After the success of the Board Shadowing Programme: Yorkshire Edition, Artistic Directors of the Future is pleased to announce their ADF Board Shadowing Programme: London Edition, in partnership with three of London’s most exciting and reputable theatre companies: Complicité, English Touring Theatre and Punchdrunk.

The ADF Board Shadowing Programme: London Edition presents a first-time opportunity for London-based aspiring trustees from culturally diverse backgrounds to gain an insight into the boardrooms and operations of theatre companies in London.
Over the duration of six months, up to eight selected ADF Members will have the opportunity to shadow the board meetings at three theatre companies, as well as gain the opportunity to engage with each organisation outside of the boardroom, including attending press nights, subcommittee meetings, open rehearsals and group tours within the organisation to meet staff members and stakeholders.
The ADF Board Shadowing Programme is designed to broker the relationship between aspiring trustees from culturally diverse backgrounds and existing boards of directors at leading theatre organisations to redress the balance of diversity at governance level.
This exclusive programme will provide artists and leaders from culturally diverse backgrounds with access to the board rooms of prominent theatre organisations in the UK, as well as enable organisations to strengthen their relationship with culturally diverse artists and leaders for succession planning.
Applications open Monday 8th July 2019
Simeilia Hodge-Dallaway, Artistic Director of ADF, commented
“We are thrilled to work with three dynamic theatre companies: Complicité, Punchdrunk and English Touring Theatre, for the first London consortium iteration of the ADF Board Shadowing Programme. At ADF, we are committed to developing our initiatives and therefore, the second iteration of the programme presented a great opportunity to expand our board shadowing programme to include non-venue-based theatre organisations. We believe that this new addition will strengthen the relationship between our ADF members and theatre companies, as well as blossom new and exciting partnerships and opportunities within these organisations in the near future. The programme is designed to change the theatre organisations that participate in the programme forever and feed into the succession of their leadership.”
Polly Gifford, Executive Director for Complicité, commented
“Complicité is excited to be taking part in the first ADF Board Shadowing Programme: London Edition. As a company we have always thrived on input from a wide range of people and on the exchange of ideas and experiences, including within our Board. Working with ADF on this programme will introduce the company to inspiring people beyond our existing networks and help to support a diversity of representation within the company, and the sector, which is vital to creative and organisational development.”
Sarah Goodfellow, Executive Director for Punchdrunk (maternity cover), commented
“At Punchdrunk, we are committed to contributing towards a diverse arts sector. We’re looking forward to welcoming the 2019 cohort to our board meetings and working with theatre companies across London as part of this scheme”
Richard Twyman, Artistic Director for English Touring Theatre, commented
“ETT are committed to reflecting the diversity of the nation on our stages and within our workforce, so we’re delighted to be working on ADF’s Board Shadowing Programme. It’s essential that we find new pathways into leadership roles within the industry, and through their visionary work, ADF are opening up access to positions of influence that will change and invigorate the sector immeasurably in the years to come.”
Note to Editors
About Artistic Directors of the Future
Artistic Directors of the Future (ADF) is a charitable organisation dedicated to increasing the number of culturally diverse artistic directors of mainstream theatres and theatre organisations. Since its conception in 2014, ADF has built a growing membership of over 350 culturally diverse practitioners and have forged strong relationships with over 30 NPO theatres and theatre companies in the UK, US and Canada. ADF works with a wide range of culturally diverse artists at varying levels of experience to inspire, prepare, support and empower the next generation of artistic leaders, giving them the leverage they need to progress to the next step. By working in collaboration with the theatre industry, academia and numerous leading producing theatres and theatre organisations located nationally and internationally, ADF delivers a bespoke development programme, generates access to positions of authority, and cultivates artistic & leadership opportunities.
adofthefuture.com | @adofthefuture
Contact
For more information about ADF Board Shadowing Programme: London Edition, please contact:
Name: Sandra Thompson-Quartey, Associate Producer & Training and Development Manager, Artistic Directors of the Future
Email: sandra@adofthefuture.com
COMPLICITÉ
Complicité works across art forms, believing theatre, opera, film, installation, publication and community art can all be sites for the collective act of imagination. Founded in 1983, the Company has won over 50 major theatre awards worldwide.
