In 2023, the arts industry felt as though it was at breaking point. After years of funding cuts, job losses, and debts carried over from COVID, the sector was further impacted by the effects of Brexit on the international arts community, alongside ongoing political turmoil and increasing self-censorship. At the same time, highly skilled mid-career freelancers were leaving the industry in search of stable employment and secure incomes in other sectors. ​After over a decade within the arts, Rachel still struggled to understand how to support the graduates entering the sector - let alone how to seek work herself, other than through recommendations.

 

Over the past ten years the unprecidented development of AI, algorithms and social media have impacted the way in which we engage with entertainment. This change has altered how we view creative IP, our audience engagement has shifted and the funding landscape for the arts, that was already precarious is now even more uncertain.

 

Rachel felt that it was important to make sense of this time of transtion in the arts- to document and better understand the UK performing arts sector during a critical period of change and to more importantly understand how this impacts individuals. This led to the research and development of a documentary film exploring the industry from the perspectives of both freelance practitioners and organisations, to understand - why is the sector’s ecosystem in crisis, and what can be done to support its future?

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As a result, Wise Productions Ltd was established in 2025 to develop and produce original film and theatre work. The first production was the research documentary Shaping The Arts: The Future of The UK Performing Arts.

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Our research revealed that we were at a time of increasing investment in technology and AI-led research and development within the arts, alongside continued reductions in funding for individual practitioners- we observed that self-producing within the current landscape has become fast-paced, competitive, and often short-term. Yet artists are still being told to ‘put on a show’ as a solution to develop their careers, without being offered routes for investment development or sustainable funding opportunities- let alone any understanding of the increasing cost of living crisis and how that impacts freelancers who, with unstable lower incomes, are of the most effected within soceity. Routes for funding across the sector are unclear and apart from ACE grants, there are limited opportunites, placing the expectation on the artists to fundraise. There is limited capacity for sustained planning or long-term development beyond an initial production run, and investment is frequently tied to measurable impact quantified through data and statistics.

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While the arts sector has continually adapted- collecting audience data and evidencing impact, we have experienced first-hand that the value of creative work extends far beyond a single run, numbers of clicks or a set of metrics. Lasting impact lies in the people, the process, and the long-term development of investing in ideas. It is this sustained investment that enables meaningful growth and lasting cultural contribution to society, our research shows that it’s also often the longer term invested productions that offer greater financial returns, as well as contributing as a soft power on the global cultural stage.

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Wise Productions believes it is vital to prioritise the long-term development of human-centred narratives and creative practices by investing more in people. Guided by research and data provided by Freelancers Make Theatre Work, through the research for the documentary film Shaping The Arts, we identified a significant gap: funding for individual artists is often limited in scale, restricting opportunities for sustained development, long-term collaboration, and the creation of ambitious, large-scale work.

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We are dedicated to centring the artist- supporting the development of original ideas, championing distinctive human stories, and nurturing collaborative creative practices. By helping to secure seed investment at the earliest stages of an idea and building long-term partnerships tailored to each project, we collaborate with production companies and individuals to realise work that reflects each production’s unique voice, impact, and requirements. Our mission is to nurture high-quality productions and artistic collaborations over extended periods of development, while building pathways to long-term platforms and international partnerships.

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Rachel's research for the film Shaping The Arts instigated the understanding that, if we want to improve our industry, it doesn't matter what level we may be working within it- every person can make a differece to be a part of greater change.

To address the lack of Equity-rate paid upskilling and professional development opportunities within the industry, Rachel is committed to embedding paid creative development roles within productions produced by Wise Productions- this both enriches the teams expertise and provides more paid career development roles on professional productions within the sector. These roles are built into our budgets to ensure each project actively contributes to the growth and sustainability of the sector, as a result addressing the lack of paid roles available. Within each production, we aim to expand our existing teams by employing additional freelance practitioners across the following areas:

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1. Established mid-career artists expanding their practice
Experienced professionals seeking to pivot, upskill, or transition into new roles aligned with their existing expertise.

This may represent their first professional credit in a new role, despite extensive experience elsewhere. Mid-career artists often face barriers to up-skilling and frequently take lower-paid work to gain experience; We aim to counter this by ensuring all roles are paid at Equity rate or above. Each artist is supported by an experienced member of the production team, providing mentorship and guidance throughout the process.

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2. Emerging / early-career artists / artists - Or anyone inbetween.
Paid opportunities for emerging creatives to gain their first professional credits or continue developing their practice. We prioritise assistant and training roles that offer meaningful, paid experience within professional production environments- particularly for recent graduates building careers in the industry. We aknowledge that often artists recently graduated and artists with up to ten professional credits or more struggle to fit within existing schemes accross the sector. These schemes are often aimed toward 'shadowing' or 'showcase opportunities' which might be expenses only or below living wage, or alternatively there are often paid emerging artist opportunities available for artists with between three to six professional credits.  Leaving those with more than ten credits in limbo between emerging and mid-career definitions, not yet experienced enough to fit within the mid-career bracket but too experienced to apply for emerging artist opportunities.

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Since its inception, Wise Productions has produced the documentary Shaping The Arts: The Future of the UK Performing Arts, alongside research and development for the international opera-musical Interludes, composed by Steven Feifke and featuring a new rendition of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue by Sam Jewison.

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Interludes was shared at Battersea Arts Centre in April 2025, with funding from Arts and Humanities Research Council.

The production brought together established professionals and emerging artists, including gospel choirs from the University of Birmingham, Lichfield Gospel Choir, and Gospel Revisited, alongside students from Millennium Performing Arts, choreographers and dancers from The Royal Ballet, and internationally recognised actors and opera singers.​ Filming and production were supported by collaborators Ligatura Films, Black Swan Productions, StayFly Films, and RTAudio.

 

Interludes engaged 126 creative practitioners and culminated in an open sharing at Battersea Arts Centre, offering free tickets to a relaxed performance for the local community.

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Looking ahead, Wise Productions is developing future projects including co-producing international short film Jalpari by Mia Maelzer.