This group might like to start their research using the following resources: 

https://www.wearecreative.uk/ 

https://www.costumeintheatre.com/ 

https://costumeagency.com/ 

https://www.criticalcostume.com/   

https://www.intellectbooks.com/studies-in-costume-performance 

Origins：Founded in 1976 to champion and celebrate the work of designers.

 

Values：SBTD is a hub for information sharing and exchange between members of the professional designer community. They are seen as the first point of exchange in the UK by the international scene community and international companies seeking professional designers.

 

Aims：A fully representative, accessible and inclusive organization.

A supportive and active community of practice, experience and shared awareness.

 

The SBTD takes the path of gathering more artistic perspectives and expertise and expanding the artistic impact of each professional direction, thus helping every designer and future designer. Through the Value by Design campaign, it continues to fight for better rights and conditions for designers at every stage of their careers, whether behind the scenes (and related forms) or at public events.

 

Evolution：Since its inception in 1976, the SBTD has evolved and restructured from advocating and celebrating the work of designers to launching its website in June 2020, a professional association run by designers, for designers.

At now，new working groups have been formed by committee and members as a means of activating conversations into longer term action plans.

 

 

 

 

Origins：Established in 1967 to bring the best of design for performance, scenography, and theatre architecture to the front line of cultural activities to be experienced by professional and emerging artists as well as the general public.

Values：More and more designers now understand PQ as a platform: a continual stream of activities and collaborations happening across the globe with many different partners, creative professionals, artists, researchers, and theorists.

Aims：PQ’s central curatorial concept shapes the festival and offers its participants a fresh look at the artistic reflection of our times in performance designs and scenographies.

Evolution：In response to the borderless and creative development of design and scenography, PQ's traditional project of theatre architecture exhibitions has been transformed into exhibitions of performance spaces, including any type of space created or adapted as a performance venue. The impact of this has been to turn more audiences into participants, recognising the need to experience the performance design/scenario in its performance form: live and with audience participation. In line with this trend we have renamed the PQ as a festival rather than an exhibition.

 

SBTD, as a professional association, supports designers working in all genres and scales of live performance, both nationally and internationally, and provides a voice for design practitioners when social, economic and cultural policies are developed at government level. Exhibitions are a way for institutions to share and celebrate to the public.

 

Evolution: Since 2007, the institution has had a partnership with the V&A in London.

Recent representative exhibitions Staging Places celebrates the diversity of British performance design across spaces and genres. Featuring costumes, set designs, models, photographs, drawings and puppets, the exhibition explains the creative process behind performance design, with the aim of showing the diversity of contemporary British performance design practice and inspiring young people to innovate and develop.

PQ
Origin and  aim: The Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space was established in 1967 to bring the best of design for performance, scenography, and theatre architecture to the front line of cultural activities to be experienced by professional and emerging artists as well as the general public.

Current topic: The theme of the Prague Quadrennial 2023 is RARE; in the sense of unique and raw realities that artists create. PQ will present art springing out of ideas, materials, artistic approaches, and design practices that connect to the human level from within the environment, with its genius loci and unique situation.

 

Both are similar to a platform for collaboration and activities with different partners, creative agencies, designers and artists on a global scale. And to share local/individual creative performing arts to a wider audience. To provide more unique opportunities for performance spaces and performance design, while presenting them to the public, allowing the viewer to experience and examine the development and innovation of performance design and scenic art in a contemporary context, inspiring and guiding more people to join in.

 

Hello Stranger emphasises responsivity and openness in the context of a changing world.  Discussing the directions and breakthroughs in art forms that have evolved in order to respond to the challenges, in the context of the wider environment and various social issues.

 

Hello Stranger will host 13 regional events across the UK in March 2023. Centred on the regional hubs of Staging Places, the SBTD 2019 exhibition project led by Fiona Watt, the events will reveal the last four years of performance design in the UK.

Student Exhibition: This is also an important part of PQ, focusing on the students' own cultural backgrounds, such as local traditions and culture, and their unique experiences, as a way of exploring how local identity fits into the scenography. There is also an emphasis on modern digital methods and audience participation.

While some of the UK’s larger theatres and companies have been staging digital performances for years, smaller groups hadn’t had the expertise or budget to investigate the technology.

The Digital Theatre Transformation project created a toolkit for theatre companies to help them get online.

It based its findings on the experience of the Creation Theatre in Oxford, which performed a sell-out Zoom performance of The Tempest in the early days of lockdown in 2020.

