Nights out all round

While towns and cities may have purpose-built venues such as the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff, and Galeri in Caernarfon, North Wales, smaller communities don’t have such luxuries. But the Night Out scheme, run by the Arts Council of Wales, aims to ensure that rural areas in Wales don’t miss out. For the last three decades, Night Out – one of the first projects of its kind in the UK – has been working in partnership with local authorities to provide a platform for performers from all over the world to reach local communities. From small beginnings in 1980, when the first tour by Flintshire-based Small Change Theatre presented just 34 shows in South Wales, Night Out has grown to cover the whole of Wales and enabled more than 8,000 performances to happen in village halls and community venues across the country since its inception. There are now over 40 similar versions of the scheme across the most rural areas of the UK.

In 2010/11, the touring scheme supported: 574 events in small local venues in Wales; 344 promoters used 385 venues, presenting 274 performers in 311 shows; 142 of the events were Welsh language performances; 63% of shows booked through Night Out feature performers from Wales, 32% of the performers are from the rest of the UK and 5% of performers are international. The arts take place in many different settings. They can have a dramatic impact on people’s quality of life, and the place in which they live and work. The arts are also frequently at the heart of initiatives for economic or social regeneration. It’s Night Out’s job to ensure that the contribution that the arts can and do make is recognised, valued and promoted. Night Out responds a lot to what a community wants but is also keen to encourage promoters to experiment and try something different but of high quality.

And the future for Night Out’s community rural touring looks bright, too. Having just hosted a three-day conference in partnership with the National Rural Touring Forum, the scheme has also just announced a three week tour in the autumn with National Theatre Wales. As a non-building-based company, National Theatre Wales is free to stage productions anywhere in the country, and in diverse spaces, bringing its work directly to its audience.

The scheme is a great way of helping communities stay alive and encouraging people to get together through the arts. Audiences feel a real intimacy with the performers and the shows are all the same professional standard as you would see in larger venues. The scope of Night Out is enormous. It’s a grassroots scheme that makes professional performances available to any village or town in Wales however deprived or remote. You don’t need to have a stage in your hall, or even lights. There are shows available that can adapt to go anywhere. Widening access to the arts is on top of Arts Council of Wales’ priority list. Regardless of age or socio-economic background, the arts are relevant to every member of society in Wales.

Hilary Denison, a Promoter from Flintshire is a huge supporter of the scheme and says: “The scheme has had a real impact on our small, rural village community. The very special combination of affordable, quality, professional entertainment in a very local environment, has helped to generate a stronger feeling of community and friendship, providing for some, the only opportunity to experience a live theatrical production.”