Appointment

We are delighted to announce that Kim Simpson & Mele Broomes and Emma Jayne Park have been appointed as the National Theatre of Scotland’s Freelance Task Force members, as part of the UK wide crisis responsive initiative.

We are thrilled that we can create three roles, with two on a job share basis. Kim Simpson & Mele Broomes will share one post with Emma Jayne Park taking on the other.

They all have a strong background in the theatre industry in Scotland. They will now work alongside a team of UK freelancers, representing the diversity of the sector across the board.

Scotland will be strongly represented with freelance task force members from Stellar Quines, Dancebase, Citizens Theatre, Eden Court Theatre, Pitlochry Festival Theatre and Birds of Paradise.

The three freelancers were appointed following an open call process and a selection panel of 6 freelancers, representing different roles within the theatre industry. They will work with the organisation for the next three months alongside over one hundred other UK Freelance Task members.

Freelance Task Force members are not expected to represent National Theatre of Scotland or speak on our behalf, nor are they expected to undertake any other duties on our behalf.

Freelance Task Force members will operate at arm’s length, responsible to the self-employed community that they are part of.

It is hoped that each Freelance Task Force member will use this opportunity to inform and influence National Theatre of Scotland, and to draw on our support and networks should they need to.

The taskforce will meet for the first-time next week and will continue to meet over the next few months.

Following feedback and consultation since advertising the role, we have increased the rate of pay to a daily rate of £184.

Background:

On Thursday 21 May 2020 National Theatre of Scotland joined with a group of performing arts organisations, including producing companies and venues, to jointly sign an open letter (see below) in support of the freelancers who make up a large and vital part of the ecology of the performance sector.

The letter had 3 main aims:

1. To listen and respond to the needs of freelancers in the performing arts
2. To call for the Self Employment Income Support Scheme to be extended in line with furloughing and until theatres can reopen in earnest
3. To establish a Freelance Task Force of self-employed theatre and performance makers.

National Theatre of Scotland has made a commitment, alongside all the other organisations, to pay a freelance theatre worker for one day a week throughout June, July and August to join the Freelance Task Force.

The aim of the Freelance Task Force is to strengthen the influence of the self-employed theatre and performance community. It will create ongoing points of connection between freelancers, organisations, funders and government and amplify the voice of the self-employed in the conversations to come about how we manage the response to and recovery from the Covid-19 crisis in the performing arts sector.

The National Theatre of Scotland is one of 138 organisations sponsoring freelancers for the #FreelanceTaskForce. Recruitment is ongoing, but you can find out more about representation in the taskforce here. https://fueltheatre.com/freelance-task-force-representation/