_and friends is a live performance producer and artist development initiative that proudly commits to make and support new work in ways that are meaningful, inclusive and sustainable. We share any profit generated through our activity fairly and transparently, we share our beliefs and values publicly in relation to local and world events and movements, and we seek to prioritise artists over profit at every opportunity.

As explained across our website, we support new work in three ways. 

We produce scratch nights of new performance, each night curated by a different artist, company or organisation. We aim to work with individuals and groups that have varying levels of experience, and do not deny resources or opportunities on the basis of lack of professional, academic or experiential qualifications. If and when we offer opportunities that require a certain level of experience, we will be transparent about that criteria and it will not change. Any artistic decisions we make in that regard will be equally transparent and reflect this.

We work with individuals and groups on a professional consultancy basis through our Studio offerings. They are called ‘clients’ to reflect the transactional element of this relationship, but we ethically consider every individual or group we work with to be our peers. 

As a live performance producer, we are accountable for the safety and wellbeing of artists and audiences in attendance, in collaboration with our venue partners and curators.

We seek to work outside the existing theatre industry to generate alternative opportunities in the sector.

We commit to entering into professional partnerships with companies, venues and organisations who share our values. These partnerships will always be in the best interest of our community.

We believe that meaningful inclusion, diversity and education in our work comes with effort, and promise to consistently make the effort. 

We reserve the right to withdraw from a professional partnership should it no longer be mutually beneficial or a safe environment for us to work in, and we will be honest about this. You reserve the same right. 

We encourage all of our collaborators to make themselves familiar with and uphold the Federation of Scottish Theatre’s Harassment in the Performing Arts guides, which can be viewed here. We do not tolerate any kind of harassment and gender-based violence across activity in our space, at our scratch nights and on our projects, and expect those who use our space to oversee all activity to a high ethical standard. 

We manage donations responsibly and will be transparent about how our finances break down and how we split and spend ticket profit. We commit to being transparent about what percentage of our Studio income through professional consultancy and creative work is reinvested back into our organisation. 

We respect the privacy of all partners, clients, collaborators and audiences. Personal information is handled confidentially and used only for the purpose it was collected for. See our Privacy Policy for more information about what information we collect and how it is used.

Any original material shared with us as part of our Studio development work will be treated in the strictest of confidence. We will never share your work without your permission and you as the work’s author or creator retain full copyright over any material submitted or shared. Any printed copies made and digital copies held will be filed securely, and will be for our private use only.

All creative activity and handling of original material will be conducted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, which can be viewed here.

We define discrimination as is the process of making unfair or prejudicial distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong, such as race, gender, age, class, religion, or sexual orientation. Discrimination typically leads to groups being unfairly treated on the basis of perceived statuses based on ethnic, racial, gender or religious categories. It involves depriving members of one group of opportunities or privileges that are available to members of another group. We extend this definition to include hate speech, intimidation and aggression on the basis of identity.

To the best of our knowledge, we do not engage with individuals or groups who have harmful and discriminatory beliefs or partake in activity that is harmful and discriminatory to individuals and groups in our society. Should it be made known to us that we are engaging with individuals or groups that have harmful beliefs or are actively engaging in discriminatory practices, we reserve the right to terminate any contract, agreement or casual work with them and withdraw our support in the interest of our wellbeing and values, and in the interest of the safety and wellbeing of our space, community and organisation.

We encourage all curators and team members to uphold anti-discrimination values and practices and to actively make inclusive, fair and mindful decisions in our space and when curating our scratch nights.

Discrimination of any kind, including but not limited to protected characteristics as per the Equality Act 2010, will not be tolerated within our organisation. You can view this legislation here.

All _and friends team members must disclose any potential conflicts of interest, though we reserve the right to develop and produce our own work as individuals under the _and friends name.