training, education &
artist development
Online Courses
FEEDBACK
Annabel Arndt, lecturer in arts administration
The Marketing workshop was extremely useful and very well carried out. It enabled us to understand the principles of marketing applied to a real show and company and understand the processes which have to be gone through to perfect a marketing strategy for a specific show. It was helpful to see the Producer and Managing Artistic Director discussing together how decisions are made and who does what when. Hearing about how promotional images were chosen from an idea to the completed product was interesting and useful. I am grateful to Spymonkey for sharing their expertise.
Jemma Blythe, actor
@_JemmaBlythe "I was at the Devising Process session today. It was brilliant, really useful advice, and I laughed all the way through!I"
Gav Cross, storyteller/teacher
The marketing workshop was fabulous! Really helpful and inspiring!
Eva Collins Alonso, lighting designer on Marketing
It's all SUPER helpful! - Loved your tip on pitching your audience: "you watched this, so you may also like..."
Calum Johnston, performer Brisbane Australia
It has been such a pleasure to join these workshops (even though I have to stay up till 2 in the morning, well worth it!). I have learnt so much and have made the realization that I have a lot more to learn to further my craft, so when the pandemic settles down I would love to save up and join the classes in person. The amount of love, wisdom, passion and tenderness that Toby, Aitor, Petra and Emily have shown in the workshops is so inspiring and I can't wait to put all this knowledge into practice.
Martin Jakeman, Historical Huzzahs on Collaborating
It was fantastic to hear the differences between collaborating during the company's early year and the process that happens now. As a young professional it is always really beneficial to hear established professionals talking of thier experiences and giving advice.
Guy Hargreaves, performer/writer on The Business #1
Very informative (and a surprisingly enjoyable) session. The tone was light and fun but delivered with great clarity. The number of participants was perfect (i didn’t feel daunted to ask a stupid question because there were a HUNDRED Zoomers on a Webinar). Through Emily and Toby’s clear and direct teaching I was able to see that thinking about what exactly you want to spend your money on will focus your creative energies (and imaginings) in a helpful way.
Eva Collins Alonso, lighting designer on Budgets #1
The session was great: it's good to think about the budget as an evolving thing that we need to edit and make notes as we go along. I won't forget this!
Jenny Rowe, The Maydays on The Business #1
Thanks very much for today. You broke it down simply and succinctly and, whilst an excel spreadsheet doesn’t usually inspire my creativity, I am a tiny bit excited to start calculating my project costs now. It was a great refresher, but I definitely learnt lots too.
Martin Jakeman, Historical Huzzahs on Marketing
I learnt so much and made a crazy amount of notes! As someone who lives with Dyslexia I always find reading and creating large amounts of formal writing daunting and can be overwhelming. The way you explained and presented the marketing session made it so accessible. It really was a great tool for young professionals. A mahoosive thank you again!
Charee Monroy, clown, Brooklyn USA on The Garage
Working with Toby and Aitor was an amazing joy, and I'm really so grateful that Spymonkey found a way to connect with the community over Zoom to offer these workshops. I can't stress how much I learned in the relatively short amount of time we all had together.
Ella Golt, clown & storyteller
Writing to say, I really enjoyed our marketing, poster and flyer design session, very fun and informative, Thank you.
We offer a range of online services, from arts business webinars and zoom talks, to creative opportunities and consultancy services.
A full schedule of upcoming workshops is available here.
For details of how to book them for your organisation please email natasha@spymonkey.co.uk
Here are some of the Zoom workshops we offer.
CREATIVE PRACTICE
TALKS AND WEBINARS
How to Kill a Classic
With Artistic Directors Toby Park and Aitor Basauri
What are the steps that we use when adapting great works of art, to create comedy brilliance on the stage? Much of our work has taken as its starting point ‘classic’ works, whether that be a work of literature such as Moby Dick or A Christmas Carol, or the archetypal classical tragedy Oedipus Rex. Other work comes about through genre-bending mash-ups between entirely inappropriate artforms - who ever imagined classical ballet and naked pole dancing working so effectively in the same cabaret number for example? Artistic Directors Toby Park and Aitor Basauri lead us through Spymonkey’s unique approach to adaptation.
