Annual Workforce Survey 2024/25

Every year we send out a survey to collect feedback and data from our staff, freelancers, trustees and volunteers. We know a lot of freelancers are familiar with (bored by??!) these survey requests. So it matters to us that we share back the difference their feedback has made. It also matters to us to share how the data they've contributed to is helping us understand the demographics of our workforce and where we need to do better.

Here’s what we learned from Unfolding Theatre’s annual workforce survey 24/25 – and what we’re doing in response.

We’re proud that our team described working with us as inspiring, enjoyable, insightful, friendly, welcoming, and supportive. Freelancers told us they felt braver, more confident, and well cared-for. ​We were delighted to hear this positive feedback. We were also really interested in how freelancers had taken their experiences of working with Unfolding Theatre to advocate for and improve their working conditions elsewhere.

We also heard really helpful ideas for how Unfolding Theatre can work better. As a result, we’re introducing access check-ins at the start of project days, improving how we communicate (without overload!), tidying youth theatre kit, and being more mindful of team capacity and scheduling. We’ll also keep advocating for our brilliant projects and people.

This year, we had demographic data from 38 of the 53 people who worked with us – freelancers, staff and trustees. 29% of respondents identified as deaf, disabled or living with a long-term health condition. This is a big increase since five years ago. We've seen how our disabled team members have shaped our work for the better - most especially through our show, Night Classes, and the development of NE Deaf Youth Theatre.

16% of our workforce were from the global majority. We know we need to improve here, especially when we think about the numbers of global majority children in our youth groups and communities. Seeing the impact on audiences of projects like Here Be Dragons has been so important to us. 13% identified as LGBTQ+. We remain committed to celebrating LGBTQ+ voices, especially at a time when they are under threat. Our data on age, socio-economics, sex and gender show a pretty good balance, and if anyone wants to know more detail on that they're welcome to get in touch.

Thanks so much to everyone who worked with us this year! And if you work for an organisation and have collected a load of workforce data - share it with your freelancers. We're stronger together!