Connect 4 – creating new partnerships for theatre renaissance in Swindon and Wiltshire

Sixth Sense Theatre Company's, Connect 4 project, 'A Picture of Harold' at Swindon Arts Centre, Kevin Clifford

Coordinated by TheatreWorks and with £28,000 of funding from Arts Council England, South West, Connect 4 sought to enhance the profile and awareness of theatrical activity across the county, brokering sustainable partnerships between organisations and creating ten new partnership hubs. Each hub consists of a professional theatre organisation (venue or company), a school or college, a youth theatre and a voluntary company. Connect 4 was also supported by Wiltshire County Council and Swindon Borough as well as the participating organisations.

How did Connect 4 work?
Taking 'Connection‘ as its theme, the project had three distinct phases:

• Phase One, showcasing the diversity and range of professional theatre on offer, took place at venues across the county during May and June with seven performances ranging from Aboriginal theatre to contemporary musicals. This phase also provided the opportunity for hub partners to meet at pre-show meetings and post-show chats which were extremely well supported with over 600 people taking part.


• Phase Two, which ran between June and November, focused on the youth and community partners with a wide variety of performances encompassing street theatre, Shakespeare and light opera in a series of 37 branded Connect 4 performances. Twelve free, professionally-led workshops provided further opportunities for skills development for 140 young people.


• Phase Three, which also ran from June to November, focused on linking companies and schools together for eight intensive residencies involving eleven schools and colleges. These gave participants an insight into the devising process and how professional practitioners create new work.

Reinvigorating theatre
Connect 4 is an example of partnership working that embodies the Arts Council’s national theatre policy, launched in 2000. It exemplifies what Arts Council England, South West, wished to achieve in the renaissance of theatre in the region addressing such issues as developing new ways of working, integrating theatre and education and attracting more people to attend theatrical performances.

Claire Smith, Connect 4 coordinator said ’The project was very successful in terms of the breadth of performances and performers involved. Connect 4 linked parts of the county that hadn’t worked together before and people began to see the advantages of working together instead of in isolation. They learnt who they needed to talk to, to make things happen.‘

More information
TheatreWorks, based at the University of Bath in Swindon, was founded in 2004 as a unique response to the Locality Plan’s requirements to create a strategic theatre plan for Swindon and Wiltshire. For further information about their work visit www.theatreworks.org.uk