Networking for the Common Good

STUART BROWNLEE introduces the Highlands & Islands Theatre Network in an overview that launches a new series of profiles of the member groups

THE HIGHLANDS & ISLANDS Theatre Network Limited (HITN) is a Company Limited by Guarantee acting as a consortium of all the professional producing theatre and dance companies based in the Highlands and Islands.

The Network has a number of agreed aims, including the promoting the advancement of education and the arts in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland area for the benefit of the public; promoting the professional theatre sector in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland area at regional, national and international levels; and working with other organisations to encourage wider access to theatre across the Highlands and Islands of Scotland area.

HITN’s role is to provide an identifiable mechanism for contact and communication, advocacy and advice in order to develop a sustainable sector, which takes into account the sparse population and geographical challenges faced by the HITN members.
 
There are currently 21 Member Companies from the professional sector in the region, 17 from the theatre or theatre arts, and four from dance.

Some are long established and some new, and they deliver a range of activities such as new work (including writing and touring product), educational work, dance, community plays, multimedia projects, formal educational courses, actors’ masterclasses, special needs, international work, theatre in education, large scale celebrations and site specific performances.

Membership of the network is also open to theatre producing and receiving houses like Eden Court Theatre and Pitlochry Festival Theatre.

The Board of Directors is chaired by Ian Brown, a Theatre Training and Development Consultant, former Professor of Drama and Dean of Arts, Queen Margaret University College, Edinburgh, and a playwright.

Board Members include Lara Macdonald, John McGeoch, Dolina MacLennan, Sandy Anderson and Ann McKay. The Network’s first Patron is Muriel Romanes, the Artistic Director of Stellar Quines Theatre Company in Edinburgh.

HITN also currently has two part-time freelance development posts, occupied by Muriel Ann MacLeod, (Development Officer muriel@hitn.co.uk ) and Stuart Brownlee (Marketing & Information Co-ordinator stuart@hitn.co.uk ).
 
A new Business Plan and Marketing Plan is in place, and for the period 2005-08 HITN is concentrating on four key development programmes.

1: A Northern Periphery collaborative project with Norway and Sweden. The first stage of this is ‘Northern Connections’, a collaborative workshop that took place between 2-4 December 2005, when 12 professional practitioners from Sweden joined with 10 of their Highlands and Islands counterparts in Ullapool for a 3-day workshop to begin the process of working on a piece of collaborative work.

Highlands and Islands practitioners will visit Sweden between 30 March-3 April 2006 to continue the process with a view to developing and performing a jointly produced work during 2007, ideally as an integral part of a Festival of Theatre. This project is supported by Highlands and Islands Enterprise and the National Theatre of Scotland.

2: A Festival of Theatre for 2007. Dràma Na h-Alba – Scotland’s Theatre Arts Festival and Forum (DNA/STAFF) will celebrate the best of today’s theatre in the Highlands and Islands, and offering a forum to learn, create and debate.

A Festival Implementation Group (FIG) is in place, with representatives from HITN member companies and observers from major agencies, including the National Theatre of Scotland, the Playwrights’ Studio Scotland, The Federation of Scottish Theatre, Promote YT Scotland, HI~Arts, Highland 2007 and Eden Court Theatre.

The aims of the Festival are to celebrate, share and promote the highest quality theatre and build links between the Highlands and Islands and national and international practitioners; to create opportunities for the involvement of the wider communities, including young people and children; and provide an environment for Scotland’s theatre community to learn, debate, innovate and create.
 
The working group has already agreed a set of Programming Principles for the Festival and a provisional core structure for the event programmed to run from 16-24 September 2007, and biennially thereafter.

The Festival plans include new and remounted work from HITN member companies, a partnership production with the National Theatre of Scotland, work from two visiting UK companies, at least one of which will be Scottish, and a visiting international company.

The programme also includes planned visits from national and international practitioners across the theatre arts, as well as Forum and Masterclass Workshop supporting events.

3: Marketing support initiatives to support Member companies. These include the HITN website development www.hitn.co.uk , a DVD featuring work of member companies, and collaborative marketing distribution scheme and profile raising.

4: A Theatre Masterclass Training programme for HITN Members, offering weekend based sessions with internationally recognised theatre and dance practitioners.

Looking to the future of the Highlands and Islands Theatre Network, the Chairman, Ian Brown, is optimistic and excited by the range of opportunities now being taken up to help develop the professional theatre and dance sector to new levels of productivity and performance:

“The Highlands and Islands Theatre Network is at a new, necessary stage of developing the future of theatre,” he said. “Our members have a new Company identity that encourages a co-ordinated dynamic approach to the best of now and many exciting new developments.”

Future editions of Northings will feature profiles of individual HITN member companies. You can find out more about HITN and its member companies by visiting www.hitn.co.uk , or contact: Stuart Brownlee, HITN Marketing & Information Co-ordinator: c/o HI~Arts, Suites 4&5, 4th Floor, Ballantyne House, 84 Academy Street, Inverness, IV1 1LU; 01456 476217, Mobile: 07713 632438, E: stuart@hitn.co.uk

© Stuart Brownlee, 2006