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Kerry Michael, Artistic Director Theatre Royal Stratford East – 24 July 2015

Thank you so much for this invitation, I’m very chuffed to be here.

One of my first jobs, as an out of work actor, was stuffing envelopes in the marketing office at

Stratford East. Back then Mike Leigh did a play called Greek Tragedy and as a London Greek Cypriot

from North London I was brought into traipse up and down Green Lanes and Haringey putting up

posters and flyering the Greek Community. It didn’t work. The poster wasn’t Greek enough to

connect. And Stratford in Zone 3 was too far away for a first time attender. But you know all this

kind of stuff.

I think one of the reasons I’m here is because the theatre I run has one of, if not the most , diverse

audiences in the country.

We are reaping the rewards of over 50 years of commitment to developing new and diverse

audiences.

Theatre Royal Stratford East is in the London Borough of Newham, which is the most diverse

borough in the city. Only 17% are white British and 70% are non-white. We have over 180

languages being spoken in our local schools. And of course all that is linked. But also we are in one

of the poorest areas in the country, with the largest percentages of young people. And single

mothers. And bad health and fitness rates. And transient, people coming in and out, more new

immigrants than other places, new communities, mass regeneration and change. And maybe

because of all that, we have the lowest arts participation rates among adults. 29% in the Taking

Part survey. I do question how they measure participation rates among adults - but that’s for

another time maybe.

But it’s safe to say we don’t have a ‘traditional theatre audience’ in fact we have an Inverse Mosaic

Profile. BUT with all that against us, last year we played to 86% capacity in our 450 seat theatre.

And we are, and always have been, a New Writing House. Now mentioning our 86% capacity - is

partly me showing off. And to big up my team Trina and Monique. Where are you?

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We are a new writing house because we want to make stories that directly connect to our

audiences.

Our new writing policy is also our audience development strategy. We now also co-curate with our

audience.

BUT what we strive for is that sweet spot, between a great show and the connection that has with a

vibrant diverse auditorium. The two coming together is what I’m about. If either one of those is flat

then the whole thing doesn’t work. Also the more diverse the audience the better the work has to

be to make a connection. Hamlet playing to 400 innercity kids has to do a certain kind of thing to

work, Hamlet in front of 400 women from the WI in Cotswolds has to do something else. A Hamlet

that works for both those audiences at the same time means the work is more universal and

superior than it is made for ‘just’ one group. That’s where excellence sits. So excellence is not

about the biggest theatres or most the most expensive productions. Excellence is the work that

makes the deepest connection with the most diverse audience. And so your work in diversifying

audiences is key to us all experiencing excellent theatre and that in term keeps the art forms

relevant.

Auditorium full of the same old white faces is too easy! You have to leave room for new audiences.

In the old days we used to talk about cultural diversity but now ACE talk about Diversity in its bigger

sense. Is this because if we open up the debate we’ll find a way of solving it all – issues around Class,

Disability, Gender, sexuality, age? Or is it because ACE has spectacularly failed in Cultural diversity,

thus making this new debate, a useful fudge.

As I’ve mentioned, I'm a second generation Greek Cypriot migrant (Cyprus was part of the British

Empire until 1960). Now, half my motherland is in Europe with a Christian Orthodox religion, that’s

the south zone. The other half, the north zone, is disputed land not recognized by the UN and is

occupied by Turkey and a secular Muslim state.

When I started calling myself a director 20 years ago - the wonderfully supportive Arts Council

wanted to give me a grant to be an assistant director in residence. They don’t do these anymore but

I’d wish they’d bring them back as they are such a good idea. At that time they had a Black Initiative

and my placement would be funded under that initiative. I was different enough not to be white. But

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also not confident enough to be Cypriot. Then ACE was using the term Afro-Asian for anyone not

white. Then we got Afro-Caribbean and Asian, then Black and Asian, then Black and Ethnic Diverse,

then Culturally Diverse and now Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic, which is more commonly known at

BAME.

But because there is an A missing some people say Black and Minority Ethnic and miss out Asian

altogether. There should be two As of course. Anyway, when we were at the ‘Black and Asian’ stage,

they defined Asian as anything south-east of Turkey. So as a Cypriot I was Asian then too. Fab!

But looking back it was a mess and I think it’s still a mess. I hate B.A.M.E. Black Asian and Minority

Ethnic. Why does Black get top billing? And isn’t there a real difference between South and East

Asian? And regarding the Minority Ethnic bit, where I live and work in Stratford E15, the ethnics are

not in the minority.

So I’m on a campaign. It’s about words and language, and its about my theatre not using this

inappropriate Acronym anymore. We are now using the phrase: PEOPLE OF COLOUR.

In case you don’t know PEOPLE OF COLOUR started in the USA to describe any person who is not

white. And it was introduced as an alternative to, and in preference to, ‘non-white’ and minority.