The project was led by Professor Pascale Aebischer and Dr Rachael Nicholas from the University of Exeter. Their initial report found that audiences were willing to pay for live, digital theatre, even after lockdown ended.

https://www.ukri.org/news-and-events/tackling-the-impact-of-covid-19/recovery-and-rebuilding/arts-and-culture-in-the-time-of-coronavirus/

Royal Shakespeare company during the closures

Funding initiative "Keep your RSC", Homework help where performers would answer questions about performing and Outdoor performances where lockdown regulations allowed to name a few. 

"RSC artists speak up for #BlackLivesMatter, creating a short film in response to the murder of George Floyd.

 Young people from more than 75 of our Associate Schools work with us and their local theatres to share their original digital responses to Shakespeare’s plays in lockdown, as we partner with Samsung to hold our annual Playmaking Festival online."

https://www.rsc.org.uk/about-us/history/what-we-did-in-the-pandemic

In 2019, I launched the first ever Cultural Infrastructure Plan and Map for London which records the number of cultural venues and facilities and sets out what is needed to protect and grow them. This data enabled my team to respond to the crisis with my £2.3m Culture at Risk Business Support Fund, which has supported over 301 businesses. 

My expanded Culture at Risk Office has supported over 750 businesses since March 2020, including theatres. We’ve worked with our partners at the Theatres Trust to safeguard London’s theatres throughout the crisis.

In due course, a data update to the Cultural Infrastructure Map will help us analyse closures. The impact of the pandemic on the theatre sector is expected to be ongoing for some time.

https://www.london.gov.uk/questions/2021/1809

Society of British Theatre Designers

The Society of British Theatre Designers is a professional association run by designers for designers.

Founded in 1976, the Society of British Theatre’s mission is to encourage and celebrate the work of designers, from local and national to international. 

The launch of this website in June 2020 was introduced to strengthen the direction of values of being a representative, accessible and inclusive organisation.

Communicating through a B2C structure, prioritising the concerns and needs of their members to shape their activities. This is actioned by consulting with members across a range of platforms via surveys, face-to-face formal and informal events, and their Regional Hearts programme.

Their new working groups created by their committee and members operate conversations into longer-term action plans, including Staging Places Roundtable events at the V&A, Prague Quadrennial and at SOUP events around the country since 2019.

They intend to evolve, change and steadily add to their existing groups, which are:

- Access and Aesthetics

- Designers Taking the Lead

- Education

- Mentoring

- New Collaborations

- Publications

- Sustainable Design

The Prague Quadrennial

Established in 1967, The Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space, globally known as a two-week event taking place every four years with the aim to contribute the best of design for performance, scenography, and theatre architecture to the attention of cultural activities to be experienced by professional, emerging artists and the general public.

With the value of celebrating diverse forms of performance design/scenography around the globe, this curatorial platform aims to present itself as an art form concerned with creating holistic performance environments, responding to the current zeitgeist. 

This festival has evolved and become an opportunity for performing arts professionals around the globe to come to one place and share their work, ideas and thoughts during the festival, with more and more designers now understanding PQ as a platform: a continual stream of activities and collaborations happening across the globe with many different partners, creative professionals, artists, researchers, and theorists.

More and more countries have been bringing exhibitions with performative elements that draw the viewer into new imaginary spaces and turn audiences into active participants. The 2023 edition key slogan is ‘RARE’ in the sense of unique approaches and rare artistic experiences. 

It will display the need to experience performance design/scenography in its performative format, which will be live with audience engagement. 

More and more countries have been bringing exhibitions with performative elements that draw the viewer into new imaginary spaces and turn audiences into active participants. The 2023 edition key slogan is ‘RARE’ in the sense of unique approaches and rare artistic experiences, which will be live with audience engagement. 

Both are inspiring international platforms championing collaboration and activities with many partners, creative agencies, designers and artists, bringing to a wide audience through highlighting the importance of performing arts and providing exceptional opportunities for performance design and scenography in its performative format.

 

Some designers have felt expected to maintain a consistent level of output despite these upheavals, or to spend more working hours in total on a postponed project that since it has been ‘stretched’ out over a longer period of time.

https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/7329/html/

https://www.belgrade.co.uk/stories/weducation-design-your-own-stage-costumes/

On the 15^th of July 2020, a community of theatre designers up and down the country began staging a nationwide event called Scene Change to draw attention to the plight of theatres in the pandemic.

