A powerful evening combining theatre and civic engagement, featuring a short play co-created and performed by artists with lived experience of homelessness and navigating benefits while pursuing creative careers. The performance explores the systemic barriers preventing artists and freelancers from accepting work without risking their government support.
Following the show, you'll participate in Legislative Theatre — an innovative participatory democracy method developed by Augusto Boal. Rather than a passive audience experience, attendees engage in dialogue, creative interventions, and collaborative problem-solving alongside artists, policymakers, and decision-makers. The session guides participants through four steps: watching the performance, intervening in the play with alternative scenarios, proposing practical policy solutions, and voting on recommendations for change.
This event addresses a real challenge faced by Arts & Homelessness International (AHI) members: the tension between building freelance careers and maintaining benefits support. AHI, which operates on a shared leadership model with 50% of staff and board members having lived experience of homelessness, has partnered with the Department for Work and Pensions, Central England Law Centre, and the Arts and Social Outcomes Network to develop solutions, including a benefits guide and manifesto.
The session welcomes artists, freelancers, creatives on benefits, policymakers, DWP and Jobcentre staff, funders, unions, researchers, and anyone committed to creating fairer systems. Light refreshments are served from 12:15pm, with the performance beginning at 1:00pm.
