The Empty Space: Hacking the Arts Funding Crisis

SCRUM invites you to join us for an evening with New Diorama Theatre, Theatre Deli and Bold Theatre, in a discussion of innovative approaches to beating the arts crisis. We will share experiences, ideas and hard-won lessons, in a night exploring what’s possible when we think beyond traditional funding models. 

From working with developers and landlords to transform empty commercial spaces into creative lifelines for communities, to finding new approaches to income generation and partnerships, this event will explore the challenges, opportunities and practical approaches that could help sustain the next generation of creatives.

After a discussion and Q&A with our panel, join us in the bar for networking and finding new connections. The conversation doesn’t end on stage: this will be an evening of inspiration, networking and practical conversation, designed to bring together the expertise of real estate, charities and creative organisations. Join us and imagine what’s possible when we think outside the box.  

Hosted by Lucie Dawkins and Wofai JE, Artistic Director and Executive Director at SCRUM Theatre, featuring:

Alex Ferguson - Executive Director & Co-CEO, New Diorama Theatre

David Ralph – CEO, Theatre Deli

Shani Erez & Sarah Goddard - Co-Directors, BOLD Theatre

We look forward to welcoming:

• arts organisations looking for ways to generate sustainable income and expand their impact.
• creative producers exploring income generation outside traditional funding.
• real estate specialists, landlords, and asset managers thinking creatively about how to use void spaces.
• funders, businesses, and individuals interested in ensuring a thriving future for the theatre.

David Ralph

David is an arts leader, producer, and production manager. As CEO of Theatre Deli he has led the organisation into new meanwhile-use venues in the City of London, Tower Hamlets and Hackney. David is a trustee of Phosphoros Theatre, a charity that makes socially engaged performance with, for, and by refugees and asylum seekers.

Shani Erez

Shani is a London based director, writer and actor, working internationally and across the UK. She is a Co-Director for BOLD Theatre, where her play The Foreigners’ Panto premiered and where she regularly creates and stages new work. Recent directing projects include Hecuba: Why Am I In Your Country? at the Gilded Balloon, Orlando at RCSSD, her adaptation of House of Bernarda Alba at BADA and The Unheard Voices at the Goethe Institute in Beijing. 

Alex Ferguson

Executive Director & Co-CEO, New Dioroma Theatre.

Sarah Goddard

Sarah has worked extensively over the last 25+ years making theatre, producing theatre and events and touring widely and wildly as an actor; from rural to the West End, with an Olivier Nomination thrown in and devising with a wide range of artists from the late Ken Campbell to Sally Cookson. Sarah has been an advocate for actors' rights, widening opportunity in communities. For the last four years she has co-run and curated BOLD theatre.