Museums And Archives

From New Ventures to The Nest: hatching creativity at CFT

We want to unearth the hidden history of temporary theatre spaces at the Chichester Festival Theatre (CFT) - a tradition that starts in 1983 with The Tent, CFT’s original fringe space, and has been followed through with the much-lauded Theatre on the Fly in 2012 and the avant-garde Spiegeltent in 2019. Coinciding with our current capital campaign to build a new sustainable temporary theatre space called The Nest, this project will inform and empower the public through volunteer engagement, archival research and a touring exhibition that not only shows Chichester’s appetite for forward-thinking theatre spaces, but also helps other theatres see potential futures using these past experiences as a guiding light. The project will culminate in a touring exhibition, a short industry-focused project overview and an online permanent public exhibition page, making sure our community doesn't lose sight of this inspirational and fascinating history of theatre.