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Bethany McShepherd

Doctoral Student in Literature - Bethany’s thesis is entitled 'Value, Economies of Practice, and Business Innovation of Micro-Feminist Applied Theatre Companies in England'

Research project title

Value, Economies of Practice, and Business Innovation of Micro-Feminist Applied Theatre Companies in England 

 

Supervisors

Prof Kate Chedgzoy, Dr Jane Nolan + Dr Fiona Whitehurst

 

Contact details

Email: b.mcshepherd@newcastle.ac.uk

Research Interests

  • Feminist applied theatre
  • Arts-based enterprise/creative social enterprise
  • Arts funding and income generation
  • Feminist economics
  • Business innovation in the arts
  • Design thinking/human-centred design

Brief Outline of Research Project

My research looks at the business challenges faced by micro feminist theatres for social change as they seek to make meaningful impact in the communities they work with.  In understanding issues of capacity and desired change, I will look beyond traditional arts-funding models towards commercial innovation and creative social enterprises as a way of building new frameworks for financial stability.  Bringing together disciplines of feminist applied theatre, social change, and creative social enterprise, I will distil the ways in which small feminist theatres for social change financially survive and search for new opportunities that may enable them to financially, and socially, thrive.

Research Activities

Conferences, Workshops, and Presentations

  • May 2023: 'Understanding Social & Cultural Value through Clean Break's Feminist Theatre Model' HaSS PGR Showcase, Newcastle University
  • April 2024: 'Identifying Social and Cultural Values of Feminist Applied Theatre' 46th Comparative Drama Conference, Orlando, Florida
  • June 2024: 'The Women Inside: a verbatim film' Connections: School of English Literature Language and Linguistics Postgraduate Conference, Newcastle University
  • June 2024: co-organised BarbieCon: Feminist Utopias & Constitutionalism; re-imagining feminist futures, Durham Law School, funded by the Northern Bridge Consortium
  • September 2024: 'Small but Mighty Acts of Perseverance in Feminist Applied Theatre' Applied and Social Theatre Working Group Panel: Challenging the Hierarchies of the Major Culture(s), TaPRA (Theatre and Performance Research Association), Northumbria University

Academic Background

  • BA (Hons) Theatre & English, University of Vermont
  • PGDip Theatre Directing, LAMDA (London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art)
  • MA Arts Policy & Management, Birkbeck College, University of London

 

I am currently Head of Innovation at LAMDA, undertaking doctoral study on a part-time basis.  My studentship is funded by the Northern Bridge Consortium.

Website

My experience co-founding and leading micro company and feminist theatre for social change, Blank Cheque, forms a key part of my research.  Please visit our website: blankcheque.org

 

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