Tania Harrison, the curator for all the non music stages is available for a Q&A.

I have already passed on some of your comments - but please leave your questions/comments for her here.

Please read the posts in order not to duplicate questions/comments.

I will be keeping this thread tidy, so apologies in advance for any deletion of posts.

Thanks.

Haven't really got any questions for her, but I would like to congratulate on her being the best curator of all time.

Massive thanks to Annie for this, seriously above and beyond now.

Could we just clarify Tania's role? I assume this is all of the non-music stages?

1) Do theatre companies approach Latitude asking if they can perform certain works or does Latitude book them and give them open reigns on what they can perform?
TANIA'S REPLY:
perform? Initially I approached all the companies and certainly I approach all the bigger companies and any that I see are putting on a play that I think would work well at Latitude. There’s a huge amount of theatre at latitude all across the site so sometimes a company will create something bespoke for an area of the festival. I discuss every idea fully before committing and confirming as I want to ensure that I get the shows that I think will work at the festival and also to get a diverse balance for different audiences and age groups so for every Opera Group there will be a 8Sixteen32. Companies tend to want to perform comedy and musical plays and I tend to the political and serious as I feel that I’ve booked enough comedy across the site already!. Either way, it’s a very fair and democratic process but I suppose (to answer your question) if there is a play I don’t feel will work then I would make a call on it.

2)Who books the acts in the Poetry tent? Does Luke Wright pick the lesser known ones and you decide on the big names or do you work together on the bookings
TANIA'S REPLY:
Luke and I have many many discussions on the shape and feel of the Poetry bill and I like it to change every year so we have fun brainstorming wish lists. For the record I do read the forums and I tried very hard to get Tony Harrison but unfortunately he wasn’t so well at the time so maybe next year.

3)Who is your desired replacement for Robin Ince's Book Club?
TANIA'S REPLY: ROBIN T INCE
 
4)Can you get Daniel Kitson to play every year from now on and get Tim & Eric to do a special night show at the comedy tent?
TANIA'S REPLY:
It took me four years to persuade Kitson to come and I really wish I had just built him a permanent tree house there and I would keep the key.

5) Do you think a comedian could ever headline the festival i.e Flight of the Conchords/Bill Bailey
TANIA'S REPLY:
Yes and no. It’s a great idea but comics work in a slightly different way to bands in that once people have seen their show, people tend not to want to play the album over and over and over, so big comics like to do their own shows where they take their own box office, rather than sharing it with 700 acts, which is fair enough! Flight of the Conchords for example would require their own complicated set and stage props to perform their show (often with a huge technical get in etc) and that’s not possible during a festival where you have ten bands on the same stage each day. That said anything is possible but the majority tend to want a band to lead the nightime revelry.

All in all your doing a bloody great job and thank you for bringing some unique acts to Latitude
Thank you.

Hi Tania,

I am considering submitting some artwork for next years festival, who would I send a proposal to and by when?  What do you consider when choosing artists?  How 'finished' does a proposal need to be? Is this information already somewhere on the website that I haven't found yet?

Thanks
TANIA'S REPLY:  By artwork I’m guessing you mean fine art and I don’t think we have set this mechanic up yet.

Ok then.

The Comedy tent has expanded to the point that it is now arguably too big. Was there any feedback from artists about this and do you have any thoughts on this? 
TANIA'S REPLY:
 Ha ha, oh god, if only you knew the amount of discussion and work that goes into making that tent right. I was personally delighted with it even though I’ve argued to keep it small for the last two years. I think the new shape, screens and sound system and sound baffles have created the intimacy that the comics need and the design has allowed for a greater sized audience. I got excellent feedback from the comics so sorry, think it will stay like that.

Nico Rijnders


Massive thanks to Annie for this, seriously above and beyond now.

Could we just clarify Tania's role? I assume this is all of the non-music stages?

ha ha, yes Nico, Tania books the 17 non music stages.

Wow. 

Probably just echo Grouchland's post then, doing a great job.

Who votes her booking the whole festival next year?

Hi Tania, GREAT WORK.

I HAVE A FEW QUESTIONS FOR YOU...

1; What made you decide to move The Early Edition from the Literary Arena to the Comedy Arena? Was it simply to allow a larger audience to see it? Because I must admit it was a must see for me in Literary but seems to have lost some of its spark and intimacy since the move. Nice to see it come back to its spiritual home for The Evening Edition this year mind you, even if I had to miss out on that one.
TANIA'S REPLY:
Yes, it was just getting too big for the Literary Arena and the people at the back couldn’t hear. Thought it worked quite nicely though to have it in both this year. I love them and it works for me anywhere!

