Decolonizing the Theatre Space

2020 was a year in which global politics radically shifted, catalyzed by the Covid-19 pandemic and the #BlackLivesMatter movement.

This book is a response to that year, asking: was it a moment or is it a movement, and what fundamental changes within the arts industry need to come out of this time?

The book includes over 20 interviews with some of the most pioneering Black cultural leaders from a wide range of senior executive positions in the arts within the UK, Europe, US and Africa.

It documents the sea of change in arts leadership at the height of the #BlackLivesMatter movement, the pressure on organizations to confront and change their racial and ethnic make-up, and shines a light on the guiding ambitions, strategic plans and visions for the future to support the ongoing decolonization of arts organizations across the world.

Learn from those who have walked the walk to support your vision for the future.

Simeilia Hodge-Dallaway is an award-winning arts leader and former Founding Artistic Director & CEO at Artistic Directors of the Future, Founder/CEO at Beyond The Canon and Co-founder and former Executive Producer at Black Lives, Black Words International Project.

Kwame Kwei-Armah is British actor, playwright, director and broadcaster. From 2011 to 2018 he was the Artistic Director of Baltimore Center Stage and in 2018 he was made Artistic Director of the Young Vic Theatre, London. He was Artistic Director for the Festival of Black Arts and Culture, Senegal, in 2010 and conceived and directed the opening ceremony at Senghor National stadium. He was an Associate Director of the Donmar Warehouse and has served on the boards of the National Theatre, Tricycle Theatre and Theatre Communications Group. Kwei-Armah was the Chancellor of the University of the Arts, London, from 2010 to 2015, and in 2012 was awarded an OBE for Services to Drama. In 2012, 2013 and 2014 Kwame was named Best Director in City Paper’s Best of Baltimore Awards and in 2015 was nominated for the prestigious Stage Directors and Choreographers Zelda Fichandler Award for Best Regional Artistic Director. In 2016 he was awarded the Urban Visionary Award alongside House Representative Elijah Cummings by the Center for Urban Families for his work in the Baltimore community. In 2019 he was appointed the Chair of the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting. He is a patron of Ballet Black and a visiting fellow of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University.

Olivia Poglio-Nwabali is a dramaturg. After graduating from the University of Leeds in 2017, she undertook a year’s training in theatre administration at the Barbican Centre. Olivia has spent the last five years at the Young Vic, where she currently acts as their Literary & Dramaturgy Associate. She supports productions across the theatre’s three spaces, manages literary submissions and collaborates on the creative development of new work. Dramaturgy credits include The Collaboration; Further than the Furthest Thing; Beneatha’s Place and endings. Olivia has previously worked as a script reader for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, a Barbican Young Film Programmer and a production assistant on several commissions for Sky Arts.