A damning review of workforce practices in commercial and not-for-profit theatre has painted a picture of a sector being undermined by low pay, a damaging culture of overwork, poor treatment of freelance workers and a lack of long-term strategic thinking.

The report, commissioned by the Society of London Theatre (SOLT) and UK Theatre from consultants Nordicity, highlights a “lack of professional attitude and practices,” noting that this is hindering skills development in the workforce and contributing to a “talent drain” out of the sector.

The major challenges it identifies as needing to be addressed in order to improve professionalism in the sector include:

“Stagnant organisational culture and leadership”;

resistance to change;

an “almost complete absence” of continuous professional development;

outdated attitudes to flexible working; and

old-fashioned recruitment practices.

Some of these issues, the report says, are not new, and have been identified in previous reports - such as the 2010 Creative and Cultural Skills Performing Arts Blueprint – but little has been done to address them. The report states that there is now “an urgent and overarching need for a sector-wide strategy that recognises what needs to be done and how it can be implemented”.

Career paths

Researchers found a general perception that the availability of suitable training for ‘offstage’ workers – both pre-career and in-career – is “patchy and un-coordinated,” and that “good practice is often difficult to distinguish from bad”.

Careers guidance is thought to be “substandard”, resulting in insufficient advice to potential entrants to the sector about the training routes that could make them ‘job-ready’. The cost of training and employers’ sometimes excessively high expectations of education levels are seen as excluding those who cannot afford to train.

Despite their popularity with the sector, apprenticeships are seen as suffering from a “fragmented approach” and confused guidance from Government.

Diversity

Among other comments, the report notes that the combination of a lack of guidance with the prevalence of unpaid routes into the sector and inadequate training opportunities, has raised high barriers to entry and is hindering progress towards a more diverse workforce.

The findings from a survey, and anecdotal feedback in focus groups and interviews, have revealed the extent to which the theatre workforce “under-represents the general public, and therefore a broad talent pool, in a number of ways”.

In line with Arts Council England’s figures on diversity in the sector, the report concludes that theatre and the performing arts is suffering particularly from low representation of disabled workers, and workers from black, ethnic and minority backgrounds, while people from more affluent backgrounds and with higher levels of education are over-represented. It also reports under-representation of people with caring responsibilities, and the loss of older workers from the sector. There is evidence of a drop-out among those in their 30s or early 40s.

Partly to blame is “an endemic culture of networking and closed recruitment practices,” which is thought to be “creating good short-term results, but means that the make-up of the sector is self-perpetuating and exclusive”.

Skills shortages

The consequences of poor workforce practices are being felt in recruitment, and according to the report, “there are very few areas of the offstage workforce where there is generally believed to be an oversupply of skilled workers”.

This is having a particular impact in areas where workers have skills that are transferable to other industries, such as marketers and accountants. There is also thought to be a shortage of skilled senior managers and technical workers, especially outside London.

Planned response

The challenges raised in the report are now being considered by SOLT and UK Theatre, which are planning to establish a training consortium comprising sector bodies and skills providers, including employers in both commercial and not for profit theatre, Creative and Cultural Skills and the new National College for Creative and Cultural Skills. The group will be working with the education sector and trade unions to the address the key concerns. The Theatre Development Trust will support the initiative with seed funding.

Julian Bird, Chief Executive of SOLT and UK Theatre said: “For the sector to continue to thrive in ten or twenty years’ time, we need to make sure that we have the right skills in place and are attracting the right diverse mix of people. This report gives us a roadmap to work with Government and employers, and on behalf of the industry, to address the requirements of our growing workforce.”