A message from Tamasha Artistic Director and Co-CEO, Pooja Ghai

In 2023, Tamasha announced funding from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation for a groundbreaking commitment to rebalance a Eurocentric approach to dramaturgy to make theatre more anti-racist and accessible for global majority artists with long term, decolonial systemic change as a goal. And so SHIFT was born.

SHIFT aims to redress the balance around commissioning and dramaturgical practices in the sector, which have historically been nurtured through a Eurocentric lens.

Overwhelmingly these are parameters through which we grade excellence and “good art”. Yet this can be limiting and demoralising for our global majority writers who wish to explore form and subjects through the prism of their own cultural and lived experiences.

SHIFT is a call to collective action to celebrate how global perspectives on our national narrative is vital for British theatre.

Over the past year, Tamasha has led a process of in-depth discovery and dialogue with theatre makers and organisations across the UK. We are delighted to announce the first of our partners on this journey. Coventry Belgrade and Bristol Old Vic – companies that had already demonstrably committed to change and willing to do the hard work needed. We look forward to the next steps of SHIFT’s journey with them, to welcoming more partners and to making this change happen.