We hold a series of networking and learning sessions for artists, producers and venues in the lead up to the festival.

These are a great opportunity for you to meet the WAF team and get the most out of taking part.

We offer online toolkits and guidance, and a 1-1 clinic session for more specific advice on realising your ideas and fundraising, including making an application to our grant scheme.

Please note, the dates below may change – keep an eye on this page and on our social media channels for further updates, or sign up to our Creative Practitioners mailing list.

Creatives Sessions

Session 1: Introduction to WAF 2024

Tuesday 19 September 2023, 6pm - 7.30pm on Zoom

Meet the team and talk about ideas for getting involved with WAF 7 - 23 June 2024.

We'll cover:

Introductions to the WAF team.
Expressions of Interest: How to get involved.
The economics of taking part in WAF: What to expect and how to raise funding.
The WAF Grants: How to apply.

Session 2: How to Take Part

Tuesday 24 October 2023, 6pm - 7.30pm on Zoom

Meet the team and talk about ideas for getting involved with WAF 7 - 23 June 2024.

We'll cover:

Getting involved: Step by Step
Finding a venue
WAF Grants

Session 3: WAF Artists and Venues Matchmaking & Registrations

Tuesday 28 November 2023, 6pm - 7.30pm on Zoom

An opportunity for WAF Creatives to meet the Venues! You can start looking for your venues now on our WAF Venue Directory.

We'll also be providing guidance on the registration process for Early Birds.

Session 4: WAF Registration support

Tuesday 9 January 2024, 6pm - 7.30pm on Zoom

Help with your WAF online registrations and guidance on creating your event listings.

We'll cover:

Completing registrations via My Fringe
Providing great copy, images and other media for your listing

Session 5: WAF Ticketing & Registration support

Tuesday 6 February 2024, 6pm - 7.30pm

Help with your WAF online registrations plus an opportunity to discuss pricing strategies and ticketing.

We'll cover:

Completing registrations via My Fringe
How to price your events realistically
Creating your own ticket offers (and the low down on our multi-buy and artist offers)
Complimentary tickets
How our Box Office system works

Session 6: Marketing

Tuesday 12 March 2024, 6pm - 7.30pm on Zoom

Advice and support for marketing your WAF event. We'll talk you through our publicity campaign, provide advice for creating marketing and audience development plans, and answer any questions.

This session is for creatives participating in our 2024 festival. If you have registered an event with us, WAF Producer Cath Mattos will email you the Zoom link ahead of the session. If you have not received the email 24 hours before the event, please contact Cath directly: cath.mattos@richmondandwandsworth.gov.uk

Session 7: Introduction to the Green Book

Tuesday 26 March 2024, 6pm – 7.30pm on Zoom

ur guest speaker will introduce you to The Theatre Green Book. The Theatre Green Book has brought together theatre-makers and sustainability experts to create a common standard for making theatre sustainably. By everyone working together to meet these standards we can all help make Wandsworth Arts Fringe more sustainable, and support the council’s goal to become a Carbon Neutral Council by 2030, a Net Zero Borough by 2043.

The session will cover:

The aims and objectives of the Theatre Green Book, and the benefit of using is as part of your artistic practise
How to use the Theatre Green Book
How to meet the Green Book ‘baseline’ standard

Session 8: Accessibility Training

Wednesday 17 April 5.30pm – 7.30pm on Zoom

Disability Confidence in Customer Service Training - Delivered in partnership with Goss Consultancy

This session for participating WAF artists will:

Increase understanding of the key terms around access and Equality Diversity & Inclusion and how they relate to each other.
Enable delegates to feel more confident around disability and focus on disability confident customer service.
Give delegates the facts and figures to reinforce the moral / legal / business case. Ensure a high-level understanding of the social model and how it impacts on disability confidence.
Ensure a high-level understanding of the social model and how it impacts on disability confidence.

All WAF Creatives welcome; strongly advised for WAF Grantees.

Session 9: Evaluation

w/c 6 May 2024, time TBC

For all participating WAF artists and collaborators although we strongly recommend attendance from WAF Grantees.

Evaluation is a process of finding out how a project or activity is working/has worked, what difference it has made to those involved, and what can be learnt. Anyone can do evaluation, and it can be fun and creative too. It can help you plan future projects and activities, make decisions about what you do, document and tell the story of your work, and evidence your impact to others.

Post-festival reflections and evaluation

Tuesday 23 July 2024, 6pm - 7.30pm

Let's share our learnings from this year: we'll share our stats and anything we have learnt this year, and you can tell us what you thought of it all and what you have found out too!

To get the Zoom sign up to our Creative Practitioners mailing list or complete an Expression of Interest form.

WAF Grant Surgeries

Tuesday 10 October, 5.30pm - 8pm on Zoom - FULL
Wednesday 18 October, 2pm - 4pm on Zoom - FULL
Wednesday 25 October, 5.00pm - 7.00pm on Zoom - FULL

Book a 1-2-1 surgery with the WAF producers to ask questions about your WAF Grants application - email cath.mattos@richmondandwandsworth.gov.uk to book your session.

Please note: You need to have completed an Expression Of Interest form before you can be offered a surgery slot. Grants surgeries are in high demand, so each artist/organisation can benefit from one grant surgery only each year. We advise you have a go at filling out the application form and budget before your surgery to get the most out of your session. One-off questions can be emailed directly to WAF Producer Cath Mattos at any point after completing your EOI.

WAF Creatives Sessions

Creatives Sessions

WAF Grant Surgeries