Cardboard Citizens makes theatre with and for people with experience of homelessness, working on community and professional levels, and strives to offer opportunities for employment to people with lived experience wherever possible.

The company has a distinguished track record of creating productions in which diverse and marginalised voices are heard in a mainstream cultural context. Our work ranges from small scale touring to hostels, day centres and prisons, to large scale co-productions with partners including the ENO and RSC.

We work from our base in East London, but have a national reach through creative residencies, touring, and our digital work.

We’re looking to meet UK theatre professionals who have some experience of homelessness or housing instability.

We use the widest definition of homelessness – including staying in hostels or refuges, sofa surfing and squatting, as well as street homelessness.

And we’re interested in all professional roles in theatre – from set, costume, lighting, sound and videos designers, to production managers, stage managers, and technicians.

A production image from the Cardboard Citizens production Bystanders - Libby Liburd sits in front of a video screen

What are we looking for?

We want to understand the range of talent who have had some first-hand experience of homelessness who are now working across the arts sector. This includes those who haven’t received formal theatre training, or those without an academic background, who have established themselves as professional theatre-makers.

We want to create an informal network of professionals – both to work on Cardboard Citizens’ upcoming projects, shows, workshops and training projects, and to recommend to our peers and colleagues.

And for those interested, we’d like to introduce performing arts professionals to our Members (people with experience of homelessness), in the form of creative masterclasses, mentoring, and professional development opportunities.

How to apply

Please click the button below, and fill in all you can on the online form. Deadline is 6 November.