Concerned about a process of theatre-making which at the time often centred around the ‘genius male director’ and one which sidelined women, the trio decided to form a new company and made a commitment to a non-hierarchical company, led by women, focussing on collaborative theatre with people who might not ordinarily encounter the arts.
[3] Later in the same year, they were joined by Susan Clarke, who is the current artistic director.
[1] Beavers was renamed B arts in the mid-1990s and the company has trained hundreds of artists, writers, musicians and community members in making participatory outdoor theatre, outdoor and street arts.
[2] The company became active in the cultural life in Stoke-on-Trent, early on being commissioned to create original street theatre for the Stoke-on-Trent Garden Festival, and also touring work to Italy, Romania, Bosnia, Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Tunisia and New Zealand.
[6] In recent years B arts has been involved in large-scale strategic cultural programmes delivered with partners, such as Art City, a five-year, half a million pound Sterling arts programme that aimed to make the city a more attractive place to live and work [7] and the Appetite programme, an Arts Council England programme under its Creative People and Places initiative.