returning in 2017 as part of the British Council Showcase. In 2019, they were invited to New Zealand to work with Touch Compass Dance to support the development of the country’s first show specifically for audiences with PMLD, Masina Returning Home. Launched in June 2020, The Frozen Light Podcast was designed to stay in touch with audiences during the pandemic and to document their experiences. In 2021 Frozen Light launched '2065: The Multi-Sensory Movie', an at-home sensory experience for audiences with PMLD.
- Jon Gilchrist (HOME Manchester)
Jon Gilchrist is Executive Director of HOME in Manchester, a venue that presents a year-round programme of produced and visiting live performance across multiple spaces, and serves as the city’s centre for international contemporary art and film.
Prior to this Jon worked as Executive Director of the Bush Theatre between 2014 and 2018. In this time he led on their major capital redevelopment, and helped expand the organisation’s reach as a centre of excellence for diverse emerging talent. Before this he worked in marketing roles at theatres across the North West for ten years, including The Lowry in Salford, the Octagon Theatre Bolton, and the Dukes in Lancaster.
Jon is a trustee of HighTide and the Edge Theatre, Chorlton, and a UK Theatre Board member.
Photo (c) Helen Murray.
- Adam Hemming (The Space theatre)
- Helen Jewell (The Old Market)
Helen Jewell is the programme manager at The Old Market in Brighton and has been curating the programme at the venue since it opened in 2011. TOM hosts over 200 different events every year from their multi-format space. Over 55,000 people come through their doors each year to experience live music, film, boundary breaking theatre, dance, cabaret, comedy, literature, workshops and performances using new technologies, as part of their #TOMtech programme.
- Alex Levene (The Place, Bedford)
Alex is the Programme, Projects & Partnerships Producer for The Place Bedford. Supporting artists, building relationships with partners and local organisations and working on the long term strategic direction for the building and our activities is what keeps me busy every week. In between, I fill my time with Board Games and Role Playing Games.
- Katie Moffat (The Audience Agency)
Katie Moffat is Head of Digital at The Audience Agency and supports clients with their digital strategies. This includes helping organisations to reach, grow, engage and diversify their audiences using digital platforms and to understand digital user behaviour. Alongside bespoke consultancy work she regularly runs training workshops and webinars for organisations of all sizes. She is a contributing author to the 'Manual of Digital Museum Planning' published by Rowman & Littlefield and Vice-Chair of digital pioneers Abandon Normal Devices. Her popular fortnightly newsletter The Digital Snapshot is often cited as a ‘must read’ and has a subscriber list of circa 5000.
Katie a registered National Lottery Heritage Fund digital consultant and is currently mentoring four organisations as part of the Digital Confidence Fund initiative. She is also a mentor for the Arts Marketing Association’s Digital Lab programme.
Areas of expertise include:
• User behaviours & user journeys
• Digital strategy development
• Analytics – web & social media
• Online segmentation research
• Digital marketing & social media engagement- David Reece (Baker Richards)
David Reece is Director, Consulting Services and Deputy CEO of Baker Richards.
He is responsible for developing the company’s consulting offers and managing the company’s consultancy projects. Since joining Baker Richards in 2009, he has gained extensive experience in handling a wide range of projects for performing arts venues, museums and visitor attractions, including the National Theatre, Royal Academy of Arts and English Heritage.Through a combination of insightful data analysis, innovative primary research and strategic development, David works with organisations to optimise their earned income strategy, focusing primarily on ticket pricing and membership. Recently, David has developed an inventive application of conjoint analysis to establish price elasticity for cultural events and membership packages, allowing organisations to understand what different markets are willing-to-pay for the value of what they have to offer and consequently the optimal strategy designed to meet their overall objectives. In addition, David also brings to bear his understanding of consumer psychology to inform the presentation of recommendations to ensure maximum impact – after all, value not communicated is valueless!