2; How do you decide on who comperes the Q and A sessions with authors? Many on here have commented that they've been fairly poor over the years, often coming across as poorly researched and lacking subject knowledge, or just drunk like Keith Allen.
TANIA'S REPLY:
Oh dear. Its very hard to get the right interviewer but I wouldn’t say anyone’s been poor, that’s a bit harsh!
3; You've had some pretty big names in some pretty small tents over the years. How do you go about approaching these kind of figures? I think Melvin and Jon Dunn would probably agree there are some bands who are just too big for Latitude, are their any authors or poets you think are too big?
TANIA'S REPLY:
  I never say never and try not to let stature or fame stop me from asking. You never know, they might just fancy it. That said I have asked some very big names who clearly didn’t just fancy it!

5; The poetry arena seems to have developed a pattern of having an acoustic set by a musician with interesting lyrics each year, Eddie Argos, Jeffrey Lewis etc. I take it this act is still booked by yourself rather than Jon Dunn and if so do you see this as being a regular part of the Latitude Poetry tent lineup?
TANIA'S REPLY:
Yes, indeedy. Luke and I choose someone, I chose Jeffrey and Luke chose Eddie so think its my turn again this year.
6; The Music and Film tent always seems to have one of the most interesting lineups of the festival each year, so well done for that. With the bands that play there, is this just a way of you getting some of your own musical taste onto the bill or does it always have to have a more visual aspect to be in keeping with the filmic aspect of the tent?
TANIA'S REPLY:
keeping with the filmic aspect of the tent? Thank you, I’m most grateful for the compliment as its so hard to get the right feel in there and I like to pick really creative and multi disciplinary artists where at all possible. I was
actually super proud of that tent this year as I thought it had some beautiful and amazing things in there but I guess as I would say that though as its stuff I like, ha ha.

7; I have been to all but the first Latitude festival, but never been in the Theatre tent. Tell me why I should next year.
TANIA'S REPLY:
Because you want to? Personally I think there’s some amazing, intelligent and stimulating ideas in there, that make you think about issues and ideas for ages afterwards. I love it and just think, why wouldn’t you go in there?
THANKS

Can there Please be an increase is size for the Litterary tent, Theatre tents etc, people many persons think are standing out side or not able to get in.

The Cabaret tent is the most important for me, can we PLEASE have 3 nights full of this,pleeaasseee.
TANIA'S REPLY:
 Erm, I thought I had but I guess I did close it early on Sun night this year but it was with a New Years Eve party and free tequila shots for the whole audience and a conga into Swaparama so maybe not too bad.

sooooo....the burlesque....hows that working out for ya ??
TANIA'S REPLY:  Too be honest, I’ve put a bit of weight on so not as comfortable in just the nipple tassles as I once was.

Just a thank you for making Latitude what it is, a request for Daniel Kitson to appear every year with Gavin Osborn, a ponderance as to who will replace the Book Club and a query as to which comedians, authors, film makers and plays you have yet to see but would love to.
TANIA'S REPLY:
The size of my wish list is enormous and as I said earlier I just keep on asking them with the eventual hope that I will wear them down! I’d love to get Jim Jarmusch, Ian McEwan, Michael Palin, Stephen Fry but none will probably happen now I’ve said it out loud.

First of all, wow, all the non-music stuff?  You are indeed, amazing.  Thanks to you I've watched a whole host of stuff I would never normally experiment with, this years stand outs being the opera (which until this year I would have insisted I hated), and Daniel Kitson and Gavin Osborn's frankly amazing stories.  

In fact we'll start with that.  Can you put Kitson in a cage somewhere and force him to perform every year?
TANIA'S REPLY: I'm sure he'll be happy with the cage.

This year I felt it was maybe harder to "drop in" on things than previously, the Film & Music tent was invariably full to the rafters and unbearably hot (not to mention the seats blocking the view), you had to be there very early for much of the theatre, and the Literature tent was equally impossible to enter.   Can you see any solutions to this problem next year?  (Without just booking stuff we don't want to see!)
TANIA'S REPLY: I don’t know right now to be honest but we’ll be thinking very hard about it in the coming months.