90 mins. Cap 40 people
Next workshop: Thurs 17th Sept 4pm (UK time)
Link to book: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/spymonkey-30279056032
Successful Collaborating
With Artistic Directors Toby Park & Aitor Basauri & Producer Emily Coleman
Spymonkey are an intensely collaborative company - all of our work comes about through the meeting of creative minds, some new, some longstanding partners. This discussion/Q&A will allow you to gain an insight into how we create work with different directors, writers, musicians, choreographers, lighting designers.
90 mins. Cap 40 people
Next workshop: Thurs 24th Sept 4pm (UK time)
Link to book: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/spymonkey-30279056032
Spymonkey Devising Process
The devising process has been at the heart of our creative practice since our inception in 1998. This discussion, illustrated by examples from HD recordings of our work, is a chance to gain an understanding of how we navigate the process of writing and creating in a group, from early conception of an idea through its distinct phases of deelopment to full production (and beyond).
Music, Song & Comedy
Toby Park, Managing Artistic Director, and composer for all our shows, discusses the role of music and song within Spymonkey’s work. We will look at the process of composing and production, creating song, dance and instrumental routines, illustrated by examples from HD recordings of our work, and discuss the relationship between music, theatre, laughter and clown.
CREATIVE CONSULTANCY
The Garage of Broken Stupid Ideas
Est. April 2020. An opportunity to develop ideas for theatre shows and online content, under the eye of Chief Mechanics Toby Park & Aitor Basauri Full details on the Garage page here.
The Festival of Broken Stupid Ideas
The natural result of the huge success of the Garage of Broken Stupid Ideas - an online festival of Ideas curated by us.
Inaugural Festival October 30th 2020 Full details on the Festival page here.
BUSINESS WEBINARS
Overview of producing a show
With Producer Emily Coleman
A whistle stop tour through the main stages of producing a touring show - from bringing partners on board and fundraising, to timescales of the overall project management and final evaluation. This session will give you the key milestones for successfully producing your own projects.
90 mins. Cap 30 people
Next workshop: Thurs 1st Oct 2pm (UK time)
Link to book: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/spymonkey-30279056032
Introduction to Arts Council England Project Grants: Touring Applications
With Producer Emily Coleman
This session will explore each section of the application in detail using examples from Spymonkey’s successful grants, as well as a guide to uploading your application onto ACE’s Grantium portal.
4 hours. Cap 20 people
Next workshop: Thurs 8th Oct 9.30am (UK time)
Link to book: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/spymonkey-30279056032
We also offer the following - please see our Upcoming Workshops page for current schedule, or sign up to our social media for up-to-date info as it is announced.
All workshops are also available for bespoke groups and organisations. Please contact us via Natasha on natasha@spymonkey.co.uk for details and pricing.
The Business workshop #1 ‘Project Finance’
This workshop is aimed at anyone working on getting a show/project off the ground, or in need of advice about writing and managing a simple project budget. We will get down to the nitty gritty of spreadsheets and finances and will use sample project budget spreadsheet for you to take away.
120 mins
The Business workshop #2 ’Marketing’
In this workshop we will look at general publicity and how to assemble a marketing pack for touring venues which will include tips for making promo materials and distribution across social media. There will be an opportunity to answer questions and address specific needs of participants.
120 mins
Introduction to Budgets #1
Covering the basics of using Excel and what to include for making and/or touring a small scale show.
90 mins
Introduction to Budgets #2
Covering the basics of using Excel and what to include for a research and development project.
90 mins
Introduction to Arts Council England Project Grants: R&D under £15k
Covering the basic content of each of the main sections within Arts Council England’s National Lottery Project Grants application. This session is specifically aimed at artists interested in applying for under £15,000 for support to research and develop new projects.
120 mins
A Successful Marketing Pack
What information do venue marketing teams need to sell your show? Using Spymonkey’s marketing pack from The Complete Deaths tour we’ll take you step-by-step through what to include in yours.
120 mins
Basics of Branding, Poster & Flyer design
Making your theatre company stand out, we’ll go through what design and image you could choose, how to layout your design and what information to include in your print.
90 mins
We can deliver additional workshops and creative sessions to theatres, arts organisations and groups of creatives. If you know an organisation or group who would benefit from one of these sessions, please feel free to pass on our information.
Please contact us via natasha@spymonkey.co.uk for details and pricing.
