What Is Theatre Bath?

Theatre Bath is a small grassroots community organisation which aims to promote and champion theatre within the Bath and North East Somerset area. We share information across venues, theatre and companies. Theatre Bath strives to support anyone with an interest in theatre and has a completely open policy – it currently works with audience members, students, community theatre groups and professionals.

 

History:

Theatre Bath was founded in November 2011 by Luke John Emmett as a Twitter account. People soon began to take and interest and the amount of followers flew up so a website and Facebook page were added as well. It now has over 8600 followers on Twitter, 2500 Likes on Facebook and the website is getting upwards of 500 hits daily.

Theatre Bath has successfully run the following events/campaigns already:

  • Sat In The Park – July 2012 – a fundraising concert in Royal Victoria Park to help raise funds for a local actress to go to drama school. The concert featured many local performers and musicians including ex-students from Bath Spa University

  • Bath Chronicle Open Review Meeting October 2012 – when the Bath Chronicle threatened to cut all theatre reviews except for the Theatre Royal Main House, Theatre Bath organised an open meeting with the Chronicle editorial team and 105 representatives from the local theatre community which eventually led to them reversing their decision.

  • Regular Networking Events – Since January 2012 Theatre Bath has run almost monthly informal networking events where anyone with an interest in theatre is welcome to attend and meet others in the same field. There have been many successful partnerships that have been formed from these networking meetings including giving one company the opportunity to perform at the Rondo Theatre

  • Theatre Bath Radio Show – 2012 – Theatre Bath briefly had a weekly radio show on the newly formed West Country Radio which focused on events and news in the West Country. The show featured interviews with local groups and news on all theatre in the Bath & Bristol area.

  • Bath Theatre Matters Conference 2013 – under the banner of the My Theatre Matters Campaign which is being run by Equity, The TMA (now UK Theatre) and the Stage Newspaper, Theatre Bath organised a large-scale conference at the Guildhall in Bath. It was attended by over 140 people and featured keynote speeches from key local theatre practitioners and industry professionals from further afield. The day was incredibly successful and plans for the next one are already under way.

  • Breaking Boundaries Conference – 2014 – Theatre Bath’s conference focused on the boundaries there are within the performing arts and how to break them. Keynote speakers included: Catherine Comerford from the Stage Newspaper, Emmanuel de Lange from Equity, Oliver Jones from Trestle Theatre and Creativity Works, Andy Burden from the Natural Theatre Company, Jill Bennett from the Theatre Royal Engage Programme and many others. There were performances from Jane McLeod, Bath Dance School and A Band Named Brian.
  • Theatre Bath Workshops – 2014-15 – Theatre Bath ran a series of workshops all from the suggestions of the local theatre community. These included Improvisation, Shakespeare, Storytelling, Audition Skills, Lighting Design, Social Media Skills.
  • Bridging The Gaps Conference – 2015 – This conference looked at how Bath, Bristol and Wiltshire could work closer together and also issues around accessibility and equality in theatre. Keynote speakers included: Chloe Ellwood (Producer Bristol Old Vic), Hamida Ali (Equity), Kirsty Hoyle (Include Arts).
  • Partnership with the Bath Chronicle – 2015
    Working with the Bath Chronicle to help increase arts coverage and review coverage of the Arts in Bath.
  • Future of Theatre In B&NES – 2016
    Consultation requested and funded by B&NES Council to try and create a theatre action plan and strategy for B&NES.
  • Save Bath Arts Campaign – 2016 to Present
    When B&NES announced plans to cut arts grants Theatre Bath was one of the only arts organisations in Bath to vocally object and campaign against the proposed cuts.
  • Theatre Bath Bus – 2016 to Present
    The bus which has been funded in large by the community in Bath will launch in April 2017.

The Theatre Bath Team:

The core team of Theatre Bath consists of four people who volunteer their time to run the organisation:

LukeLuke John Emmett – Founder & Creative Director – luke@theatrebath.co.uk

Luke has many hats and has worked for a number of different arts organisations in the south west area.

