That's right folks, The Bridge has started a newsletter. This is going out to all those of you who have said to me “keep me informed”, thus sticking to GDPR rules :).
The main purpose of the newsletter is to give you an update on progress and to solicit your collective feedback. If you think others might be interested in following the progress of The Bridge, ask them to get in touch with me directly. Similarly, if you would prefer not to receive these occasional emails, just let me know!
A reminder of the key dates ahead:
September 2021: Company establishment
January 2022: Begin learning and development activities
Summer 2022: Inaugural production
My ask of you:
I would like to launch a simple survey to assess interest in an English-language theatre in Brussels (seems like a pretty good idea before going any further!). Please look at the Google Form via the link and let me know if you think I'm asking the right questions. I want to keep is short and simple, so it is only around 10 questions. At this stage, the questions are very general; later surveys will go into more detail. Feel free to fill in the form yourself to try it out; I will delete all of your answers in any case before launching.
https://forms.gle/FP871YADKxKEHPcm8
I would like to launch the survey by the end of September. So I look forward to receiving your feedback before then!
The update:
Having received very useful feedback from many of you on the concept note, I was ready to 'go public' back in July. This marked the end of the inception phase. The next phase is testing my ideas to make sure they will actually work!
I circulated the concept note to various interested groups. My main target was the Brussels authorities, who took a long time to respond (for which I can only blame summer). Fortunately, I now have a meeting set up with them in October to, primarily, ensure there are no regulatory hurdles to setting up an English-language theatre in Brussels and to garner their support for the project.
I am also now in contact with other English theatres in Europe in order to learn from them and establish collaborative links. I will travel to The Hague in October to talk to the English theatre there about their work and I hope to be able to visit others still this year.
I still have a number of steps in my 'testing' phase, but once that is complete, the next challenge will be to look for external funding opportunities. However, I don't expect to start that phase until Spring 2021.
That's all for now.
Peace and love from Brussels,
Edward