Freelancer training and development
Research and development in collaboration with Guildhall School of Music & Drama.
In 2024, Tonic worked with Guildhall School of Music & Drama to explore ways in which affordable, flexible and relevant training and professional development opportunities could be provided for performing arts freelancers. This work was funded by the government’s Regional Innovation Fund.
The performing arts industry is reliant on the skills, labour and talent of the freelance workforce; freelancers are at the heart of everything we do. In spite of this, relatively little focus is given to ensuring that our freelance workforce is tooled up, resilient, and equipped to be the best it can.
As well as depleting the productivity and effectiveness of the industry, from a diversity perspective this is problematic. For those groups of freelancers who disproportionately experience precarity in their careers, the lack of structured spaces in which to reflect, learn and develop is particularly impactful. Tonic is keen to change this and sees the potential to create a national hub of learning and development opportunities for freelancers working in the performing arts.
In early 2024, we engaged in a period of research and development alongside Guildhall. We kicked this off by conducting focus groups and interviews with a wide range of freelancers and employers from across the industry.
Following on from this, we ran a series of test events for freelancers, which consisted of training sessions we created to fill the gaps identified from our research. The feedback we received for this was unanimously positive, with over 60% of attendees rating the sessions as “excellent”.
Finally, at the end of 2024 we ran a round table event for industry leaders at Guildhall where we presented initial research, then facilitated focused breakout discussions where attendees shared candid perspectives on creating meaningful professional development pathways for freelance theatre workers.
While we know there’s more work ahead, this research and development felt like a significant step towards reimagining support for our creative workforce. We hope to take this further and will provide updates as and when they happen.