Martin Luther King first used the term “citizens of color" in 1963, and PEOPLE OF COLOUR has been

used in the US since the late 80s.

In the US, anti-racist activists and academics used the phrase because it unites racial and ethnic

groups under one larger collective promoting a sense of equality, not hierarchy.

It also deals with the fact that in some cases the term ‘minority’ could imply ‘inferiority’ and being

disenfranchised.

In the context of London, which is what I know, 40% of the population are not white and it is

estimated that in the next ten years half the population under 30 will be mixed race. Therefore being

(just) black and a general Asian isn't good enough. I think people of colour has to be the future. So

no more BAME-ing!

By the way, how often do you see 40% of non-white in our London flagship auditoriums. Or on

stage or even back stage. Isn't it really wrong that these major institutions are still too white. The

Audience Finder Survey, which the Audience Agency are all over, evidence this really clearly but in

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the performing arts only 3% is a non-white audience. Across the country the population is about

16% non-white. 1 in 6 Work that through for your own organisation.

But I know what some of you will say ‘why isn’t there more culturally diverse work being

programmed to help me get those audiences in?’, ‘Where’s the product?’

And what I sometime say is ‘Why do I still pick up Season Brochure after Season Brochure that only

has able bodied white people in it?’ Well the next two points I’m going to make are going to get me

into trouble. And if you retweet this out of context it’s going to cause me a lot of trouble.

The cultural leaders of our intuitions are smart, intelligent, people who are great problem solvers.

So if the people programming our auditorium are smart why don’t they make, find, support, and

encourage more culturally diverse work? Is it because deep down, they don’t like the work, or they

don’t think it’s good enough? And, are afraid or nervous to say so? Or do they think no one will

turn up? Or maybe you don’t think anyone will turn up?

Did I mention we are playing to 86% capacity?

We have to expand the critical debate and get more people talking about diverse work and what’s

good and what’s not good and why certain pieces and voices are important in our collective history.

Wouldn’t the theatre sector be so much more exciting if there were more people of colour serving

as our national critics? Imagine how refreshing that would be for all of us. Digital media is starting to

address that with fresh blogs and new voices. But a lot of those new critical platforms are some way

off maturing.

I’m starting a campaign for a high powered lobby or think tank to help fast-track key individuals into

a position of journalistic power within the current arts pages AND ALSO to forge new channels.

Arts.Black is an online collective and publication, and are all about this. But they are based in the

USA.

Bonnie Greer and Yasmin Alibhai-Brown are great, but that’s not enough. And I wish Kwame Kwei-

Armah would come back from Baltimore get back on our TV setting the critical debate. He is one of

many talents we have lost to the USA. And what happens when the wonderful Jenny Sealy stops all

her great campaigning for disability equality?

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IF we have more diverse people talking about different kinds of work, our programmers, your

leaders, would be more empowered to programme the work, and then you would all have more to

work with.

Too many intelligent people don’t know about the good culturally diverse work that's happening.

No People Of Colour won anything at last year’s Manchester Theatre Awards, or UK Theatre Awards

or at the Oliver’s and in the Television Baftas we had ONE mixed raced girl Georgina Campbell win

best supporting actress. And she was described by the press as ‘the surprise winner’.

So I think we need to fast-track our celebration. We need to work together and help make the

People of Colour awards. And all the razzmatazz that goes with it. It needs to be regular, sexy and

expensive. But made for, and by, people of colour.

Let’s aim to do what the music industry has done. A slice of the success of the MOBOs would be a

huge achievement. And when the People of Colour Awards become so exciting and sexy and

prestigious that they become the mainstream, like the MOBO’s have, then maybe, just maybe, the

job is – almost? – done.

I’m going to end with some pictures....

In the run up to the London 2012 Games we implemented something called OPEN STAGE. Basically

we gave up our programming power to our audience. They decided on the 6 month season before

the summer of 2012. And we spent a year and half leading up to that, re looking at how we talk to

our audience, what we say, how we say it, how we listen and how we prove that we listen. We

learnt a huge amount about ourselves and we also refreshed all our community networks as well as

re-confirming some of values and purpose.

Anyway. We learnt a lot. The most interesting thing was that more and more of our audience

wanted the option to have a deeper engagement with us. You really will reap the rewards if you

invest in your audience and get to know them.

One of the things we did in response to that we set up the Stratford East Singers. They are a choir

that sing every kind of music and they are all inclusive. They are going from strength to strength and

I’ve got a feeling they are going to be a force to reckoned with soon.

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In addition Home Theatre…

So to recap … we can stop using BAME and use People Of Colour. We can all improve the critical

debate around diverse work and invite more different kinds of people to talk about what excellence

means for them. And as a collective we can take control of diversity and find a way to celebrate the

great work that is out there. It’s going to help us all.

Thank you.