“…we want you to feel welcome here...” Emily Collins reflects on her time partnered with Old Diorama

When Daniel Pitt started at ODAC, one of the first things he did was sign the organisation up as one of the 50 partners on the Fuel Theatre-led, Mayor of London-funded ‘Creative Freelancers: Shaping London’s Recovery’. ODAC was matched with freelancer Emily Collins, and Daniel and Emily have met most weeks over the last few months as part of the programme, feeding into plans for both making freelancing better in London, and plans for the future of ODAC.

Here, Emily reflects on the process, ODAC, and why we’ve ended up throwing a big Community Christmas party…

Hi there!

My name’s Emily and I am a Freelance Theatre Director, Dramaturg and Script Reader. I work predominantly with early and mid-career writers, and I describe my work as cheeky, playful and full of heart. The main thing I want to destroy with my work is the idea that theatre is inaccessible, overly-intellectual and dull. My work is bright, fun, emotionally-led and invites everyone to be a part of it. Theatre should not just be made by and for posh people. When it is, the quality of the work suffers.

My time on CF:SLR

‘What makes me look at an opportunity and feel exhausted before I’ve even gone for it?’ 

This was the question that I wanted to explore when I joined the Creative Freelancers: Shaping London’s Recovery programme in July. As a freelancer, the beginning of a project often comes with an impending feeling of dread and a pre-emptive sense of defeat. How will I get funding? How will I afford space to rehearse? Will I run myself into the ground on this project just for nobody to programme it anyway? It was getting to the point where I was teaching myself to expect failure on every project because making my work was so dependent on other people. Control over my career felt completely in the hands of funders, venues, and people in power in the arts industry: it felt like there was no room to stand on my own two feet and take control over my career as an artist. 

During my time on CF:SLR, the focus of my research has been transparency in venue/freelancer relationships, fairer allocations of space in kind, reimagining funding for artists and working-class inclusion in the arts. I have researched the positive contribution meanwhile spaces make to the freelance economy, and how they are one of the only avenues for affordable rehearsal space hire. I have looked into alternative funding to Arts Council, including investment, funding from local councils and grant schemes. With the help of other cohort members I have contributed towards a toolkit for eliminating classism in their organisations, and how to foster fair working conditions for working class artists. Finally, I have worked closely with Old Diorama to push venues to create a ‘Resources’ page for their website. This should clearly detail to freelancers what they can and can’t offer them in terms of resources and support. The idea of this is to set transparent expectations for freelancers and reduce the workload of organisations getting requests they can’t fulfil.

Working with Old Diorama

All of the above is why I was so excited to be with Old Diorama Arts Centre as the CF:SLR programme kicked off. With no public funding and a self-sufficient business model, they had achieved as an organisation what I wanted to achieve as an artist. More than that, they wanted to use their unique position as a self-sufficient organisation to play an active role in making life better for freelancers. Their curiosity, openness to my input and expertise on the business side of theatre have made the scheme feel incredibly worthwhile for me as a participant.  It’s an incredible feeling to have someone listen to your pipe dreams for what the industry could look like, take them seriously and take steps to make them happen. Me and ODAC are not going to change a structurally broken working system built on unpaid labour and structural oppression overnight. But if our work can take pressures and barriers away from a substantial number of freelancers, I’ll leave this process happy with what we achieved.

One of the main things I have wondered when I’ve come to Old Diorama to work is why more freelancers don’t come in to use the space. The venue is in an incredible location. It’s welcoming and bright. You can work in the foyer without having to buy a coffee or eat a packed lunch at an angle so the café staff can’t see you’ve brought food in. It’s an incredible resource that - if promoted more - would be brimming with freelancers hot-desking or taking a much needed break from working in a home office. This is a vision that the team at ODAC also share, and has led to us organising a Christmas Party where the main message is: we want you to feel welcome here. 

As a freelancer who too often has let work relationships slip for fear I’m not wanted, an open invitation feels important to set a precedent that relationships with freelancers require time, care and effort. If you work with someone who then flies off the radar, freelancers are left feeling insecure and like their career is floating in an ether post-project. This Christmas party serves as an antidote to that approach. It’s an opportunity to get to know the organisation without your networking head on or feeling a need to sell yourself. It’s a chance to learn what Old Diorama can do to support you, and whether we fit with the way you want to work. It’s confirmation that whether live locally or not, have worked here recently or would love to in the future, you are and should be invited to the party.

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So, see you at the party on Monday 13th December? 

And if you’re a freelancer looking for space to work, come visit Old Diorama, or get in touch!