Fascinating Guest Speakers at Extant Connect

Every month, Extant hosts an online session called Extant Connect, an informal opportunity for blind and visually impaired creative people to network, talk, learn and share ideas with one another. Sessions are often loosely focussed around a theme, and we regularly host guest speakers to speak on topics related to working in the theatre industry and performing arts. So far in 2025 we’ve been lucky to have fantastic guests join us to share their experiences and advice with the group.

In January, we welcomed Louise Dyson as our first guest of the new year. Louise is the founder of the talent agency VisABLE People, the first agency set up to promote disabled actors and performers. She founded the agency 30 years ago after running a competition to find disabled models: they received over 600 entries and realised there was a wealth of disabled talent that was not represented in the industry.

The agency’s mission is to change the attitudes of the public towards disability via making change in media and the performing arts. Louise has found that theatre was the first sector to start embracing disabled talent, with screen and the commercial sector including marketing being much slower to change. There has been a big shift over the past 30 years, and the agency now represents many highly successful disabled actors, voice actors, models and TV presenters and books work in screen, theatre, modelling, audio books, advertising, corporate role play and videos.

The agency’s main focus is to lobby casting directors to cast disabled actors in roles where their disability isn’t a factor, and to seek substantial rather than tokenistic roles for disabled performers. They also promote the use of Access Coordinators, who guide production from casting to post-production, ensuring that access is considered for performers and crew members, as well as audiences.

There was a lively Q&A from attendees. People asked about Spotlight, the major platform for casting in the UK, which can be exclusionary for actors starting out in the industry, and is difficult to navigate as a visually impaired actor. Louise noted that disabled artists can get a large reduction in Spotlight fees, but this needs to be requested. The agency offers coaching, feedback and support to their clients to help them make the most of their Spotlight profile and portfolio.

Several questions were asked about how to start out in the industry. Louise noted that performers often need some existing skills or credits before joining an agency. However, some roles are easier to get experience in than others, like modelling or voice acting. For voice acting, the most important factor is having a good voice, and ideally the versatility to do multiple voices. Other roles are harder to get into, such as TV presenting where there are very few roles available across the whole industry.

The agency doesn’t currently offer resources to signpost actors towards training, but Louise suggested researching options like short courses run by drama schools or university drama departments. Major producing theatres also usually have an artist development lead who can signpost to local resources.

VisABLE currently represents a small number of writers and is not taking on new writers and directors at present. Louise always signposts writers to routes like the BBC Writers Room.

In response to a question about the type of performers the agency takes on, Louise commented that she prefers to work with artists who are self-motivated, reliable, and work hard. VisABLE People represent performers with all kinds of disability, including invisible ones.

Next up, in February, we were delighted to welcome Charlotte Jones, Chief Executive from ITC, the Independent Theatre Council. ITC is a management organisation for around 400 arts organisations, including Extant. Members who join ITC must agree to work to its shared values, including terms like commitment to fair pay. Membership is priced on a scale, with larger organisations paying more to subsidise small theatre companies – however Charlotte noted that size is relative, as even the ‘larger’ ITC member organisations only have around 10-12 employees.

Charlotte mentioned that her favourite part of working for ITC is the opportunity to support an extraordinarily committed sector, be that in facilitating and empowering Boards, or providing advice to members. ITC offers many resources, from information sheets, recommended minimum rates of pay, and member forums which are an opportunity for online discussion and peer-to-peer sharing of learning.

ITC works closely with the Arts Council, including around consultation and research. The organisation also has strong relationships with performing arts unions, in particular Equity, BECTU and the Writers’ Guild. ITC negotiates with these unions to form agreements around working conditions, minimum rates of pay and dispute resolution. ITC frequently weigh in around employment, contracting or payment issues with individuals and venues. The Extant Connect group were curious about the most common types of disputes that ITC would become involved in, and Charlotte commented that there are many unique factors in performing arts including high rates of isolated individuals, or the pressures of touring, particularly longer tours that take people away from home for long periods.

The group asked several questions around forming a theatre company, and the pros and cons of different kinds of company structure. Charlotte explained that ITC is a company limited by guarantee, with a Board drawn from representatives of member companies. She noted that the majority of companies connected to ITC are similarly ‘limited by guarantee’, with many also registering as charities at a later date. Some group members mentioned that they are considering forming a CIC, or community interest company, which allows more routes for fundraising than a limited by guarantee company, but has a less weighty administrative and governance burden than registering as a charity. However, Charlotte noted that CICs have some other downsides and stressed the importance of properly thinking through aims and objectives when considering setting up a theatre company, and thoroughly researching the best options for what you wish to achieve. She commented that it’s also an option to start making work as a sole trader, and then later to register as a company, and recommended the NCVO website as having useful resources around company structure.

Towards the end of the session, the group talked more broadly about disability and visibility, including the lack of disabled representation during the recent screen awards season. We talked about how groups like Extant Connect can be used to empower and strengthen through peer support.

Extant Connect takes place on the last Monday evening of every month. The next session, from 7pm to 8.30pm on Monday 31 March, will feature a masterclass on applying to Arts Council funding, focussing on their Developing Your Creative Practice (DYCP) fund. If you would like joining information for the session, please contact [email protected]

Louisa Sanfey, Artist Development Manager, March 2025