In August 2021, NDT Broadgate launched as an engine room that made change for freelance and independent artists possible.
This revolutionary artistic development complex was fully staffed, properly resourced, and was completely and totally FREE for independent and freelance artists to use throughout this reset year.
The following language and resources exist as an archive of the original context, vision, and blueprint for the project, which has since closed:
We all want to come back better, and NDT Broadgate is driving that change.
Now one of the biggest and most popular rehearsal spaces in London, NDT Broadgate is saving artists money, allowing them to invest in the change they want to see. For example, improving freelancer pay, or investment in more inclusive practice or improving access for audiences.
Together, we are bringing our community out of isolation and sparking new, unexpected collaborations that wouldn’t have happened in the old world.
We're already using NDT Broadgate in ways we’d never imagined.
And we're not doing it alone. Our Broadgate Associate Companies are Chinese Arts Now, Migrants in Theatre, Nouveau Riche, Numbi Arts & The PappyShow.
Each are gifted their own studio, office, budget with complete autonomy – sharing leadership, and diversifying the routes artists can take to access resources at NDT Broadgate.
Find out more, read the blueprint:
Download Full PDF | Large Text Version | Easy Read Version | Audio Version
In summary...
108,924 Hours of Free Creative Time
In total, NDT Broadgate will unlock 108,924 hours of totally free space for creative projects and for artists to dream; invaluable time during a year where resources may be increasingly scarce.
A footfall of 80,000 Artists
Over this reset year, we are welcoming thousands of artists, developing hundreds of projects – all using NDT Broadgate totally free of charge.
More than 20,000 square feet
Providing over 20,000 square feet of free space and resource, we support artists who’ll focus funds saved on space to fuel a more equal arts industry.
29 Spaces for Creativity over 2 Floors
NDT Broadgate features 16 rehearsal studios, more than 10 meeting and presentation spaces, a large designers’ studio & make space and communal areas.
Download the floor plans HERE.
New Jobs
NDT Broadgate is fully staffed. Recruited through an open process, with our NDT Broadgate Associates central to the process, we've created multiple jobs - and we’re committing to paying all staff, including our cleaning team, more than the London Living Wage.
Get Involved & Engine Rooms
These plans were just a blueprint. The project is now up and running, but we're still actively seeking your ideas, insights and inspiration to shape how this space can work.
We also run regular Engine Rooms with artists and freelancers who have been using the space to get their thoughts on how we can continue improving and growing the work NDT Broadgate is doing.
The Design Studio
From conception, NDT Broadgate has been a design-led project, and far and away the most exciting space at NDT Broadgate is the Design Studio.
Over the last year we've been listening to artists, in particular designers, who can be especially isolated while also shouldering many hidden costs in their practice. This design studio is a direct response to these challenges.
Consisting of 40 individual design stations and work spaces, a large group workspace, storage facilities, and a shared making space, our Design Studio is a space for independent work, a place to bring collaborators, a site for presentations and workshops, and above all, an active site for the cross-pollination of artists.
A home for freelance designers, in Central London, completely free for a whole year.
Studio Residents
As part of the Design Studio we have offered a number of year-long residencies.
We are currently home to 20 designers over the next year, giving each access to:
- An individual design workstation
- Individual shelving & a lockable cupboard/drawer unit
- Shared storage space for larger items
- 24/7 access
Design Cafe
Alongside the Studio Residents, we are also opening up the rest of the studio space to be used as hot-desking space for Designers of all disciplines and experiences. We are hoping this provides a flexible workspace as an alternative to the theatre foyers, coffee shops and third spaces that are often temporary workplaces for so many designers.
Under this model, the Design Studio will be open Monday to Friday, 10.00am to 6.00pm for designers to use.
We have big plans for building the studio culture of designers at Broadgate, as well as forging strong links to existing design networks across the country, to create a community that outlives the time we have at Broadgate. This is being headed up by NDT's Staff Associate Designer Shankho Chaudhuri.
Applying for Space
Making any decision about what creatives to support is incredibly hard, and often impossible.
This moment feels like a fresh start, with a project as large as NDT Broadgate, we know we need a new way of making desicions.
We've built a new process that:
- Ensures resources are accessed by the most artists possible
- Actively removes biases, conscious and unconscious
- Is quick, friendly and easy to use (and doesn't ask artists to tell their life story or make themselves emotionally exposed just to get some free space!)
- Is transparent and clear to understand
Read further down the page to see how we're working to achieve these goals, how decisons are being made, and to read the full guidance.
A Lottery System
All applications for space at NDT Broadgate made through New Diorama will be selected via randomised lottery.
No application will be judged on artistic merit or quality terms and the primary aim is to maximise footfall and make best usage of the space over that period.
Since this project is aimed at independent artists we are not accepting applications from NPOs.
Freelance and independent artists can apply through a simple portal. Most questions are multiple choice, with set answers, and artists will need to type no more than a total of 200 words across the whole process. In total it should take no more than 10 minutes from start to finish.
Application Guidance
Download Full PDF | Large Text Version | Easy Read Version | Audio Version
Applications will be eligibility checked, ensuring they are using the space for appropriate reasons and meet requirements around fair pay. The allocation process will then take place in two rounds.
Eligibility
You are eligible to apply for space at NDT Broadgate if you are:
- An independent or freelance artist, not in receipt of NPO funding from Arts Council England
- Applying for space within the date range specified in the application
- Applying for a block of space, running consecutive days (e.g. a week of space not, for example, every Monday night for a month)
- Have a reasonable approach to fair pay, proportionate to your project or activity. We understand everyone is at different points, and different rates are fair for different groups. We’ll take a human, flexible approach to this conversation, while underlining its fundamental importance
NPOs and commercially focused companies are not eligible.
Reserved Space
More than half of the space at NDT Broadgate is reserved for Black, East Asian, South Asian led work, artists from the global majority, low socio-economic class backgrounds, and for disabled or D/deaf led projects.
We've chosen to focus on certain groups who we believe have been underrepresented on our stage and in the wider sector. There is a moment in the application process where you can indicate to us whether the work you’ll be doing at NDT Broadgate will be led by artists identifying from these groups.
Round One - Allocating Reserved Space
Applicants that declare they are eligible for the reserved space we’re ring-fencing for groups currently underrepresented in our programme are allocated first.
If there is enough ring-fenced space for all applicants then space will be automatically gifted. If demand outstrips the space we have available, applicants will be chosen at random through our lottery system, requests satisfied one-by-one until no more space can be filled.
Applicants not selected during Round One will then be returned to the applicant pool and be automatically submitted to Round Two, along with all other artists who have applied.
Round Two - General Allocation
Applications will be randomly selected and space filled until requests can no longer be met.
When and How Do I Find Out?
Successful applicants will be offered space at least six weeks before their first requested date.
Each successful application will have an offer made via email, where they’ll be asked to confirm their use of the space and complete an equal opportunities monitoring form.
Unsuccessful applicants will be informed that we can’t support them this time, given the details of affordable space elsewhere in London and encouraged to sign up to the NDT Broadgate mailing list where unfilled space and cancellations will be posted weekly, to be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.
Access
As part of the application form, we're asking each group about any access needs that artists may have when visiting NDT Broadgate. NDT Broadgate is wheelchair-accessible, and step-free.