Surviving on a Shoestring is our 12-month finance equity programme is a collaboration with a theatre’s finance, producing and executive teams to trial new ways of paying creative freelancers who are in receipt of benefits.

No one should have the onus placed upon them to declare poverty trauma or financial hardship in order to receive payments in a way that works around Universal Credit and other benefits. Instead, we would love to see organisations proactively offering alternative payment structures at the point of contracting, allowing artists to focus on what they do best: telling great stories.

Surviving on a Shoestring works in a bespoke way with each organisation to look at how artists are paid. This might include the need for fees to be broken into smaller amounts, fees to be paid on a specific date in the calendar month, or anything other than the ‘three instalment’ agreement found in most standard contracts.

First, we co-create a tailored finance access rider to be sent out as part of the organisation’s welcome pack / contracting process for every creative freelancer employed across the organisation over a 12-month period. The companies will then put in place the requested payment options. The approach is bespoke, and we develop the rider in partnership with the company to ensure we are not offering something to artists that is unsustainable.

To deepen our understanding and to have the broadest possible sense of the most common finance barriers faced by artists experiencing long-term financial insecurity, as part our offer to the organisations we also host workshops for artists from lower socio-economic backgrounds. We can learn about specific geographical experiences for artists and feed this into our broader thinking and planning. This can be in-person or online.

In 2023-2024 we worked on a pilot with Middle Child Theatre Company in Hull, Cardboard Citizens and London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT) to develop new alternative contracting clauses and payment structures.

In 2025 we are partnering with a range of organisations including Bradford Producing Hub, Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, and Young Vic Creators Program in London.

We are also continuing our partnership with Cardboard Citizens, specifically on their project More Than One Story: The Anthology, a ground-breaking collection of new writing and a national Artist Network for those with lived experience of homelessness and poverty.

We really hope we can encourage more organisations this year to join the initiative.

If you are an organisation who would like to host a pilot, please get in touch with our Programme Producer Manli Siu on manlisiu@rtyds.co.uk.

The theatre partners taking part in the Surviving on a Shoestring programme are:

Surviving on a Shoestring is a financial accessibility programme originated by Classroom, continues to be supported by RTYDS and produced by Manli Siu (RTYDS Programme Producer).

We’re keen to give as many freelance creatives and artists as possible the opportunity to share their thoughts and experiences around this subject.

We want to know how your experience of financial inequity is shaping your access to work. This might include things like the need for fees to be broken into smaller amounts, fees to be paid on a specific date in the calendar month, or anything other than the ‘three instalment’ agreement found in standard creative (by this we mean directors, designers, freelance producers, workshop facilitators) contracts.

You can share your thoughts anonymously by completing our SUPER SHORT SURVEY or by leaving us a 90 second VOICE NOTE.