Time to end London monopoly on arts talent

With talk of a Northern No.10 hinting at a redress of the political balance across the country, I’m left feeling cautiously optimistic as a performing arts professional.

The UK’s creative and performing arts industry has, perhaps since its inception, been defined and limited by our tendency to incubate the majority of our talent in London.

Every step of a performer’s journey to success has been imbued with a long-standing assumption that their ascendancy relies on being in the capital.

As someone who has worked both in the UK and abroad, I cannot think of any comparable country that has the same model.

Lucy Sage opened SA Performing Arts Centre (formerly Sage Academy) 25 years ago, realising a lifelong dream of creating somewhere in Newcastle that budding performers could train for a life on the stage.

She was repeatedly told it was impossible; a successful stage school couldn’t exist outside of London.

The rhetoric hasn’t changed.

As Andy Burnham beds in as Prime Minister, we hear daily the benefits devolution will bring for transport, skills and housing – but nothing of the arts.

And yet, there is perhaps no other industry that demonstrates so clearly the pervasive and indomitable forces that drive talent to London.

Based in Byker, SA Performing Arts Centre has built a viable and successful pathway for performers into the industry without a London postcode or public subsidy.

And we’ve proudly sent our graduates to work in the capital (and the rest of the world too!).

However, our ethos has always been that it’s not grim up North; rather, it’s a region with its own deep cultural heritage and creativity.

Across the North, others are also attempting to shift the dial within arts and culture – from Sheffield Crucible to The Royal Exchange Manchester and producing houses creating new works outside London.

We see Michael Sheen and Alan Cumming using their celebrity status to nurture theatre in their respective homelands.

So, what could our cultural landscape look like if we took a devolution mindset and applied it to the performing arts pipeline?

The advent of the self-tape has made auditioning more accessible to those outside the capital, but the vast majority of auditions and castings still take place there.

If you are a performer, opportunity does, unfortunately, rely on geography.

If more actors could train, audition and work in their home regions, how much potential would there be to enhance the nationwide creative landscape?

There is something that feels inherently wrong about sending our brightest and best away to London as standard.

MediaCity’s arrival in Salford demonstrates how it is possible to attract talent away from London if the opportunity is there.

The North East has talent; that has never been in question.

Despite what our principal was told 25 years ago, we have proved it is possible to be born in the North East, train in the North East and go on to work anywhere in the world.

Our culture is a product of our individual and collective essence, and a key driver for economic growth.

If we only grow and support our creative talent in one place, we limit the vibrancy and richness of what it can produce.

Sarah Hamilton is director of education at SA Performing Arts Centre

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