by Peter Crawley27 January 2012
Touring, report after report shows, is an expensive business which can lead to punitive losses if undertaken unwisely but is an effective way of growing audiences, prestige and even box-office if done well. It is also one of the only ways an abundance of regional venues can fill their under populated stages.
Since the end of the Arts Council Touring Policy in 2000, the culture of touring has lacked continuity, going through periods of retreat and resurgence as stalwarts such as Druid and the Abbey continued touring on modest means, before the kick-start of regional venue associations such as NASC and NOMAD, and lately the Arts Council’s Touring Experiment and its subsequent Touring and Dissemination of Work Scheme.
This week the Arts Council announced details of artists and companies...