Post pandemic outlook leads Silo to change its game

This is a time of year when Silo Theatre usually announces its line-up of productions for the upcoming season.
 
However, the stage lights will be off for a period in 2023 as the company resets its future with a focus on developing three new and original New Zealand works.
 
Over nine months Silo will develop three works, all wildly different in their ideology, scale and approaches to storytelling. Artists leading these developments are Anapela Polata’ivao, Stacey Leilua, Leon Radojkovic, Jon Coddington, Rachel Marlow, Daniel Williams and Freya Finch. 
 
Of course, producing homegrown shows is not new to Silo. Some of the Company’s greatest successes over 25 years have come from work commissioned and presented by local artists. But, surviving in a post-pandemic world with smaller audience numbers, rising prices, diminishing support from government funding, and the associated loss of key industry talent means a focus on creating more new local work is an important priority.
 
"We're still seeing the impact of Covid-19 on live performance, and I'm excited by the way the Company is so thoughtfully responding to the gaps we are seeing across the sector — by investing deeply in our artists, and in our stories." says Silo Board Chair, Rosabel Tan.
 
Silo Artistic Director Sophie Roberts says the challenges of the pandemic along with the arts funding crisis has seen many practitioners leave the industry for better pay and greater security. Moving into the development studio for this period provides safe and secure employment opportunities for many artists and art makers including actors, writers, designers, musicians, dramaturgs and directors.
 
But it also offers the company a moment to rethink and reset, she says.
 
“This climate has demanded that we look closely at the impact we want to make in the future. Returning to business as usual feels not only boring in this context but also dangerous. Risk and experimentation excite us, and this might be our riskiest move to date - we need to make time and space for new ways of thinking, leading and art making.”
 
2023 Artistic Associate Leon Radojkovic, who has worked on Silo’s productions of Brel, Peter and the Wolf and My Heart Goes Thadak Thadak, says “productions in Aotearoa are often created very quickly, and once they're up, they have a short shelf life. It's on to the next thing. The cycle and churn continues. Time to work and experiment is so rare”.
 
The volume of work required to develop and produce the shows is immense for a company Silo’s size, and Roberts says this will be the most significant investment in artistic development in the company's history.
 
Freya Finch, co-creator on Silo’s Break Bread is, “thrilled and grateful to be partnering with Silo in 2023 to further develop my new performance work. In a New Zealand arts context, it can be rare to be given both time and space to slowly explore a body of work, this will no doubt be a rich and interesting journey.”
 
By taking the time to pause from presentation and create a series of tourable new New Zealand works, the company believes it will futureproof its artistic success and financial security over the medium term. 
 
Silo’s aim with the reset is to have these works in the repertoire, ready to present multiple seasons, both nationally and internationally, from Spring 2023.