The Theatre Alliance – a unique organisation for freelance actors

We employ actors
The Theatre Alliance currently employs some 170 actors, providing them with a network of colleagues and producers, as well as continuing education. You could say that it’s our business to give freelance actors a home base.

At The Theatre Alliance our goal is to increase the social security of freelance actors who are not permanently employed even after they have been in the profession for many years. The Theatre Alliance is not a theatre. We have never produced a single performance. Nor are we a staffing agency. Instead, the business idea is to help find employment for our actors and, once they have negotiated a contract with a theatre or other employer, they then take a leave of absence from The Theatre Alliance.

Three main benefits of being employed by The Theatre Alliance

• Our actors reap the benefits of having a continuous, steady workplace – with all of the social, professional and union advantages that brings. As an example, all of our actors, by virtue of being employees, participate in the national retirement plan.
• Thanks to the combined in-house knowledge of our actors and our widespread network of producers, The Theatre Alliance is an important and effective resource for new engagements.
• We offer a long-term continuing education program, a kind of Swedish actors’ studio. The actors’ studio at The Theatre Alliance is a base for further training and even actors who are not employed by us may participate.

Criteria for empolyment and how we are financed
The criteria for employment are based on the total time of employment within the profession and are 100% objective, leaving no room for nepotism or subjectivity of any kind.

The Theatre Alliance is financed by the national budget via proposals from the government and decisions taken by parliament.

Background and history
The Theatre Alliance was established in 1999 by the Swedish theatre employers’ organization (Svensk Scenkonst), the Swedish actors’ trade union (Teaterförbundet/för scen och film), and the Employment Security Council (Trygghetsrådet TRS), the latter of which was founded by employer organisations and trade unions to help the newly unemployed.

The original project, which was based on a joint proposal by Teaterförbundet and Svensk Scenkonst, was met with interest by the Swedish government’s Department of Labour and with enthusiasm by the Department of Culture.

Our mission
The basic idea is that state-supported theatre belongs to the public sector. It follows therefore, that it is the will of society that actors be employed – even though the profession consists of a high percentage of freelancers. This entails that society take responsibility for the basic security and continuity of established freelance actors who work mainly at publicly supported theatres.

Our actors work all over the country
Another one of the original goals of The Theatre Alliance was to stimulate the circulation of actors in theatres across the entire country and encourage actors to work in smaller theatres as well as larger ones. This goal has been achieved and today Theatre Alliance actors are engaged in productions in every Swedish city and county theatre.

Working to grow
In Sweden The Theatre Alliance is considered a cultural-political innovation and now there are similar organisations for both musicians and dancers. Norway has founded The Alliance for actors and dancers and the other Nordic countries have shown great intrest in the design of The Theatre Alliance and our sister organizations. Maybe in the future we’ll see similar organizations in all of the Scandinavian countries.

The owners, employees and actors at The Theatre Alliance are continuously working to make it possible for more freelance actors to be employed by the company.