This page summarises our current and upcoming activity and how it fits with the ‘Let’s Create’ Outcomes and Investment Principles. You can filter down to specific things you want to see by using the category buttons.
Leading as a Woman of Colour
A Workshop on the Tools for Resilience Needed by Women of Colour in Leadership.
Let Artists Be Artists
For too long, there have been massive inequalities in terms of who benefits from ‘The Arts’ – both as audiences and professionals. Artists go underpaid, under-heard and under-supported. And it’s not truly open to everyone. We want to change that.
The World Awakens
Pupils from schools in Gloucester have created a brand new piece of music alongside The Multi Story Orchestra.
GDIF
We are a national partner with the festival.org Global Streets Programme to bring large-scale outdoor international touring work to Gloucester. We are working with the city council and Gloucester Culture Trust to deliver this.
Artist Support Sessions
We offer one-to-one support sessions for artists & producers at any stage in their career.
Producer (co-created programme) Call Out
We’re looking for an experienced producer to join our team and lead on our co-created programme of work.
Artists on lockdown: Conrad Murray
A conversation with actor, writer, director, rapper, beatboxer, singer and theatre-maker Conrad Murray
Freelance task force: an open letter to theatre and performance makers
We’re joining more than 100 other arts organisations across the UK to help establish a ‘freelance task force’ – one way of supporting freelancers working in the arts while in-person events can’t happen.
2020 Year in Review
A year of community x creative collaborations
Free online dance lessons for schools during lockdown
During lockdown, we are making our in-school dance provision available online to schools, for FREE!
Gloucester Presents… Communities in Conversation
A filmed panel discussion, where the guests are all Gloucester residents – sharing their stories of life in the city 🔥
New Programming Approach
For 2021, and possibly for 2022, we will programme artists rather than shows. We want to focus on giving artists paid time and space to work alongside communities to develop creative projects – and to explore how they can make and create in a COVID/ post-COVID world.
Bromance
We’re a partner in a county wide initiative to develop a strategy for circus performance and working with Gloucester Culture Trust to stage a socially distanced outdoor performance of Bromance by Barely Methodical Troupe
Krump training with Joshua Nash
A community collaboration: Joshua Nash x Shenice Ellis x Ambitions Dance
Woke Meeting
We’re issuing an invitation to arts organisations and allies to meet on 23 February at 5pm to discuss the “heritage summit” called by Oliver Dowden, our potential collective response as arts organisations and to offer support if appropriate to the heritage sector.
Strike A Light #PullUpOrShutUp
We completely support the call for action for greater transparency regarding Black representation in the British Theatre industry.
Artist Residencies
About three years ago, Alicia from Hawkwood and Emma Jane, our Co-Artistic Director, cooked up a cunning plan to offer artist residencies in the beautiful setting of Hawkwood, with producer support from Strike A Light.
7 Principles for Great Cultural Events
Since 2013, we’ve been working in Gloucester to create great cultural events and experiences that can bring communities together, make life vibrant and exciting – and change things for the better. In that time, we’ve learned loads about what works and what doesn’t.
Making the arts better – for artists and communities
We want to see a world where EVERYONE can access high quality cultural events that are relevant and enriching to them. A world where the systems are fair, adventurous and open to everyone.
Gloucester presents: White City x Conrad Murray x Lucy Wilcox
What happens when you team up a group of local residents with a pair of incredible artists?
Dani Harris-Walters: Nanny
Programming artists instead of shows: Dani is working alongside Gloucester community members to choreograph the fashion show, undertaking a residency, developing a new project here and developing his current work, Nanny.
GL4
Since 2016, Strike A Light and GL4 have worked in partnership to support the engagement of new audiences and regeneration in the community.
Luke Jerram's Gaia
See a huge replica of planet Earth floating in the middle of Gloucester Cathedral
Why a programme to empower female arts leaders is so important
Last week I made a list of people to set up meetings with for a project. Because those meetings were with leaders of organisations, *there were more people called Richard on that list than there were women* It’s time for a new way of working.
Education and career development
If you’re based in Gloucester and interested in the arts, we can help support you in your arts education and career development in loads of different ways
Gloucestershire Arts Award Discover at Home
Check out our first digital arts award challenge from Strike A Light youth theatre practitioner Tom who will lead you through a magical corridor of games and improvisation to ignite your imagination.
Gloucester Presents… Fashion Show
Local residents teamed up with amazing artists to produce their own choreographed fashion show 🔥
I Stand For What I Stand On
Young people from Gloucester’s Student Climate Network present their own original protest performance, under Gaia at the Cathedral
Hungry Nation
This project is dependent on funding. If successful we will be commissioned by Coventry City of Culture to co-create a nationally significant performance event with food bank users, food poverty researchers and artists
Changing Charity Leadership #1: Activism, The Arts And Politics
This is the first of a short series of rants and resolutions about why charity boards/governance structures are often a pale imitation of what they should be, and what we intend to do to change that.
Youth Dance Company
Weekly classes, led by professional dancers from Rise Youth Dance. For ages 15+
Gloucester Presents… SheSpoke
A small group of women took part in writing workshops to express themselves in poetry – which was then turned into a hand-sewn textile banner 🔥
Joined-Up: Exploring Co-Creation Practice in Bristol, Gloucestershire and Somerset
An online event to find out who is co-creating in our area and to share stories of brilliant people working together creating positive social change
Of Earth and Sky
Gloucester goes Hollywood – watch as giant letters appear across the city!
Women Leaders South West
Shenice Ellis and Halima Malek: Gloucester women join arts industry leadership scheme
Artists on lockdown: Viv Gordon
A conversation with theatre-maker, survivor activist & arts and mental health campaigner Viv Gordon
Hear Me Out
During lockdown, spring and summer 2020, we worked with a fabulous group of young people, alongside The Venture Project in White City, meeting weekly via Zoom, listening to and watching music videos together, and discussing thoughts, feelings and opinions on music, and life in general.
Supporting young climate protestors
We’ve been working with the most *amazing* group of Youth Climate Activists over the last year or so. We went along to their Youth Strike 4 Climate and were instantly blown away by their knowledge, conviction, maturity, confidence and energy. In Gloucester they are a small but vocal minority and carry on with their protests in the face of aggression from adults in the street and public criticism on social media. It started us thinking…
Exec Directors of the Future
We believe that to affect real change in the industry, leadership needs to change. We are working with Artistic Directors of the Future to develop an Up Next Exec Director role at Strike A Light. Similar to their previous programmes it will be a paid leadership role in the organisation for someone from a Black, Asian or ethnically diverse background.
Artist Support
Over the last few years we have worked with more than 300 artists, offering support from a one-off advice session to producing national tours. You can find out about our current opportunities, learn more about how we programme and read about the artists we are currently working with.
Take part: youth theatre
We run weekly Youth Theatre sessions for three different age groups: 7-11s, 11-16s and 16+