Franc Chamberlain - University College Cork and,Visiting Professor in Performance Studies and Creative Practice, University of Northampton

In support of CPR

I first encountered the work of CPR in 1988 at the first Points of Contact symposium held at Leicester Polytechnic (now De Montfort University) and I have continued my association with them for twenty years attending a variety of conferences and workshops. That first conference, and subsequent ones I have attended, have been model conferences with an excellent balance of both theory and practice and an exploration of the intertwining of the two. There has been, and is, a commitment not simply to engage with the intellectual difficulties of thinking about performance but also with the psychophysical and social struggles of making performance. The conferences have always had a stimulating mix of university-based practitioner-academics, students, young performance practitioners, and established, internationally-recognised performers and directors.

The training programmes have offered people in Wales, and the rest of the UK, the opportunity to work with some of the most celebrated and innovative practitioners and teachers in the world as well as giving support to new and emerging talents. The Giving Voice Festivals are a good example of this, with the tenth festival opening in a few weeks.

I think that their own description of their practice is perfectly accurate:

CPR works to promote innovation, experimentation, and process, and offers access at all levels to innovative training programmes and approaches to making theatre alongside programmes of high quality presentations and performances from around the world that pursue ideals of accessibility without artistic compromise.

And there is nothing else like CPR in the UK and, even if something were to start up, there is no substitute for the experience and network that they have built up over the past 34 years of making performances and organising conferences, festivals and training opportunities plus publishing journals and books via their own imprint and in alliance with major publishers. They have also forged a unique relationship with the University at Aberystwyth that has been very productive and mutually beneficial.

Rather than cutting CPR's funding, I think that the Arts Council of Wales should be declaring CPR a national treasure and not simply making their funding secure, but increasing it significantly. This is a very small organisation with a large national and international impact.

If CPR's work could be reduced to the conferences there might be a rather weak case for arguing that the work belongs more in the University sector than in the broader public sphere, but what CPR attempts, and achieves, goes well beyond such a limited aim.

Franc Chamberlain
University College Cork and,Visiting Professor in Performance Studies and Creative Practice, University of Northampton, UK
Series Editor of Routledge Performance Practitioners