A Community Led Nomadic Performing Arts Venue for Nottingham

This blog outlines a new grassroots performing arts network and venue for Nottingham, led by the award winning theatre company Chronic Insanity and supported by arts organisations from across the city. The aim is to create a flexible, sustainable and community owned performance space that responds directly to the needs of local artists, organisations and audiences.

A City Wide Cooperative Network

The project brings artists and organisations together through a shared membership scheme. Each organisation pays an annual membership fee. We aim for 200 members to help fund the creation and launch of the venue. In return, members receive practical benefits, including a free ticket or one hour of rehearsal space each month, as well as the right to vote on programming decisions for each season. We’d hope to raise around £20,000 - £30,000 this way.

The network is built on an exchange of goods and services. Beyond the paid membership, each organisation agrees to share its resources with the others. This might include rehearsal rooms, office space, technical equipment, consultancy, skills or specialist knowledge. The network uses a hub and spoke model, with the central venue acting as the hub, and the member organisations forming the spokes.

A Pop Up Black Box Theatre

The central venue will be a 10 metre by 5 metre black box studio, constructed from scaffolding and black thermal curtains. It can be packed flat and moved to different spots across the city. This allows us to use meanwhile spaces for anything from six to eighteen months at a time. These might include empty shops, unused offices, arts spaces or warehouses. Wherever it is placed, the venue will offer a consistent level of technical equipment and comfort, suitable for professional performance and rehearsal.

The space will seat around 40 to 50 people and can be arranged in any layout, including in the round, cabaret, promenade or entirely bespoke formats. The core technical kit, such as LED lights, speakers, a sub, a projector and a MacBook to run everything, can mostly be supported in kind by member organisations. The thermal curtains will help keep the space warm even if the wider building is not heated, and level access will be built into all planning.

A Space That Belongs to the Community

This concept already has strong support. Conversations funded by CGN2 brought together more than 25 artists, creatives and audience members to discuss and shape the idea. Organisations already expressing interest include New Perspectives Theatre, Nottingham Shakespeare Company, Virtual & Immersive Production Studio, Near Now, Nonsuch, Lace Market Theatre, Nottingham New theatre, Nottingham Poetry Festival, Missimp, Circus Hub, Tom Dale Dance, In Good Company and many individual practitioners.

The venue’s nomadic nature means it can build a clear identity that audiences will follow even as it changes location. Inclusion sits at the centre of the project. We intend to work directly with queer, disabled, and migrant and refugee communities, with support already confirmed from facilitators who already work closely with these groups in Nottingham. We will reach out to other underrepresented communities from the very beginning so that the venue becomes a space that everyone can claim as their own.

Why Nottingham Needs This

Nottingham’s grassroots arts sector has long needed a dedicated performance space. Larger organisations are already stretched and cannot always support emerging work. Smaller venues, such as pubs and community rooms, are often not equipped for professional performance. Artists frequently say they want a space that prioritises local productions, supports experimentation and brings together audiences that reflect the diversity of the city. We also want a studio space that national artists can tour work to, so Nottingham audiences have access to amazing performances from around the country which currently have no home in the city.

This project offers an affordable, adaptable and resilient solution. Because the venue is built from modular materials, it can expand without major redesigns. It is designed to grow with its community and to withstand shifts in funding, location or circumstance.

Next Steps

Let us know what you can do to help us acheive this :) drop us an email if you want to be a part of it at chronicinsanitytheatre@gmail.com