Our Vision

We seek to produce essential and exciting new work by fresh voices that speak truth to power in our city, country and around the world.

Our Mission

To be an award-winning, new writing theatre company that produces and presents brand new work from, and for, Scotland and across the world, in communities, on the road and online.

To produce and present work that challenges expectation, form and convention to create bold theatre with the power to change lives. For the spaces in our building to be exciting and democratic areas where audiences and artists meet as equals to explore the world around them, experience the lives of others, discuss and debate what our future could - or should - look like, and lose themselves in the most engaging and exciting entertainment around.

Our Values

The Traverse Theatre is guided by six central value pillars.

These six values express the way we work to deliver our vision. They are the qualities that outline the character of the company for staff, artists with whom we work, and audiences:

Creativity

We celebrate and champion imaginative thinking, and believe in the creative potential of everyone. We seek to discover and nurture fresh, representative voices, providing a platform for emerging directors, writers and theatre-makers.

Innovation

We embrace change and champion enterprising thinking within the cultural sector. We aim to push boundaries, think out of ‘our’ box, stretch possibility, drive new developments and be bold in our practice.

Inclusivity

We welcome everyone to be part of the Traverse experience, to hear and value their opinions and inform our decisions. We provide safe spaces to enable artists, theatremakers and audiences to ask questions and seek answers.

Engagement

We make theatre for, with and by the communities of Edinburgh, Scotland, and beyond. Our support for emerging talent from across society inspires audiences, hungry for new and bold theatre experiences.

Resilience

We work with integrity and respect, are business-like and professional. We are a charity and public benefit is our business. We exercise a duty of care for the artists we work with, our audiences, in our business and our building.

Collaboration

The Traverse team works in collaboration with one another, and all of our external partners, to create and deliver the best possible programme and experience for audiences and artists alike.

Inclusivity and Representation

Threaded throughout the Traverse’s work is a commitment to inclusivity and representation. This is rooted in our programme, our organisation and our enduring promise to serve our audiences. We uphold that everyone has a right to see themselves represented on our stages and beyond; we seek to produce work that speaks to and is generated from all the people of Scotland. We are committed to delivering on our responsibility to recalibrate representation imbalances throughout our organisation, our work and talent development opportunities, in terms of class, disability, race, gender, age, and sexuality. We ensure we are outward-looking and run regular Open Auditions, Open Meeting sessions and Open Submissions windows to discover and connect with a range of talent in Scotland that may not yet be known to the Traverse. We work in regular collaboration with organisations to provide further engagement opportunities to local young people and communities, linked to elements of our programming.

We are proud of our track record but remain aware that there is much more to be achieved in making sure that the Traverse and its work is truly representative of modern Scotland, and the diversity of its citizens’ experiences.

Sustainability

Traverse is an active member of the Green Arts Initiative; a proactive green arts network run by Creative Carbon Scotland. We are committed to engaging staff, audiences and stakeholders to embed sustainability at the heart of their decision-making processes and raise awareness of each individual's needed contribution towards achieving a carbon-neutral future. Traverse Theatre continuously works to improve and evaluate its carbon management plan and policies through an appointed Green Team with representatives from all departments.

If you would like more detail, please find our Environmental Policy and our Carbon Management Plan below.