He attended Guildford School of Acting graduating with a BA (Hons) Degree in Management in the Arts.

He is currently Assistant Events Manager and Duty Manager for Bath Spa Live which is Bath Spa University’s producing arm, the primary focus of the role is looking after events at Burdall’s Yard on the London Road but also involves arts administration and arts marketing. He has recently helped to put together the new Bath Spa Live website and has spent the summer working with the team to ensure that it was ready for launch this September. (www.bathspalive.com)

He has worked freelance as a Lighting Designer, Event Manager and Technician for the past 11 years working for a whole host of local companies including the Theatre Royal Bath, Rondo Theatre, Chapel Arts Centre, City of Bath College, Enlightened Lighting, Technical Hire Ltd and Theatek Ltd.

He is currently on the board of directors for the Cultural Forum for the Bath Area.

Luke has been involved with theatre in one form or another for most of his life. He directed his first show aged 15 with the Bathford Players and has since gone on to direct a number of other productions for different organisations. He has also acted in numerous pieces although now prefers to remain behind the scenes.

He is passionate about the arts and quite outspoken in his views about the future of the arts and their benefits to society as a whole. Most of his rants and writings can be found on his blog page: www.artsbanter.wordpress.com

For more information on Luke visit his website: www.lukejohnemmett.co.uk


ei-check check Zoe Bailey – Associate Director – zoe@theatrebath.co.uk

Zoe is passionate about discovering exciting and innovative ways to engage, inspire, and immerse people in theatre and the arts.

Since graduating with a BA (hons) in Drama Zoe has worked extensively in the arts in Bath, she has a wide variety of skills including Event Management, Arts Marketing and expertise in Sales. Zoe’s experience includes Front of House and Box Office at Theatre Royal Bath, Duty Manager at Burdall’s Yard, as well as co co-ordinating and marketing fundraising events for the Theatre Royal Fundraisers.

Zoe currently works as Sales Manager of Bath Festivals, which includes running Bath Box Office; a community box office selling tickets for over 120 organisations and venues in and around Bath.

This year, Zoe will be undertaking an MA in Arts Management and has been selected as a mentee on the groundbreaking, national University Women in the Arts scheme.

Zoe is a dedicated member of the Theatre Bath team and has been Associate Director since 2013; stratigising, innovating and budgeting for the future of Theatre Bath, whilst developing the brand and marketing the organisation and events. 

She is looking forward to continuing her work with the Theatre Bath team, developing the organisation further and continuing to promote and champion all theatre (as well as arts and culture) in and around Bath.

For more information about Zoe: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zoebaileya 

Sarah Luscombe – Events Manager / Review Manager – sarah@theatrebath.co.uk

Sarah has had a strong interest in the Arts, and especially dance, since a young age. She trained as a dancer at the Rambert School and went on to work with Ballet and Contemporary companies in the UK and Europe for ten years. These include European Ballet Company, Swansea Ballet Russe, Sebastian Rex Dance Group and the feature film ‘Streetdance 3D’. She then went on to work in theatres in Front of House and Box Office, most recently at the Dominion Theatre and Theatre Royal Bath. Sarah is also a qualified Pilates instructor. She joined Theatre Bath as Conference Co-ordinator for the Breaking Boundaries Conference in 2014.

Laura Morris – Website Content Administrator & Editor – laura@theatrebath.co.uk

Laura has been a lover of the arts and all things creative from a very young age, first taking to the stage in Primary School. She is passionate about securing the future of arts in education.

She studied first at Bath Spa University graduating with a BA(Hons) in Music, and then at the University of Bristol with an MA in Music.

Laura is currently working as Social Media Executive for a small copywriting company in Bath. Here she has got to flex her writing skills and has had lots of experience with the technical side of websites and social media.

Laura joined Theatre Bath in 2013, as Website Content Administrator and Editor. In that time she has enjoyed being part of a wonderfully friendly team and promoting theatre and the arts throughout the South West. She is currently working closely with the team to take Theatre Bath and the website into its next phase.