How We Work

Bristol Old Vic is a large regional producing house, meaning that we produce and co-produce work in-house throughout the year, but we also programme a range of touring work in both our Theatre and Weston Studio spaces.   

The work we choose to present is sometimes generated by our own in-house team, sometimes proposed to us by independent artists and companies, sometimes co-produced with other theatres and producers from across the UK, and sometimes commissioned and developed with support from our Literary Department.  

We are always on the lookout for work that can inspire our audiences and the artists who might make it. This page offers some more guidance about the approach we take to building our programme in the Theatre and Studio, please read it carefully to learn more about how we work, in addition to the links below that detail our Values and our statement on Anti-Racism & Representation.

OUR VALUES

ANTI-RACISM & REPRESENTATION

How do Bristol Old Vic's finances work?

How does Bristol Old Vic make money? 

In 2023/24 our turnover increased to £6.5m. This was from a growth in self-generated income which accounts for about 80% of all income, as can be seen in the diagram below. Activity that contributed to this increase included improved ticket sales, fundraising and profit from our hospitality/trading activity. Around 20% of Bristol Old Vic's income in 2023/24 came from public funding, like our NPO grant from Arts Council England. This % will reduce further in 2024/25 as we no longer receive investment from Bristol City Council. 

Where does Bristol Old Vic spend money? 

In 2023/24 52.5% of our total spend was directed to producing shows, wages and fees for artists, creatives and freelancers together with spending on our education and artist development activity. The team to support our creative programme plus the maintenance and operation of our building accounted for 47.5%. 

What do Bristol Old Vic’s team consider when selecting work?  

We work collectively to develop and create the artistic programme at Bristol Old Vic. Everything we support or present is considered against a combination of the following guiding principles:

  • Balance | We balance our programme considering tone, genre, representation and form. We aim to present an eclectic, intersectional programme of popular theatre and live performance across both spaces. By sharing work that reflects our society we want to consider all the different and intersecting lived experiences that might exist in stories on our stages.  
  • Audience | Our audiences are at the heart of everything we do. We think carefully about how the work we develop and present will appeal to our existing audiences and importantly, develop new ones. Our aim is to build an audience that reflects all of Bristol’s communities which means welcoming more people with protected characteristics to present more work on our stages and be part of our audience.  
  • Challenge | We want our work to challenge audiences; in some shows that challenge might feel light touch, in others we may want that challenge to feel more present or confronting for our audience. As a team, when looking at a piece of work we ask ourselves and each other: How is this provoking or saying something new? What conversations can we imagine people will have after experiencing it? We’re always interested in work that: 
    • Creates space for political comment and societal change 
    • Is formally innovative or inventive 
    • Articulates links or highlights parallels with relevant or provocative contemporary thinking 
    • Emanates from an authentic voice or experience
  • Entertainment | We know that Bristol Old Vic is a place where people come to be entertained and we want to inspire the full spectrum of human emotion with the work that we present. As a team we ask ourselves whether a proposed idea has the potential to represent a Great Night Out where people from all walks of life can come together for a collective experience that could only be created in a theatre.  
  • Commercial Potential | The majority of Bristol Old Vic’s overall income comes from ticket sales, so in both spaces we want to ensure we’re developing, producing and programming work that will speaks to and appeals to a broad range of audiences. We will always ask whether the work we are making presenting has the potential to be popular and successful both here in Bristol and across the UK. For us, commercial potential is not synonymous with a lack of adventurous programming; it means embracing creative risks, tapping into what contemporary, diverse audiences want to see and supporting artists to make innovative and ambitious work that has the potential to have a rich future life and to reach as many people as possible. 
  • Quality | We will always consider how proposals that come into us can ensure that Bristol gets the opportunity to see outstanding work made by extraordinary artists. We work with artists at all stages of their career. We try to programme and create rigorous work that is often of a high production value. We strive for working environments where excellence is sought but learning is welcome; artists and teams don’t have to be the finished article but we always need to be sure that by collaborating through good faith, trust and honesty we’ll get there. When thinking about quality in relation to proposals we get, we’ll often consider some of the following; 
    • What work has an artist or team made previously? 
      • If yes, do we feel that this proposal is a fit with Bristol Old Vic; do we have the ability to support them to make their best work? 
      • If no, how can we get to know them and what they make; can we read something? Can we watch something? How can we build a sense of whether their proposal might be the right fit for Bristol Old Vic? 
    • Do we have a relationship with this artist or team?
    • How was it received by audiences? 
    • Where did it happen? 
    • Is their previous work at a similar scale to either of Bristol Old Vic’s spaces? 
      • If not, how does their proposal clearly make the case that they are ready to make work for either of our spaces, or clearly articulate the support that they would need to get there? 

Do I have enough experience?

We know that 'professional experience' is nuanced and subjective, and we welcome approaches from artists at all stages of their career and would encourage anybody reading this guidance who feels like they are a good fit for Bristol Old Vic and the work we make to get in touch.

When working on projects we will often implement support structures and mentorship that feels responsive to the needs of the artists we are supporting and we welcome artists who can articulate the gaps in their knowledge as well as their strengths. 

We strive for working environments where excellence is sought but learning is welcome; artists and teams don’t have to be the finished article but we always need to be sure that by collaborating through good faith, trust and honestly we’ll get there.