This was a survey undertaken by the research group of Waking the Feminists NI, which investigated the gender breakdown within eight theatre companies in receipt of Annual Funding Programme, administered by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. The eight “core funded” theatres were: Aisling Ghear, Big Telly, Cahoots, Kabosh, The Lyric, Prime Cut, Replay and Tinderbox. Data was gathered on productions taking place during the five-year period between 2014 – 2019.

The Headcount survey employed a methodology similar to the original Waking the Feminists Gender Counts report, which surveyed ten publicly funded theatre companies and festivals within the Republic of Ireland. In addition to gathering data on the seven key creative roles of Author, Director, Lighting, Set, Sound & Costume Designers and Cast, we also added data on one production role: Stage Management. It is hoped that this will the first step towards wider research into gender and other inequalities within Northern Ireland’s Performing Arts industries. We also hope that it will encourage further research and increased dialogue between academics, individual theatre practitioners and institutions, funding and advocacy bodies.  

Read the report here.