Resources
we support
A list of companies, orgs, resources
A list to help you discover other orgs, companies, and resources that you may find useful, or want to be aware of.
Many (but not all) of the orgs/resources on this list are ones we know well and/or have worked with, or use/recommend regularly. However, inclusion on this list is not an indication of affiliation, or an unfettered endorsement. It’s a pointer to the fact that these organisations & resources exist, and either have something in common with us, and/or do something we think is good.
We haven’t included our favourite artists or venues here, because the list would be endless! If you follow us on social media, listen to our podcast, or read our blog, you’ll soon have our fave people and places on your radar.
We’ve loosely categorised everything for navigation, but there's some crossover between areas (producing companies who also do great advocacy/community work; theatre companies who also make films, etc).
Groups
Organisations, collectives, companies, and networks dedicated to making theatre & performing arts more equal, representative, fairer and accessible through campaigning, lobbying, teaching, mentoring, researching, facilitating, creating opportunities, making space, and building community.
Campaign for better representation across the live and recorded arts.
A Good Night Out Reading Group
A monthly reading group that discusses topics of relevance to socialist theatre workers.
Help young people get a fair start in the arts and humanities.
Advocacy organisation founded by British East and South East Asians working in the Theatre and Screen industry.
Creating cultural access points for Black young people across England.
Hosting and holding spaces and campaigning for long-lasting sector changes.
Grassroots network and support group for self-defined black/mixed race womxn actors of the African diaspora.
Shining a spotlight on the stories that created the people of Brighton.
Driving positive change for writers who identify as women in theatre.
Campaigning for 50/50 gender balance on British stage & screen.
A community for self-employed & freelance workers from all areas of theatre, opera & live performance.
Dedicated to supporting Black people & People of Colour at arts festivals in Scotland & beyond.
Amplifying female voices through comedy.
Championing creative, contractual & economic rights of the UK's African, Asian, Caribbean & ethnically diverse arts sector workforce.
Group of people & projects. Building, investing in & making things for justice. Programmes, art, spaces, support, & infrastructure - based in Birmingham, UK.
Dedicated to increasing neurodiversity in the arts through workshops, mentoring, producing publications, performances & showcases.
UK-based not-for-profit Arts organisation for professionals who work in Live & Recorded Arts and are connected to the Middle East, North Africa or the surrounding area.
Organising to create the conditions of safety, agency and solidarity in the culture sector for migrants, people of colour and all others impacted by the UK’s immigration regime.
a grassroots movement to buoy representation and support for migrant theatre artists living in the UK
Workshop programme & play collection. Responsive, continual training and community.
Promote best practice employment & support for parents & carers in the performing arts sector.
Creating platforms for women to express their lived experiences.
Taking space for queer crips (quips), furthering queer crip performance, queering accessibility, and fucking shit up.
Charity established to support, develop and nurture queer performance in the UK.
Re-imagining a space for artists from the various Asian diasporas in Britain to integrate & collaborate.
Charity devoted to supporting public health and (re)building social fabric by harnessing the playfulness and innovation of the creative industries.
Dismantling systemic racism in the arts and culture sector.
Promoting, advocating and inspiring women in the arts through productions, conferences and research.
A regular meet up for queer, trans, non-binary & GNC folks in theatre.
Artists’ agency and producing house for LGBTIQ+ actors, writers and makers.
Supporting the arts and cultural sector to achieve greater equality, diversity and inclusion.
33 working class artists and producers in the UK. Volunteer-led since 2018.
Unions
Join a union! Find out which one is recognised in your workplace, or join one of these.
Workers in visual art, applied arts, socially engaged art, moving image, sound and performance.
Staff and freelancers working non-performance jobs in broadcasting, entertainment, cinema & theatre - including backstage and front of house theatre workers.
Actors, singers, dancers, designers, directors, stage managers, puppeteers, comedians, voice artists, and variety performers.
Employed and self-employed musicians working in every area of the UK music industry, including music education.
Workers in the UK’s museums, libraries, galleries, heritage, cultural & sport institutions.
Representing UK Directors, Choreographers and Movement Directors
Grassroots trade union of low paid, migrant & precarious workers.
Anyone who considers themselves a cultural worker is welcome to join UVW-DCW.
Writers in TV, film, theatre, radio, books, comedy, poetry, animation and video games.
Producing Companies
Companies & groups making work on stage that we like. Theatre, live art, cabaret, comedy. If we see these names on a poster, consider our interest piqued!
