Sharing your work without touring
With the increasing understanding and discourse around the negative environmental impact that international touring causes, more and more artists and companies are discovering innovative and entrepreneurial ways of sharing their work beyond traditional touring models. These include digital streaming, licensing, collaboration and commissioning.
The below guide from Farnham Maltings has some great information and case studies to get you started.
Touring in schools
There is not a definitive list of which schools receive productions. This is because it depends on factors such as budget, space/facilities, focus, ethos of school and most importantly the individual teacher’s preferences as they tend to organise visiting productions directly.
How to approach schools
- Send your information to the Learning / Education departments of each local authority in the regions you want to tour the work. This information should include teacher support packs, tech spec and costs. These departments can then circulate your show information throughout their schools to see if there is any uptake.
- Write a teacher’s resource pack outlining specifically how your production supports the outcomes of the curriculum. You should demonstrate how you can accelerate learning in line with the curriculum.
- Structure the pack like an interview: ask the director about the central themes of the show, ask the playwright why they chose to write it, ask them both about style and ideas. Ask the cast to talk about their characters, who they are, what motivates them, their relationships etc.
- Call each of the schools you want to target directly and compile a database of drama / expressive arts faculty contacts. Teachers are incredibly busy and receive lots of offers like this; they tend to book shows that are reputable, clearly outline the curricular benefits and are low budget. If the show is expensive then you might be better contacting the private school sector.
Find out more about arts in education in Scotland.
Audience development
One of the main reasons for touring a production is to build an audience for your work outside of your home base, and as a result, to grow as a company / artist. It is important to work with your venue to build an audience; it is in both your interests to get the work seen by lots of people.
There are a number of ways to do this:
- Invite marketing and box office staff to see your show so they can sell it and talk about it with confidence.
- Write a blog and use social media to create a following for the tour and to gather your audience. Update your audience on interesting things that happen throughout the tour, post pictures and announce local press response.
- Compile a FAQ sheet for your venue’s box office that lists all the potential audience questions – Who is in it? Is it suitable for children? How long does it last? Also make sure that you give details on any unique performance elements so that staff can answer questions knowledgeably.
Current opportunities
Below you'll find information on any current touring opportunities. We also host a broad range of opportunities for artists on Fringe Connect, our social network and online events space for artists and arts industry.
See opportunities on Fringe Connect
Made in Scotland Onward International Touring Fund
One of the key aims of Made in Scotland is to maximise the benefit for Scottish artists on the international platform that is the Fringe. As part of this, funding is available to support any work created in Scotland which attracts interest from international promoters as a result of being showcased at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe – it is not just limited to those companies which have been part of a current or previous Made in Scotland Showcase.
Visit the Creative Scotland website for more details
Touring networks
Below is a list of useful websites where you can find additional information on touring networks, venue resources, legal issues, contractual responsibilities and many more relevant topics.