CASE STUDY

Eclipse

Photos
copyright © All rights reserved

In 2015, Eclipse Theatre Company, the UK’s principal Black-led touring theatre company, commissioned AMA to undertake a media campaign for Revolution Mix – a movement to spearhead the largest ever national delivery of untold Black British stories in regional theatres. The initial challenge was to excite the media about the project, before any work had been staged. With major features in theatre trade and national press including The Stage and The Independent, AMA helped position Eclipse’s ambitions to challenge inequality in theatre, television, radio and digital media.

AMA has since promoted two national Revolution Mix tours – Black Men Walking (based on a real-life Black walking men’s group in Sheffield) and The Princess and the Hustler (inspired by the Bristol bus boycotts of the 1960s).

Features secured include The Stage, The Observer and The Voice as well as previews and reviews across national media including Telegraph, Guardian, Express and The Times. National broadcast coverage includes BBC Breakfast News, BBC R4 Front

Row and BBC 5Live. AMA also secured a 45 minutes R4 documentary following Dawn Walton and the making of Black Men Walking as part of its ‘Behind the scenes with…’ series.

Regional coverage highlights include broadcast interviews on BBC Look North, ITV Calendar, BBC Radio Leeds, BBC Radio Devon and BBC Radio Liverpool. To date, more than 300 pieces of print, digital and broadcast coverage have been achieved, reaching an audience of more than 940 million. The first two tours sold-out almost every performance, achieving critical acclaim and reaching audiences of more than 15,000. A third production, The Gift, is set to tour the UK in 2020.

In 2017, AMA was also appointed by Eclipse to PR Slate, a three-year initiative which supports Black artists in the North to work locally, nationally and internationally through funding, workshops, mentoring and retreats. Over the last three years,  the initiative has successfully supported more than 70 new works by Black artists, with more 20,000 people attending workshops, residencies and social events.