Devising company making politically engaged, formally exploratory shows that blend drama and documentary.
Presenting and nurturing work by/for/about lesbian, bisexual and queer women across stage and page.
Produce and present to the public, work that explores Chinese themes, stories and art forms, and work that blends Chinese and other contemporary art forms.
Women’s theatre company changing lives and changing minds – on stage, in prison and in the community.
London-based theatre company bringing together women artists, directors, designers & producers to develop & produce scripts by women.
The first deaf launched and deaf led professional theatre company in the UK producing bilingual theatre in BSL and spoken english.
Professional performing arts company of visually impaired artists and theatre practitioners, producing touring productions and delivering training regionally and internationally.
Celebrating & centering comedians of colo(u)r who aren't cis men unapologetically.
Producing fresh work for adventurous people by inspiring artists. Supporting and stimulating artists to develop their own ideas through provocation and challenge.
New writing company producing work that amplifies women’s voices and creates a space for change.
Placing Deaf and disabled actors centre stage and challenging preconceptions.
Improvisers, theatre makers and conversation facilitators.
Performance trio with a ‘fun’ website that makes it hard to find a summary sentence to copy, but we like their work.
A national, verbatim theatre company. Campaigning for hidden voices to be heard.
Enable people to queer their world through theatre, performance, film, audio-plays, workshops, club nights, symposiums, book groups and more.
Create and nurture new writing that is thought provoking, challenging and culturally inclusive.
Find, create and tour powerful new stories, performing them wherever you are.
All-female/non-binary theatre and cabaret company, creating shows for the LGBTQ+ community since 2013.
A company of performers, musicians and makers.
Performance Art duo exploring the political, the personal and the down-right perverted.
London-based, queer led theatrical entertainment company and multi-disciplinary performance collective.
Championing Black Excellence in theatre; nurturing talent in emerging and established artists of African or Caribbean heritage and telling inspirational and passionate stories.
Pan-Asian cabaret collective of performers of Asian descent working in a variety of nightlife performance genres, including drag, burlesque, dance, comedy, music, and circus.
Showcasing and celebrating Performers of Colour within cabaret with regular events
Platforming queer women & non-binary comedians.
Choatic gender defiant cabaret collective
Dedicated to the promotion and development of female writers and theatre makers.
Make theatre written, directed and performed by artists of colour.
Comedy, drag & cabaret shows platforming performers of colour.
Creating platforms & stages for LGBTIQA+ voices to be heard & shared.
Helpful info / newsletters / spreadsheets
Useful free resources for anyone working or aspiring to work in the arts:
Alternative Funds to the Arts Council list by Beth Sitek
Arts Admin e-digest weekly arts jobs & opportunities
Chris Sonnex’s list of Black Creatives
Daisy Hale's workshop notes including sessions on ACE DYCP funding
Linda Bloomfield's #OpportunityTuesday on Twitter every Tuesday
Rafia Hussain's resources including Arts Council & ‘How I Work’ template
REcreate Agency services bid writing, access support, dramaturgy & more
The Uncultured including Arts Council templates & access support
The White Pube's Library of successful funding applications
Non-theatrey stuff we like
Just stuff we support, like, enjoy & admire outside the world of “theatre & performance”.
The original & best! Buy & read all her stuff!
Improves Deaf and disabled people's access to live music, by working in partnership with audiences, artists and the music industry.
The Bechdel Test Fest is an ongoing screening collective who present films with a positive representation for women in film.
Punk band formed by feminist activists, mixing political rage with queer joy.
Creating spaces of joy, community and care for Black LGBTQ+ youth through creative intervention.
A boundary-pushing mix of film, art, & parties rooted in London’s queer creative community.
London based community organisation supporting LGBTQ+ young people and their parents.
Supports local people to co-create their own cultural and community events, sharing and celebrating the genius in everyone.
A queer dance party, hailing from Brighton and London, playing music exclusively by women.
The UK's oldest LGBT bookshop and a touchstone for the broader LGBT community.
Charity that works to increase understanding of gender diversity and improve the lives of trans people.
Supports LGBT+ Groups and Organisations for Stronger LGBT+ Communities.
DJ collective, community platform and queer party.
Taking direct action for domestic violence services.
Campaign for the rights and safety of everyone who sells sexual services. Organising skill-shares and support meet-ups just for sex workers, as well as public events.
LGBTQ+ film events, at the Prince Charles Cinema Leicester Square, and beyond.
The world's first bricks and mortar museum about the gynaecological anatomy.