Scottish Small Scale Touring Forum
Company of Wolves and the Federation of Scottish Theatre invite companies, artists and producers to the Small Scale Touring Forum, a free event taking place at Kinning Park Complex in Glasgow on Thursday 20th November 2025.
The event begins with a Workshop on Touring Small Scale Performance in Scotland, for artists and companies new to touring, with Company of Wolves co-artistic director Ewan Downie and SUPERFAN Producer Nicola Lawton. Special thanks to SUPERFAN for supporting this event.
Following a networking lunch for all participants, the afternoon continues with a Forum designed for professionals already involved in touring small scale work and is a place to share knowledge, resources and best practice, ask questions of peers, and develop vital networks that can help us work collectively towards a healthy, sustainable and inclusive sector. The Forum will be facilitated by Dr Steve Greer from University of Glasgow.
Register for either the morning or afternoon session using the links below. Participants in either session can join us for lunch if they wish.
Schedule
10:00-13:00 Workshop REGISTER HERE
13:00-14:00 Lunch for all participants of both workshop and forum (optional)
14:00 - 17:00 Forum REGISTER HERE
See below for more details.
The workshop (10:00-13:00) is for artists and companies who want to learn how to tour performances to small and medium-scale venues in Scotland. It will be co-led by Nicola Lawton and Ewan Downie.
This workshop is catered to artists who:
- Have made work but not yet toured it
- Have started touring and want to learn more / different approaches to touring, or
- Are just starting to make work with the hope to tour in future
The workshop will be led by the needs and interests of the participants, but it is anticipated that we’ll cover the whole tour life-cycle including making work for touring, introducing your work to venues, tour-booking and planning, tour logistics, environmental sustainability, funding and budget-management, and wellbeing on tour.
Nicola Lawton is an independent producer working in Scotland with extensive knowledge of circus practice. Currently working as part-time producer for SUPERFAN she also works on a freelance basis with artists to realise their ideas. Drawing from her experience of working across the sector in circus, theatre and other physical artforms over the past decade she brings organisation skills, logistics and problem solving to the table which together with an understanding of circus and physical disciplines supports their unique requirements to venues around Scotland.
Her previous work includes award winning ‘No Show’ by Ellie Dubois, ‘Dreams of the Small Gods’ by Zinnia Oberski (Autopsy Award Winner, Made in Scotland Showcase) ‘Like Animials’, ‘Stuntman’ and Oxford Samuel Beckett Theatre Trust Award winner ‘Nosedive’ by SUPERFAN and ‘Pickled Republic’ by Ruxy Cantir with Scissor Kick.
Ewan Downie is Joint Artistic Director of Company of Wolves, with whom he has toured eight shows to over 50 venues across the length and breadth of Scotland. He is a theatre-maker, writer and researcher with a lifelong interest in mythology, biology and psychology, and the ways they intersect.
Alongside Anna Porubcansky, he founded Company of Wolves in 2012, and leads the company's research into embodiment, play, storytelling and non-hierarchical collaboration.
He has directed or performed in all of Company of Wolves’ work to date, and has taught movement, improvisation, devising and creative practices in the UK and internationally for over 20 years.
The Forum (14:00-17:00) is for professionals already involved in touring small scale work and is a place to share knowledge, resources and best practice, ask questions of peers, and develop vital networks that can help us work collectively towards a healthy, sustainable and inclusive sector. The Forum will be facilitated by Dr Steve Greer from University of Glasgow.
The discussion will explore:
- Where we are now as a sector, and where we would like to be.
- Knowledge, skill, and resource-sharing, and what sort of platform would be needed to make this possible across the sector.
The exact agenda will be shaped by the needs of attendees, and what they most want to explore.
Participants at the Pilot Forum in 2023 said:
“These conversations and connections feel like a beginning of a community to me.”
“There's a very radical possibility that we could really lead on certain features: care, ambition, connectivity.”
Dr Steve Greer is Professor of Theatre Studies at the University of Glasgow where his work focuses on the histories and ecologies of live art, queer performance and experimental theatre. He leads the Live Art in Scotland project which aims to contribute a missing chapter of Scotland’s cultural history while exploring the forms of curation, support and development that might foster experimental and interdisciplinary theatre practices in the future. For a free directory of artist residency and support schemes based in Scotland, visit: https://liveartscotland.org/
Venue Directions & Accessibility
Kinning Park Complex, 43 Cornwall Street, Glasgow, G41 1BA, is located close to Glasgow city centre, next to the Kinning Park subway station. For full details on how to get to the venue as well as bike locker, parking and accessibility please visit this page.
Please let us know via the registration form, or contact hello@scottishtheatre.org if there is anything we can do to make your attendance and participation at our event more comfortable.
Bursaries for Travel & Childcare
If you are an Individual, or an FST Organisation Member travelling 50+ miles per way from your company/home location in Scotland, you are eligible for a travel bursary up to £50 (one per organisation). We also offer financial support of up to £50 for Individual Members to assist with childcare costs to help them to attend FST meetings and events. Bursaries can be claimed by emailing hello@scottishtheatre.org following the event.
Catering
FST follows a vegan catering policy. We are happy to accommodate other dietary requirements which can be submitted when registering for this event.