Does it irk you that the bands get massive stages, and the other arts are confined to smaller areas?  Would you like the opportunity to try and stage something on the obelisk for instance?
TANIA'S REPLY:
I’m happy with my eleven arenas, it keeps me very busy indeed.

Oooh, and any chance of getting The Real Tuesday Weld into the film and music tent, as he's done some rather lovely stuff with the BFI in the past.  (This is where someone points out they did it at a previous Latitude probably...) 
TANIA'S REPLY: They did year one and two.

Anyway, thanks again, your efforts are genuinely appreciated, and I am ever so slightly in awe...

How about dropping the music and having the literary and other stuff take over the site ;-)

hello tania.
 
firstly, thanks for the fantastic experience again this year. the amiina score was magical and one of my highlights of the festival among many wonderful moments.
 
the question list from maddix seems to cover most things, but i'd specifically like to have more detail in your view on "audience environment" vs audience access/ size.
 
you clearly work extremely hard to create great situations for people to enjoy a particular stage - cabaret tables, sofas, bean bags, carpets etc - which work wonderfully when the audience numbers a few hundred. however, frequently (and increasingly with the size of the festival attendance) the numbers wanting to attend can far exceed the available space.
TANIA'S REPLY:
 I know, it’s a constant dilemma atmosphere vs desire. We work very hard to try and get a medium.
 
as a principle, in over capacity circumstances do you feel that the environment you designed should be compromised to allow as many as possible in to see? i'm sure that practically flexibility applies, but i'm interested in your ethos i.e. only see the art as your team envisaged it, or a bit of flavour for the maximum number possible?
TANIA'S REPLY:
 I usually opt for the former but that’s not very practical really and its always good for people to share a great experience isn’t it?
 
thanks

Hello Tania - Thanks for answering all of our questions.  It's really appreciated.  We enjoyed this year's Latitude and are looking forward to seeing what you've got up your sleeve for next year's festival!   

1) In 2009, you had a lot of what I would describe as 'alternative fringe theatre' acts, such as 1927 and Paper Cinema.  I really, really missed this type of thing this year, particularly as I've started going to Latitude as an alternative to Edinburgh.  For me, the silent films with scores are nice, but it's not the same as a proper live performance.  Please bring some of the 2009 programming back. 
TANIA'S REPLY:
 I’d love to but am waiting for 1927 to finish their new show! These things are very hard to find and I don’t want to keep repeating artists even though they’re brilliant.

2)  Please, please, please can you put some more shows on in the In the Woods Arena.  Last year, we went to that stage quite a lot, but this year, there was hardly anything on at all, except Tom Jones.  Perhaps, you could move a couple of things to that stage from the Waterfront Stage?  It clearly would take some people away from the Main Arena, which is good for congestion issues and it also might make the Sunrise Arena more popular.  After we'd seen something in the woods, we'd quite often pop to see who was playing on that stage and just stay there for a while.
TANIA'S REPLY:
 I had quite a lot on there this year but admittedly not as much as other years so I’ll look at this for next year.

3) This is going to be a bit controversial, but I'm going to say it anyway.  Please can you stop programming so many bl**dy stand-ups comedians for all of the non-comedy arenas.  Latitude's an arts festival, not Michael McIntyre's Comedy Takeover!  Clearly, some of the bookings are excellent (i.e. Daniel Kitson on the Waterfront and Robin Ince/Evening Edition in Literary spring to mind).  I do also appreciate that comedians are cheap, and therefore good for your budget.  However, I do feel that it's a shame that you're showchasing comedians to the detriment of other artists and performers as arguably, those other artists and performers need your support much much more.  For me, an example of this is the Bush's Great British Country Fete.  The Bush is meant to be a showcase for new writing and commissioning a play by a well-known stand-up very much seems to go against that ethos.  I didn't even think that his writing was very good at all, but the play was completely saved by all of the actors who were utterly superb and managed to pull off some really dodgy turning points.   
TANIA'S REPLY:
Thank you, everyone has different opinions and I’m a big Russell Kane fan, clearly!
   

4) If you're finding that the comedy arena is just getting too full, then why can't you have another 'alternative comedy' tent, for things that are a little more interesting and quirky. (i.e the musical stuff, Funny Women, sketch groups etc etc)    
TANIA'S REPLY:
that’s what I was doing with the Cabaret Arena during the day this year. I had newer comics in there plus the sketch shows and both work well in the Cabaret space but wouldn’t in the big Comedy Arena.
 

