Open@TheStudio

In celebration of its 10^th anniversary, The Studio is throwing open the doors of opportunity for theatre practitioners in Edinburgh and the Lothians.

One of the key performing arts venues in the Scottish capital, Capital Theatres manage The Studio alongside the King’s Theatre and the Festival Theatre and this year it celebrates its 10th anniversary. To mark the occasion, The Studio team is announcing details of its Open@TheStudio programme which has been piloted over the last few months with great success.

Open@TheStudio is a unique, comprehensive programme of practical workshops, useful talks, R&D residencies and scratch nights designed to help those in the theatre industry: new graduates, independent artists, companies and self-producers, offering them a complete support package, from advice and networking to workshops, free to use space and seed money.

Fiona Gibson, CEO of Capital Theatres said:

“Everyone at Capital Theatres is hugely excited to continue the vital opportunity that Open@TheStudio offers to performing arts practitioners in Edinburgh and the Lothians, following the very successful pilot earlier this year. The Studio is becoming an exciting new hub for emerging creatives – here’s to the next 10 years of celebrating and sharing their fantastic creativity!”

Claire Symonds, Head of Creative Engagement at Capital Theatres said:

“We recognise that the pandemic has caused a massive skills drain in the performing arts industry and also broken pathways for early career arts practitioners to emerge from education into professional practice. Open@TheStudio aims to address that.

Following the runaway success that was the Open@TheStudio pilot, we are delighted to continue the programme which allows the participants to explore their creativity while learning new skills. Many arts organisations around the country offer similar support but we think that the comprehensive programme of Open@TheStudio is pretty unique as it addresses so many aspects of creative practice.

We see it as an important investment in the creative talent of the future and cannot wait to share it with the industry and our audiences.”

The programme includes:

Open Conversations

Our 90-minute sessions on the nuts & bolts of the industry.
An insight into how things work and informal networking with local theatre makers and producers, answering questions such as how does tour booking work? How do you get funding? How does programming work? How theatre maths works?

Open to Ideas

Our residency programme for new theatre makers.
The Studio provides 5 free days of space, 2 days of free technical support and £2k seed funding. There is no pressure to showcase an end product and the theatre makes no promises to programme. This is a genuine invitation to explore an idea.

Open Workshops

Masterclasses and workshops from artists and companies.
Taking advantage of the fantastic talent performing at Capital Theatres’ venues, Open Workshops offer a chance to work with visiting companies, from West End touring shows to the hottest new contemporary theatre makers, offering a unique opportunity to learn from the experts. Workshop schedule will be announced in due course.

Open Floor: Scratch Nights

Theatre practitioners can test their work in front of a live audience – with the audience giving them constructive feedback afterwards.
The next Open Floor scratch night takes place on 1 November 2023.

Open@The Studio is generously supported by Baillie Gifford.