Whilst never standing still, the Company nonetheless, seeks to continually build on its origins as a collective endeavor, strengthening and reaffirming this spirit of collective enquiry, of collaborative curiosity as a dynamic working process. The work Complicité has created with actors, designers, writers, artists and other specialists from around the globe, has established core relationships that have spanned the last three decades.
Alongside McBurney’s work, the Company runs an award-winning Creative Learning and Participation programme and supports artists through the Complicité Associates and ‘Developed with Complicité’ strands. In 2019, this work will see the Company return to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for the first time in over 20 years, with two new productions – one from Complicité Associate Catherine Alexander, and a new show from The Wardrobe Ensemble developed with Complicité.
More information at
www.complicite.org / Twitter @complicite / Facebook @TheatredeComplicite / Instagram @complicitetheatre / YouTube @Complicite
English Touring Theatre (ETT)
English Touring Theatre (ETT) is one of the UK’s leading touring companies, winning the UK Theatre Awards Best Touring Production in 2014, 2015 and 2016, and the 2017 Manchester Theatre Award for Best Visiting Production. ETT works with exciting artists to stage an eclectic mix of new and classic work for audiences throughout the UK and internationally; theatre that is thrilling, popular and engaged in the contemporary world. ETT celebrates the diversity of the nation, create connections between audiences nationally, and places an examination of English identity at the heart of everything it does. ETT passionately believes that everyone, wherever they are in the country, deserve access to world class theatre that has meaning and relevance to their lives.
Last year saw the company celebrate its 25th anniversary, it began the year with a critically acclaimed production of A Streetcar Named Desire directed by the 2017 RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award-winning Chelsea Walker, followed by a major national tour of Richard Twyman’s production of Othello,and a celebrated revival of Dealing with Clair by Martin Crimp in a co-production with the Orange Tree Theatre.
In 2019 ETT have produced a major revival of Equus by Peter Shaffer in a co-production with Theatre Royal Stratford East, directed by award winning director Ned Bennett; the world premiere of Cougar by Rose Lewenstein, directed by Chelsea Walker in a co-production with the Orange Tree Theatre; and The Funeral Director by Iman Qureshi, winner of the 2018 PAPAtango award. Over the summer Equus will transfer to the West End’s Trafalgar Studios for a limited engagement and in the autumn ETT will tour the first theatrical adaptation of Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig, imagined for the stage by Jonathan Watkins with text written by April de Angelis, in a co-production with Sheffield Theatres.
www.ett.org.uk Twitter: @ETTtweet / Instagram: @englishtouringtheatre /
Facebook: @EnglishTouringTheatre
PUNCHDRUNK
Formed in the UK by Felix Barrett in 2000, Punchdrunk has pioneered a game-changing form of immersive theatre in which roaming audiences experience epic and emotional storytelling inside sensory theatrical worlds. Our award-winning productions invite audiences to rediscover the childlike excitement and anticipation of exploring the unknown and experience a real sense of adventure. The company’s international production, Sleep No More, recently celebrated eight years of its extended run in the USA, and opened a new version in Shanghai in December 2016.
Since 2008, Punchdrunk has taken the company’s practice into communities, creating high quality, ambitious projects and productions for children, participants and the wider community. This includes public productions, research & development and Enrichment work with teachers and schools.
The Charity’s recent work includes Small Wonders, a production for 5-11 year olds and their families, whilst schools projects The Lost Lending Library and A Small Tale are currently being delivered in London and across the UK. Previous projects include Against Captain’s Orders, a family show created in partnership with the National Maritime Museum and Greenhive Green, which took place in a care home for older people including those with dementia.