5) ROH2 was great.  Please bring them back.
TANIA'S REPLY:
 I will definitely be asking them. It was fab wasn’t it!


6) I'm really not convinced about putting Future Cinema on in the BAFTA tent on the Thursday.  For me, it just didn't work and they should have been on the Friday or the Sunday. (Last year's gypsy wedding was a fantastic end to the festival - that's a great slot for them!)  The nice thing about FC is that they lay clues throughout the site about what the event is going to be, so there'll be posters, sets etc.  It's great to wander about and find those during the course of the festival, but if they're showing on Thursday, then you don't have time to do that.   
TANIA'S REPLY:
 Yes but it’s a fun thing to do on Thursday too. I felt it was only fair to FC to try a different day and see how it worked and the Thursday night always need some cohesion so the Blues Brothers and Kitty Daisy and Lewis were perfect, plus, Kitty Daisy and Lewis weren’t available on the Sunday.

7) Mark Lamarr's Gods Jukebox was fab - please bring that back.  For more time if possible!
TANIA'S REPLY:
 I really admire Mark’s vast musical knowledge and love his five choices each year.

8) Last year's Thursday night in the BAFTA tent was great with Patti Plinko and Camille O'Sullivan.  Could we have something like that again - I really missed stuff like that, and there was nothing in the Cabaret tent that could have taken its place.
TANIA'S REPLY:
Yes, definitely. I already have a few ideas for next year that I hope you’ll like.


9) A lot of the programming this year seemed to be driven by a desire to give festival goers a cosy initimate experience, of something like Jarvis playing in the woods, or Mika on the piano.  That's a fantastic aim, but I'm not sure it's realistic - if someone looks like they're going to be a big draw, please put them on in somewhere that has a lot of capacity.
TANIA'S REPLY:
Ok, but Latitude is about lots of different experiences and discoveries and I think those wow surprises are very special and I’d hate it to just become one big arena gig.

10) I'm not entirely convinced that I liked you clearing out the theatre tent after every performance.  I know this is better for the theatre companies, but queueing for 30 mins before something started was getting ridiculous towards the end...
TANIA'S REPLY:
Yes, I need to think about that but I’m not wild about making the tent bigger or indeed if there is the right tent out there. We’ll be reviewing this in our production meeting in a couple of months.

11) My boyfriend sent you a proposal for an event in Pandora's Playground/In the Woods at the beginning of the year.  We never received a response, despite chasing a couple of times.  If we wanted to pitch something to you again, when should we send it in, and what's the best way to contact you.
TANIA'S REPLY:
I read everything that is sent to me and believe me it's thousands but I don’t often get the time to respond so I’m really sorry. I don’t mean to offend anyone but its quite hard to write back to each thing plus I like to keep shows in my head till the last minute in case it fits perfectly somewhere that I hadn’t previously thought of, and if I’ve already said no then it takes it out my head. So please keep sending to the arts inbox as I’m definitely looking at the applications.

Basically just want to echo grouchland, you've done a brilliant job. Haven't really got any questions.

Amazing bookings last two years, but may I ask why did you make the theatre tent smaller this year than last? Especially for stuff like the RSC it is rammed, last years size worked.
TANIA'S REPLY:
 It’s not smaller its just different, I have a thrust stage instead of in the round and actually due to clever seating we actually managed to get 50 more in than last year.
Also the last years booking of taraf de haidouks and this years the passion of joan of arc with will gregory and adrian utley are the two greatest festival bookings ever.
Please never make the film and music tent bigger, pretty please! perfect size.  TANIA: OK

TANIA'S REPLY:
 I love you for saying that, I was SO EXCITED by the Passion of Joan of Arc and thought it was my best booking ever!

I'll echo everyone else in praising the non-music stuff Amiina & The Dream were our two highlights this year.

My question is about the over 15's only rule in Film & Music - why does it have to be so strict and not advisory? We really had to argue to get our two boys in to see Amiina with Cinderella, Alladin & Sleeping Beauty?
TANIA'S REPLY:
 Last year we had different ratings for all the films and people got very upset at having to clear the tent after each act on and arguing about their ages. There is no perfect solution and we felt this was the best one. I’m very sorry about your two boys having the hassle and I will try and discuss with Licensing to see if there are any other possible solutions.

PS - Could you try and find some way to get the Now Show to come back?