Leeds-based Eclipse Theatre's 'uplifting manual' after support for Black artists

Released today, Leeds-based Eclipse Theatre's report How to plant magic beans AND build rockets to the moon… highlights the work of those involved in the company’s three-year Slate: Black. Arts. World project.

The programme allowed Black artists to work regionally, nationally and internationally while building sustainable models for careers after years of being "forced to operate almost entirely outside of the established cultural sector," said the company, which was previously based in Sheffield before its move to Mabgate Mill.

The report reveals that as well as the programme benefiting more than over 5,000 Black, Asian and ethnically diverse artists, it commissioned or supported the creation of over 200 new works which reached 46,000 audience members.

Amanda Huxtable, who became artistic director and CEO of Eclipse late last year, said: “This report is, as the title suggests, an uplifting manual for the industry written with all the hope and confidence we will all need for our collective futures.

"As Eclipse moves forward, our focus remains to challenge our industry to do better in order to be better for to the many communities we belong to and serve. The dismantling of the power structures and dynamics within our industry that overtly and discreetly discriminate must be our core focus now as we look to rebuild together.”

In early stages, Slate identified six key challenges facing Black, Asian and ethnically diverse artists in the North - including an historical lack of recognition for Black artists, especially outside of London - and the digital publication sets out how the challenges were faced.

This included 38 artists receiving research and developing funding to enable them to work without financial pressure, and ‘Slate Socials’, which allowed 1,336 artists to meet with other like-minded people and share their thoughts and concerns.

Published in collaboration with audience data specialist Indigo Ltd, the report follows the company’s widely referenced 2018 document The R Word: Risk or Racism.

Sharing findings from the sold-out national tour of Black Men Walking, that report "kicked aside barriers and assumptions" faced by Black artists and theatre companies when attempting to tour their work, "demonstrating clearly that risk is all too often closely associated with race", said the Eclipse.

Over the last six months the Eclipse team, under the new leadership of Ms Huxtable, has been offering support virtually with online workshops, masterclasses and by "creating safe spaces for experiences, worries and aspirations to be shared".

Most recently, in partnership with Black Womxn in Theatre and alongside the Bush Theatre, Eclipse’s chair Stella Kanu and executive producer Shawab Iqbal launched the #AllofUs redundancy campaign as an immediate response to support Black, Asian, ethnically diverse and migrant arts workers facing redundancy.

Ms Kanu said: “The aftermath of Covid-19 has shown us that the role of the artist, freelance or otherwise, is the backbone of the arts and cultural sector with 86 per cent of freelancer engaged by [publicly-funded] National Portfolio Organisations identifying As Black, Asian or ethnically diverse.

"The ambitions of Slate to identify and nurture independent artists in the North of England is working and will go from strength to strength with the new dynamic leadership team."