OUR STRATEGY 2024-2026
Launched in Summer 2024, Divided Culture Co's three-year project 'Dare to Innovate' seeks to lead the organisation into the next generation of artistry. The company commits to:
1) Making original work, with local emerging artists discovered through our programmes that provide pathways into our business, funders, partners and charitable networks. We will continue to be a voice for new writing, and work in innovative ways that champion inclusion, diversity and equity for all. The work we make will be challenging, possess cultural capital and engaging for local communities.
2) Developing future artists, in our work and in our flagship programme launching in Autumn 2025 'Future Artists Initiative'. With a focus on Greater Manchester, starting with educational partners - we seek to be an artist development leader in the borough and have a long-term collaboration strategy with local charities & non-profits to enhance the quality, longevity and impact of the project.
3) Be a small-scale leader, operating a business model that puts people first, fairly. Working with safe and effective processes and led by a team that are qualified, experienced and share the same values. We're on a mission to be one of the primary makers in the North West, and through this growth, will remain committed to transparency, being community-led and not-for-profit.
To find out more about working with us on our development strategies, get in touch: hello@dividedcultureco.com
OUR Green POLICY
Divided Culture Co. is committed to minimising the environmental impact of our business activities. As a relatively young company, we are currently committed to working on a project by project basis alongside our collaborators, to learn how best we can minimise and reduce our impact. We've made our Green Policy accessible for everyone in an effort to maintain transparency and to remain focused on our commitments to the environment.
OUR JOURNEY TO EXCELLENCE
As a proudly working-class-led, LGBTQ+ organisation, we are only at the beginning of our journey towards delivering high quality projects to our communities. We also understand that the end product - a theatre show or film - is only a small part of any project. There are optimum opportunities to ensure we’re delivering projects that are purpose-built, accessible, serve the people we want to reach and contribute to meaningful discussions on the thematic issues we explore.
An essential way we will work towards delivering excellence is collaboration. To ensure that our ambition and ideas are packaged and directed in the most effective way, we will work with relevant artistic and community-based partners such as charities, councils, and non-profits to learn how they shape projects and have a stronger understanding of the communities we want to reach. These partnerships will change from project to project, allowing us to lean on the knowledge and experience of relevant established artists and community leaders.
Beyond our partners, our freelancers and audiences play a very important role in our journey. Continuous improvement for us is listening to you, sharing findings from our projects and inviting you to tell us how we can improve. As an organisation that works predominantly with freelancers, our artists have unique experiences and valuable insights that we can channel in our practices. We also want to deliver the best possible product for our audiences, and doing this would be impossible without listening to your initial reactions, thoughts and criticisms. We will use your feedback to not only build a narrative around our journey, but as valuable data that we can analyse and report on. Meaning that best practices and future projects are founded on feeling and driven by data.
We will not always get things right, which is both terrifying and exciting. We are not afraid of failure, but hope that by embarking on a continuous process of reflection, sharing and listening, our failures will be less impactful and eclipsed by our successes. We look forward to working with and serving you as best we can.
DARE TO INNOVATE
THE 2024-2026 PLAN
A 3-year project plan, developed by industry leaders for future leaders. In the delivery plan, we have a variety of outputs, to reflect the diversity of our region and maintain an offering for all.
In 2024, we officially launched an arm of the business classified as a 'Community Interest Company' meaning the work that we create is on a not-for-profit basis, and is for social good. We toured Toxic to five selected areas of the North West - all in-line with Arts Council England's Priority Places list. Partnering with new venues such as the Old Electric in Blackpool and the Carriageworks in Leeds, reaching new audiences and connecting with new creatives!
In early 2025, to finalise our first year of Dare to Innovate, we completed an R&D of Millennium in Rochdale. An exciting new writing project that pushes boundaries, both for the company and the Manchester arts-scene. A few weeks later, launched the DCC Playwriting Commission for eight weeks - an opportunity for playwriters across the North West to submit their work for a financial prize and a production, mentorship and in-kind offers.
In late 2025, comes our new programme of arts engagement 'Future Artists Initiative' - launching in-line with the academic year. We're heading to schools, colleges and alternative provisions across Greater Manchester, meeting young artists who need an in. Developing a programme of works across the region, led by these future artists, in-cohesion with their institutions and our partners. We're reshaping outreach, and giving value back to communities.
In 2026, we have our biggest year yet! With the Future Artists Initiative still running, we have a full-scale realisation of Millennium - designed to be experienced by and made by local creatives that have joined us via Dare to Innovate. Alongside this, we have an R&D for a new project and a short-film released!