Alongside her role as General Manager, Paige Evans began producing our Gateways programme during Gate’s Autumn production of Wish You Were Here. Paige’s career has centred around supporting emerging artists and creating accessible artistic hubs, and this programme is her highlight of her time at Gate.
Paige is a Producer & General Manager with 5+ years working in artist development schemes and small-mid scale subsidised London theatres, originally from the South West. Before this, Paige was Venue Manager at New Diorama Theatre’s (NDT) pioneering free rehearsal space scheme, NDT Broadgate, and was the Programming, Production and Marketing Manager at OSO Arts Centre. Paige’s experience lies in artist development, audience engagement and creating opportunities to develop experience and perspective between art and the world it lives in.
What has the process of creating Gateways been like?
Last year, as Gate produced Wish You Were Here, the team knew there was an opportunity and a responsibility to engage with this work beyond the show itself. As a company, Gate are committed to telling stories from beyond our borders, and to do this we have to find ways that the shows we make have an impact beyond the script, the space, and the world created on stage.
So, the question came – how do we create wraparound activity that is truly meaningful, not just thrown in? From this, Gateways was born – a series of talks, commissions and curated events that offer our audiences opportunities to learn more about our work, our artists, and how our productions relate to the wider world.
Creating Gateways has been nothing less than a joy. My interest in working in theatre has always come from building communities and seeing tangible impact that art has on audiences once the curtain has come down. The Wish You Were Here Gateway programme was exactly that for me – providing opportunity to companies needing space to perform, commissioning the creation of new written works inspired by our production, and hearing the voices of truly inspirational women in politics, film and journalism on what this show meant to the Iranian community. And seeing the Iranian community feeling seen. Some of whom have never been to a Gate show, and some who have never been to a show before. That was incredible.
Now, we are extending our Gateways programme to provide learning and discussion to not just surround our productions, but as a constant strand of our work. We’re still piloting a few things to ensure we get it right – but it feels solid and committed from us as a team, and I’m really excited to see it grow!
What are the three core Gateways Programme offers?
With the current Gateways series, this is about us connecting with our artists. Giving casual space for connection in our Coffee Mornings, valuable and focused 1:1 time in our Artist Surgeries, and then opportunities for their learning through our Masterclass series. It feeds into our mission that we stage international work and artists, but we are also a training theatre – allowing artists to grow, learn and add new tools to their practice through working with us even outside a programmed production.
What do you want artists to get out of the three core Gateways Programme offers?
I feel like the Gateways offers covers a few bases. Our Coffee Mornings are designed to be casual, giving artists a chance to talk to us in a low-stakes way (as well as our wonderful housemates, New Earth Theatre, Paines Plough and Tamasha!) as well as other artists who come along. Our Artist Surgeries provide the opportunity to soundboard or dissect a question 1:1 with the Gate team – again, showing our artists that we are on hand to talk and provide help and advice where we can! The Masterclass series is designed to provide a practical space where artists can learn from each other and leading facilitators in international theatre, bettering their understanding of how to make work outside their own world view.
Which artists are the Gateways Programme for and how they can connect with the Gate through the programme?
Gateways is for any artist who wants to engage with the Gate. Our Coffee Mornings and Artist Surgeries are open to all, and we really welcome everyone to come along! For our Masterclasses, these are application based and can vary between each session. We ask for artists to tell us how they think the workshop they’re applying for will benefit their practice – but in no more than 200 words. As an organisation who supports, produces and programmes international theatre, we encourage artists who tell stories from beyond our beyonds, make theatre as an act of resistance and/or political work to apply.
Summarise Gateways in three words:
Eye-Opening, Exciting, Important
What has been your favourite part producing Gateways so far?
Oh this is hard because we’re just starting! But as I said earlier, Wish You Were Here was really special. Putting together that programme was so exciting and I remember at the time thinking ‘this is really, really cool’. I’d love to do that again.