The scale of freelance work in the theatre industry is reflected in another campaign called ‘Freelancers Make Theatre Work’, designed to be an inclusive community for the 200,000+ freelancers who make up the 70% of the work force from costume designers to prop makers.

https://www.vam.ac.uk/blog/projects/pandemic-objects-backstage

Since freelancers often work ahead of pay and without proper contracts, every job is high risk at the best of times.

Designers are suffering from anxiety about their future and current funds, not to mention Zoom fatigue.

The shock to the industry has been hard to take in, and for such a busy and committed workforce to find themselves suddenly unable to work is frustrating.

https://bectu.org.uk/news/aftershocks-what-does-the-covid-19-pandemic-mean-for-theatre-designers

During lockdown, Green decided to use the period of sudden unemployment to develop another project she was passionate about – sustainable fashion. “I needed to generate an income – and to keep making something, because that’s what keeps me happy,” she says. In September, she launched the fashion label Article Green, with elegant, quietly theatrical pieces using sustainable fabrics – natural textiles, grown using environmentally sustainable methods – that Green makes to order in her Bristol studio.

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2020/dec/16/ti-green-stage-designer-sustainable-fashion-article-green

1975 PQ: The third PQ took place in late 1975 and early 1976. The thematic section was dedicated to the work of scenographic schools. The number of participants increased to 28: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, East Germany, Finland, France, Holland, Italy, Japan, Hungary, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Uruguay, USA, USSR, West Germany, Yugoslavia. The PQ75 Golden Triga was awarded to the exposition from the USSR.

1979 PQ: The fourth PQ was held in 1979, again in the PKOJF Brussels pavilion. Because the PQ took place during the International Year of the Child, the thematic section was dedicated to puppetry. 27 countries took part in PQ 79: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, East Germany, Egypt, Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, USSR, West Germany, Yugoslavia. The PQ 79 Golden Triga was awarded to Great Britain.

1983 PQ: Czech and Slovak composers.  Steel art nouveau construction. The fifth PQ was held in 1983 in both wings of the PKOJF Congress Hall. The thematic section was dedicated to operas by Czech and Slovak authors. 28 countries took part in PQ83: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, East Germany, Egypt, Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, USA, USSR, Vietnam, West Germany, Yugoslavia. The PQ 83 Golden Triga was awarded to West Germany.

1987 PQ: The sixth PQ was held in 1987 in both wings of the PKOJF Congress Hall. The thematic section was dedicated to the work of Anton Chekhov. 32 countries took part in PQ 87: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, China, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, East Germany, Egypt, Finland, France, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Laos, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, Spain-Catalonia, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, USSR, Vietnam, West Germany, Yugoslavia. The PQ 87 Golden Triga was awarded to the exposition from the USA.

1991 PQ: The seventh PQ was held in 1991 at the Palace of Culture. The thematic section was dedicated to the operas of W. A. Mozart. 36 countries took part in PQ91: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Cyprus, the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Israel, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Syria, South Korea, Spain-Catalonia, Sweden, Switzerland, United States, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, United Kingdom, Yugoslavia. The PQ 91 Golden Triga was awarded to the exposition from Great Britain.

1995 PQ: The eighth PQ was held in 1995 in the Industrial Palace at the Prague Exhibition Grounds. 42 countries took part in PQ 95: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Belarus, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Japan, Korea, Lithuania, Latvia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Syria, Spain-Catalonia, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States of America. The Golden Triga was awarded to the exposition from Brazil.

1999 PQ: 516 designers from 47 countries. Location was LeCompte Mall (an international camp of symposiums and alternative theatres). Photographic exposition on the balcony with works of the Czech theatre company - Yarosalv Krejci and his students. Light laboratory of theatre lighting. The PQ was perceived as a labyrinth in which each participant had his or her own corner. The ninth PQ was held in 1999 in the Industrial Palace at the Prague Exhibition Grounds.45 countries took part in PQ 99: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Belarus, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hong Kong (China), Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Israel, Japan, Lithuania, Latvia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, South Africa, Spain-Catalonia, Sweden, Switzerland, United States, Yugoslavia. The PQ 99 Golden Triga was awarded to the exposition from the Czech Republic.

2003 PQ: The tenth PQ was held in 2003 in the Industrial Palace of the Prague Exhibition Grounds. 50 countries took part in PQ03: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Canada, Chile, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong-China, Hungary, Iceland, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Lithuania, Latvia, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Oceania, Peru, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Spain, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States. The PQ 03 Golden Triga was awarded to the exposition from Great Britain.