David was previously employed as a Data Analyst in the Research & Statistics Department of Birmingham City Council. He has an honours degree in History of Art from Cambridge University, and has been involved in a number of creative projects, including designing an ‘Art Trail’ for the Latitude Festival and filming live events at Fabric in London.
Baker Richards is a leading international provider of consulting services and software for the cultural sector. https://www.baker-richards.com/
- Dan Sullivan (Cuseum)
Dan Sullivan is the Head of Growth & Partnerships at Cuseum, a company helping cultural organizations leverage the power of technology. Having grown up around arts, history, and antiques, Dan gained an appreciation for culture at a young age and applies that excitement to the cultural world every day.
Dan is passionate about technology, membership, and digital engagement and frequently speaks on these topics at conferences, universities, and webinars, including the industry-leading ‘Membership Mondays’ series.
Committed to community service and entrepreneurship, Dan volunteers at various Boston-area nonprofits, serves on the board of directors of two, and is the founder of one of his own.
- Patrick Towell (Golant Innovation)
Patrick Towell is Innovation Director for The Audience Agency, & Executive Director of Golant Innovation.
In 2005 Patrick founded Golant Innovation (formerly known as Golant Media Ventures), whose mission is to share innovations across the creative, digital, third and public sectors. In 2018 it merged with The Audience Agency to become its enterprise arm.
He has 25 years’ experience as an executive, board/policy advisor and programme director.
Media work has spanned post-production, VR, e-learning, online publishing, animation and advertising. He has raised venture and innovation finance from UK and EU public funds as well as private funds and R&D tax credits. He had leadership roles in two national government information services.
Patrick is a financial and business advisor for Arts Council England, digital advisor for the National Lottery Heritage Fund and former resilience advisor for Arts Council Wales. In the cultural sector, he has worked with national organisations, smaller producers and venues and local authorities. He has coached and mentored the leaders of a variety of creative, digital and cultural enterprises.
He co-led the development of the digital maturity framework underpinning the DCMS/Arts Council England/National Lottery Heritage Fund Digital Culture Compass. An experienced facilitator and trainer, he is co-leading the Leading the Sector digital leadership development programme for the UK’s heritage sector.
He has led the development of the Local Government Association’s forthcoming guidance to English local authorities on supporting their local creative economy, post-COVID. Co-author: What is Resilience Anyway: A Review (Arts Council England), Cinegi Arts&Film action research (Arts Council England/British Film Institute) The Adoption of Digital Technology in the Arts (Nesta), Markets in IP and enabling information ecosystems (Intellectual Property Office), mapping of future opportunities for UK’s creative industries (UKRI Innovate UK).
Formerly Information Society Working Group chair for the UK’s National Commission for UNESCO and Marketing Chair for International Standards committee for e-learning, he is global policy research fellow of the Institute of Technology and Society, the thinktank for the global south. He speaks internationally and writes on innovation, design, enterprise and resilience.
Accessibility
All events were live captioned by Speech-to-Text Reporters Norma MacHaye and Julia Jacobie.
Sessions were BSL-interpreted.
Event details, timings and how to join
- Useful information
All of the sessions are free to join, and will take place on Zoom.
There'll be a varying number of sessions each day between 11am to 3pm.
(On 07 April, the event will run until 4pm)You can book for as many as you would like; we encourage you to join the introductory session on 24 March at 11am.
All registered attendees will be sent links one hour before the morning sessions, and an hour before the afternoon sessions.
We encourage all attendees to read our community guidelines, which aim to make the event effective and enjoyable for everyone involved. These will be sent with your session links.
Some sessions will be recorded and made available exclusively to members of the house venue network for 7 days after the event.
- Contact us
If you have any questions about this event, please contact Steph Richardson at steph@housetheatre.org.uk
This event is run by house, an initiative delivered by Farnham Maltings.
By signing up to this event you are agreeing to the privacy policies of house / Farnham Maltings.