Cardboard Citizens are launching a paid opportunity for hands-on experience alongside industry professionals in a range of backstage and production roles.

The scheme aims to support trainees to take their first steps into the arts industry and ultimately, make the industry more diverse, inclusive and reflective of wider society.

We are recruiting for 4 Trainees to work on our upcoming touring production, directed by Citz Artistic Director Chris Sonnex, alongside the following roles:

• Sound design
• Lighting design
• Set and costume design
• Stage Management
• Production

Deadline for applications is Thursday 24 March at 12 midday.

For more information and details on how to apply please click here or on the button below!

Cardboard Citizens has been commissioned by Groundswell to create a short 30-minute play informed by research into the connection between homelessness and lack of access to health-related benefits. This play will be used as a training tool to engage DWP staff and also those working in local authorities, healthcare, homelessness, local Government etc, to build awareness of gaps in knowledge in this area.

The play is titled To Whom It May Concern by Sophie Ellerby and will be directed by Stef O’Driscoll. The play centres around three characters who are stuck in a flawed system and the DWP staff members who interact with them through their journey. David is determined to get his life back on track after the breakdown of his family, Cassie is young and running from an abusive relationship and world weary Tony has been on the frontline running a hostel since the 80s. This piece explores the welfare system through these very different perspectives, and weaves together their experiences to expose the inequalities people who have experienced homelessness face in this environment.

We are inviting Cardboard Citizens Members and actors with lived experience of homelessness to audition. We are looking for someone who:

• Would feel confident and comfortable portraying one of the characters outlined
• Has a keen interest in acting, theatre-making, and storytelling
• Has some experience of performing; either on stage or in a workshop setting
• Can commit to all dates in the schedule
• Is confident at learning lines
• Enjoys working with people of different ages, backgrounds and experiences
• Has good communication skills
• Is self-motivated and organised
• Works well in a team and with others.

If you would like to audition please read the call out by clicking here for details on how to apply.

We need your help!

Cardboard Citizens are at an exciting and important point where we are planning the future of our programme and it is extremely useful to have your feedback to help inform this.

Your feedback is also vital in helping us demonstrate the impact and value of our work, which is crucial in helping us make our case to some of our most important funders, such as Arts Council England. Therefore, we would be grateful if you could complete our first annual Member Survey and we are offering £5 supermarket vouchers to say THANK YOU to those of you who complete it.

Complete the survey by clicking here.

The survey takes 15-25 minutes to complete. It asks some questions about you and your experience of our programme. All feedback is helpful, positive, or negative, so please be honest! Whilst the results of the survey will be shared with funders, all contributions will be anonymous and any identifying information will be removed. We really value your input.

If you would like any support to complete this survey please get in touch with one of the staff members below who will be happy to help: Matt - 07568 957910 | Bonny - 07421 383 770 | Aliyah - 07549 792 148.

A reminder that you can still listen to Cardboard Citizens' Every Person Wandering on BBC Sounds.

Imagine your story told through all the worst moments in your life. Sometimes our only way of discovering the lives of people affected by poverty and homelessness is through the public records of the times they might rather forget...

Cardboard Citizens join Professor Nick Crowson from the University of Birmingham to become "genealogical detectives" - rooting through newspaper reports and police records to discover the stories of those criminalised for being homeless. Drawing on historic documents, imagined lives, and personal experience of the struggle for a place to call home, we will introduce you to the people wandering through history.

Watch now on BBC Sounds by clicking here or on the button below.

Calling all Members in the South West!

Come and support our brilliant Plymouth Cardboard Camps participants, as they present a devised performance on Friday 18 March at Theatre Royal Plymouth's Production & Learning Centre, TR2.

Following on from a week-long intensive, the performers will highlight the stigmas faced by those with experience of homelessness, poverty, and inequity throughout the city, and begin the conversation on what meaningful changes we can all make.

Book your FREE ticket online by clicking here or on the button below. If you want to book more than three tickets, please contact our Plymouth Coordinator Ryan Wilce on ryan.wilce@theatreroyal.com.

For our second session of Artist Think Tanks we are really excited to announce a double bill on Friday 18 March! We will be welcoming Theatre Director, Journalist, Composer, and DJ Matthew Xia to come and talk about his work, as well as Theatre Practitioner Dan Boyden, who will be coming to talk about his project The World From My Window.

For more details and to book your space, click here or on the button below.