How we make work
How we make work
The process of making theatre is different every time - whether you’re creating a site-specific piece sprawling across a whole town or opening a piece of a new writing in a studio theatre. There’s no one roadmap for how a project gets made.
Having said that, we believe in creating transparent processes that make sure that companies, such as ourselves, are as open with our audiences and artists as we can be.
In this spirit, we are sharing with you the process of how we make our work and what the journey is for artists as well as our staff.
How to connect with us
If you are looking to be supported or commissioned by NTW, the best ways to connect with us are:
- Invite us to see your work. We’re a small team but we try to attend as much as possible.
- Keep our Producing team updated about what you're doing or developing. All of our email addresses are on our staff page, so head on over and drop us a message.
- Attend our TEAM events.
How we plan and make decisions
We have a lot of great conversations with artists. These happen at our shows, TEAM events and workshops, and arts sector events.
Every year, we start work on 4-5 new seed commissions, and 2-3 new full commissions. We produce 3 full productions a year, and hold space for a fourth potential project; this could be a remount, a festival or a piece that responds to the more immediate needs of communities in Wales.
We plan our programme up to 5 years in advance, and most projects develop over 3-6 years, so bear that in mind when contacting us about potential collaborations and support.
All the work we green light aligns with our Strategic Plan and our timelines. We support its development to a point where it’s ready to meet an audience.
We have two regular key meetings that impact on our programming choices:
- Producing & Creative Development meetings where we talk through shows we've seen, artists we've met, and pitches that have been sent to us.
- Programming meetings where we discuss future shows as well as possible new productions.
If your idea doesn’t align with our Strategic Plan, we’re here to help with signposting to other partners, funding sources and ways to make your project or idea happen.
Let’s talk money
Commissions
These are full productions including Research and Development (R&D) stages.
We pay artists £5,168 on signature of contract.
We pay £2,350 once we receive the first draft.
We pay £2,350 once the show opens.
Our rates of pay are set out by the Writer’s Guild.
We also pay £130 a day during development, plus travel, expenses and access costs.
Seed commissions
We have a pot of money for artists to develop a very early stage idea.
The artist would deliver something to help us decide if we want to progress or green light their idea.
We pay £2,584 to cover writing and exploration, plus travel, expenses and access costs.
Supported by
We have a sliding scale of match funding for projects we aren’t producing, but want to support financially. The amount is depending on the project, the artist, and the need. This is for artists we have an existing relationship with, or have worked with us previously.
Thanks to
In-kind support, AKA free stuff. This could be producing and marketing support, access to our office or technical resources, or lending our equipment.
We don’t expect anything in return for this, other than maybe a logo on a poster or a thanks in a programme.
