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Equity to launch Manifesto for Drama

Published Tuesday 4 November 2008 at 14:25 by Matthew Hemley

A manifesto outlining the cultural and economic value of drama and the framework needed to safeguard its future production across television, radio and theatre is being developed by Equity.

The union’s Manifesto for Drama is being drawn up in response to cuts many theatres and theatre companies suffered at the hands of Arts Council England last year and in light of what the union perceives as ever decreasing reductions in broadcasters’ drama budgets.

It will attempt to address how working methods have changed, the impact new technology is having on the industry, how audiences are evolving and what these changes mean for the industry.

Equity’s research and parliamentary affairs officer Matt Payton told The Stage that the document was initially developed with a focus solely on theatre and the council’s cuts. But he said discussions with members had since prompted the union to widen the manifesto’s remit to encompass drama as a whole across all media.

“We took the decision that, rather than always reacting to cycles of funding and reviews of areas of work affecting our members, we would try and develop a positive agenda. This would incorporate elements of working in drama and developing and putting on drama that is not so reactive but is actually what we want and on our timescale,” he said.

He added: “It will be a manifesto we refer back to that guides us in our dealings with everyone we work with.”

Equity vice president Jean Rogers said the manifesto, due to be published next year, would aim to get drama valued “financially and culturally”.

She claimed it was a vital step in bridging the gap between people who make decisions about the arts and those who actually work in the field, and said it would be distributed to all relevant bodies, including the government and companies that employ actors.

“There seems to be a division between those who makes decisions and those who practice them. The strictures put around art are so office-based, they don’t take account of what drama is all about really,” she said.

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