13 New Associates Added at New Perspectives

New Perspectives has announced the 2025/26 New Associates cohort. 13 artists from across the East Midlands will receive a year-long programme of bespoke support, training and mentorship from the award-winning, Nottingham-based company, working with New Perspectives' core team.

New Perspectives started the New Associate programme in 2019, aiming to recruit around eight associates. Due to the overwhelming popularity of the programme and high number of high-quality applications, the programme has grown year on year. After their highest number of associates last year, 18, they have reduced the number this year to 13 to focus on greater pastoral care for artists, which they identified as a growing need since the pandemic. Crucially, New Perspective offers detailed feedback to all applicants via Zoom, phone or email.

Originally aimed at early career artists, the opportunity has been extended to mid-career artists to address the lack of support for freelancers at this stage in their career, and to create a range of experiences that the group can benefit from as a collective. Alongside early career artists, the cohort includes writers Leah Chillery and Ben Weatherill. Leah Chillery is  a graduate of BBC's College of Comedy and one of the first Felix Dexter Bursary winners, she has gained experience on shows such as on Newsjack, Famalam and Mrs Brown's Boys and her play Earl of Mo'Bay was shortlisted for the Alfred Fagon Award. Ben Weatherill's plays include Chicken Dust (Finborough Theatre), Jellyfish (Bush Theatre/National Theatre) and Frank and Percy (Theatre Royal Windsor/West End).

This year's artists are: Stevie Cairns, Leah Chillery, Tom Heath, Daljinder Johal, Annis McGee, Amelia Michaels, Sneya Rajani, Anna Sharpe Jones, Ioney Smallhorne, Noor Sobka, Ione Vaughan, Ben Weatherill, and Conor Wilkinson. For more information on the cohort, please visit: https://www.newperspectives.co.uk/meet-our-new-associates-for-202526

New Perspectives are proud that the cohort represents a range of ages, ethnicities, and artistic disciplines including:

• 54% Global Majority artists
• 77% of artist identify as having a disability or long-term health condition
• 46% working class artists

Over the course of one year, they will work closely with the New Perspectives team to develop their work and career, learn from their skills and gain valuable insights into their leadership and governance. Opportunities made available over the year include:     

• tailored support on a particular project or skill set including, where appropriate, rehearsal space, mentoring, dramaturgical support and marketing, funding and touring expertise
• attendance at masterclasses, skills sessions and professional development opportunities
• opportunities to observe board meetings, and take part in planning sessions to act as a sounding board for new ideas
• invitations to company rehearsals, readings, workshops and participatory events throughout the year
• access to staff and board expertise and networks
• possibilities to collaborate with other New Associates as creative peers

The shape of the programme will vary depending on what is required by each artist. Led by Participation Director Jayne Williams, the programme offers New Associates the specific support they need as an artist to take a crucial next step.

Angharad Jones said, “Five years post pandemic, we are mindful of how non-linear creative careers can be and the support artists need, including those with strong back catalogues of work. It's daunting for any artist to have the belief, self-confidence and resources to establish and sustain a career in this industry and even more difficult when contending with geographic, economic, disability or health barriers. We have such pride in our New Associates programme which has gone from strength to strength. After considering each application in depth, this year we have invited 13 artists to join the programme and have uniquely offered feedback to all applicants. As well as opening up conversations this helps us to widen our understanding of the ongoing challenges faced by artists from across the East Midlands' region.

“Now with an alumni of over 70 East Midlands artists, our New Associates programme is proving to be an essential part of helping to sustain careers, proving support at a crucial time in an artist's journey”. 

New Perspectives is the leading touring theatre company in the East Midlands with 50 years' experience of touring high-quality productions to venues of all sizes across the UK, from mid-scale theatres to village halls.  With a strong rural core, they create productions to fit spaces of any size to bring new work that is unexpected and thought-provoking to a wide range of audiences. In Autumn 2024 the company undertook a major rural tour of Make Good – the Post Office Scandal Musical in a co-production with Pentabus, marking the Golden anniversary of each company. As Artistic Director/CEO since 2021, Angharad Jones has directed touring productions (the) Woman (national tour 2025), The Great Almighty Gill (Edinburgh Festival & UK Tour 2022), The Swearing Jar (rural/ Studio UK tour 2023), Model Village (rural tour 2023), and a script-in-hand reading of Lucy Kirkwood's Maryland. New Perspectives run a talent development programme New Associates, and with people who don't identify as artists to support them to tell their own story through their Open Pitch programme.