Almeida Makers

Almeida Makers is a new artist development programme supporting eight exceptional early and mid-career directors and designers each year.

The Almeida exists to launch the next generation of British artists onto the world stage. Across the last 10 years, we’ve maintained our commitment to nurturing artists at the early stages of their careers through initiatives such as our Resident Directors Scheme, Genesis Almeida New Playwrights, Big Plays Programme, and direct pathways into the industry through our Young Artist programme. These opportunities have been fundamental to the development of some of the UK’s most exciting theatre makers, from the Almeida’s Associate Director Rebecca Frecknall (A Streetcar Named Desire) to Atri Banerjee (Look Back in Anger) and Ava Pickett (1536) winner of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize in 2024.

Paul Mescal is kneeling on the floor, crawling towards Patsy Ferran who is holding out a broken bottle towards him.

Rebecca Frecknall's 2022 production of A Streetcar Named Desire.

Billy Howle holding Ellora Torchia who is holding her arms in the air.

Atri Banerjee's 2024 production of Look Back in Anger.

Now we launch a new programme supporting exceptional early and mid-career directors and designers, Almeida Makers.

Through Almeida Makers, we will offer paid training placements alongside acclaimed artists on every Almeida production, with additional events and paid progression opportunities. Our goal is to identify and build sustained relationships with ambitious artists in the early stages of their careers, who will go on to lead their own work at the Almeida and beyond. Crucially, the programme aims to diversify the pool of artists working both at the Almeida and across the wider theatre sector.

Annual opportunities through Almeida Makers will include:

Employing six Assistant Directors and two Assistant Designers to work alongside and learn from world class artists across the rehearsal and production process
Providing paid career pathways such as the opportunity to make work on the Almeida stage as the lead director or designer on an Almeida Young Company production
Creating community and ongoing engagement with the Almeida through invitations to see our productions for free, attend masterclasses and peer networking events

Recruitment for Almeida Makers is led by the Almeida’s Artistic and Almeida Participation Teams with Actions for Change, our equality, diversity and inclusion policy, at the core of the process.

Our team hold regular meetings with early and mid-career artists and see new work as much as possible. We always want to hear from new artists and welcome those interested in Almeida Makers to contact makers@almeida.co.uk to share details of your experience.

We select Assistant Directors from a shortlist of candidates provided by both the Almeida team and the Director of each production, considering the best match for the project in terms of interests and lived experience.

For Assistant Designers, there is an open application process through our standard recruitment channels. The Artistic and Almeida Participation Teams create a shortlist of early and mid-career designers and conduct interviews focussing on best match for the project, experience, interests and scope for learning.

We are particularly interested in hearing from artists who identify as ethnically diverse, deaf, disabled, neurodivergent and/or working class.

Almeida Makers is generously supported by Jerwood Foundation.

Jerwood Foundation logo.