2007 PQ: 5000 contributors from 70 countries, 35000 visitors. 52 exhibiting countries, 500 live events. themes: meetings, dialogues and recycling street events: consider yourself an actor on the stage and set of Prague's street square. The eleventh´PQ was held in the Industrial Palace and at the Křižík's Pavillion E at the Prague Exhibition Grounds. 52 countries took part in PQ07: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria,Canada, Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong S.A.R. China, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pacific Islands, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Republic of South Africa, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, United Kingdom, USA, Venezuela. The PQ 07 Golden Triga was awarded to the exposition from Russia.

2011 PQ: The twelfth PQ took place at the National Gallery’s Veletržní Palace, the National Theatre’s public piazzetta and at the Prague Crossroads social and cultural centre in St. Anne’s Church. 62 countries took part at PQ11: Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong Sar China, Hungary, Iceland, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Macedonia/Fyrom, Mexico, Mongolia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Republic of South Africa, Romania, Russia¸Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, United Kingdom, Uruguay, USA, Venezuela. The PQ11 Golden Triga was awarded to the exposition from the Brazil.

2015 PQ: The thirteenth PQ took place at several locations in the historical centre of Prague. The theme of the edition was Music, Weather, Politics. Video is greyscale. 78 countries took part at PQ15. The PQ 15 Golden Triga was awarded to the exposition from Estonia.

The national exhibition project for 2019 - 2023 focuses on welcoming designers, makers and audiences back to catch up on the landscape of UK performance design. It’s a chance to reconnect, be together, and reach out to new communities and audiences.

Hello Stranger emphasises responsivity and openness in the context of a changing world. As we emerge from the pandemic and face societal and global issues, including climate crisis, legacies of inequality, international conflict and the increasing familiarity of digital technologies in our lives, we face an evolving landscape for performance design and scenography.

Curators: 

The national curators of Hello Stranger: National Exhibition of UK Performance Design 2019-2023 are Kathrine Sandys (Head of Theatre Practice at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama) and Lucy Thornett. (Senior Lecturer in Scenographic Practices at UAL). Both were appointed convenors of the UK Theatre and Performance Research Association (TaPRA) and are longstanding committee members of the Society of British Theatre Designers. 

Questions surveyed throughout the project are: How are performance designers responding and adapting to the critical challenges of our times? How is our art form evolving in response to a changing world? What voices have been missing from the conversation?

Both SBTD and PQ have some attention or help for students or new designers. For example, they offer grants, student talks and student exhibitions. There is a lot of thinking about space and feeling in the various exhibitions, focusing on the audience's feelings and getting them involved in the process. Perhaps from spectator to appreciator, from an introduction to design to being inspired by the artistry of the exhibition. It is as if we are weaving a web that connects the roles of audiences in all social forms, completing the sharing, experiencing and enhancing of art.

 

SBTD co-ordinates the UK professional and student exhibits for the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space. The exhibition is aimed at the general public as well as being more motivating and inspiring for young people/students.

 

Exhibition of Countries and Regions is the historically most significant exhibition of PQ. 

Exhibition of Countries and Regions dates back to the very beginnings of PQ, as it shaped the international and transnational relations between Czechoslovakia and other countries.It introduces contemporary scenographic works from around the world. This exhibition seeks changes, challenges and opportunities. 

 

Student Exhibition is competitive as well.It traces local pasts, envisions local futures, suggests ways to cope with the significant traits of one’s own cultural background and negotiating how local identities contribute to, enrich and inspire new works of performance design/scenography.  

 

The Student Exhibition presents creative interventions that take inspiration from local knowledge, local culture and identity – in the belief that local ideas, materials, artistic approaches connected to communities, and genius loci of your place can bring inspiration to new and visionary works of performance design/scenography. 

Nadia has explained that '[...] it can be very atmospheric with the right lighting. We had performers appearing and disappearing from various places in the room for each mini 6ish minute performance (I think 7 performances in total) and for each one we shifted the audience around the room, so a lot can be done in there…."

You can access some images of the performance here: https://www.joshuapharo.com/revolutions-in-costume

 "Hollywood Costume is not about fashion or glamour; it’s about how these working garments contribute to character development, how they support the narrative, and most importantly, how they help to create credibility on screen. The exhibition consists of three rooms: Scene I, II and III. In Scene I, visitors learn the art of character construction. Sketches, designs, screenplays, annotated scripts, comments, quotes and references shows how a character is brought to life."
– I think this is really important to film/theatre, how the costume reflects the mood and emotion of the scene/directions from the filmmaker or author, and in turn that produces a catharsis of emotion to the viewers.