Tour Well for Tour Managers consists of practical suggestions, evidence-based tips, and real life examples for designing and delivering tours that promote positive mental health for the whole company.
Taking a production on the road is exciting and adventurous – producing a show for new audiences, building relationships with venues, and offering employment opportunities to talented performing arts workers. However, pressures from tight schedules, constrained budgets, marketing and communications challenges and team conflict can take their toll.
Tour Well for Tour Managers has been designed to share ideas to help the whole company thrive. Whether your tour is short or long, regional or metropolitan, we hope you find Tour Well for Tour Managers helpful.
Contributors
Tour Well for Tour Managers is a resource of the Arts Wellbeing Collective (Arts Centre Melbourne) and Arts on Tour.
Arts Centre Melbourne and the Arts Wellbeing Collective acknowledge the support and input of the Arts Wellbeing Collective Advisory Group, and the Arts Wellbeing Collective member organisations, particularly One Fell Swoop Circus, Regional Arts Victoria, The Australian Ballet, and the Victorian Association of Performing Arts Centres.
Arts on Tour is one of Australia’s most prolific performing arts touring organisations, widely recognised for leading on best practice in touring. Arts on Tour’s overarching purpose is to bring culturally distinctive and resonant arts experiences to audiences and communities across the country, and to deliver a program of events and initiatives that build the sector’s touring capacity. In working with Arts Wellbeing Collective on this resource, Arts on Tour acknowledges the support and input of project partners Bangarra Dance Theatre, Bell Shakespeare, CDP Theatre Producers, Critical Stages Touring, Monkey Baa Theatre Company, Performing Lines and Sydney Dance Company.
Charlotte is currently Company Manager at Bell Shakespeare. Previous roles include Stage Manager with Sydney Theatre Company, Force Majeure, and Griffin Theatre Company. Charlotte holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Technical Production (Queensland University of Technology) and a Bachelor of Arts, Psychology (The University of Queensland).
Matt is a musical theatre performer who has toured extensively for nearly 20 years. Matt made his professional debut in the original Australian production of Mamma Mia! and most recently appeared in Les Miserables and the 60th Anniversary Production of My Fair Lady. Matt is also an associate producer of Out From Under, a concert series aimed at raising mental health awareness in the entertainment industry.
Jess is currently the Company Manager at The Australian Ballet, which tours throughout Australia’s regional towns, capital cities and internationally over 28 weeks of the year. After graduating from NIDA – Bachelor of Dramatic Arts, Production, Jess has travelled with touring parties of 20 through to 130 experiencing the ups and downs of life on the road with companies such as Bell Shakespeare, Poetry in Action and many commercial musicals.
Jane is a NIDA graduate in Directing, and currently works as a clinical psychologist who consults to companies such as Bell Shakespeare, Arts on Tour and CDP Theatre Producers and is the research stream lead for the InsideOut Institute for Eating Disorders, University of Sydney. Jane is also a large event specialist choreographer with extensive touring experience herself, and has worked on Pan American, Commonwealth and Olympic Games Ceremonies.
