Monday 8 - Friday 12 December 2025

Are you an arts leader who wants to, or is finding they need to, work differently? Are you facing challenges? Do you need space to think, reset and reconnect? Then, Improbable’s Arts Leaders Winter Residency could be for you.  

A residential programme at the beautiful Bore Place, in the North Kent Downs. The week is focused on bringing together likeminded arts leaders in the sector who want to connect, converse and grapple with their knottiest topics. The week will be a mixture of sharing ideas and issues we are facing, getting sh*t done together or the space for you to get sh*t done alone. A community of arts leaders coming together in the beautiful setting that is Bore Place.  

Arts leaders are not often afforded the time and space for connection, reflection and action. Our unique approach will use Improbable’s acclaimed practice to enable you to take a pause from the day to day.  

Over the last 30 years, Improbable has grown into a theatre company which defies categorisation. Our work ranges from Olivier-award winning operas like Akhnaten, to large-scale outdoor spectacles witnessed by 20,000 people, to acclaimed adaptations like My Neighbour Totoro. We’ve made celebrated theatre on all scales from rooms above pubs to the National Theatre and around the world, from Syria to Australia to Broadway. But we don’t just make shows, we work with business, charities, councils and across the cultural sector to hold space for people to have the time they need to make positive change. We lead and support skills development programmes for artists. We use Open Space Technology to bring groups together to work on what is really important to them. We take our processes into conflict resolution and research, we lead an international network of M/Others Who Make.  

At the heart of our practice is improvisation which binds together all of our work. Whether on stage, in someone else’s workplace or our own, the practice and philosophy of improvisation is at the core of our creative process. By 'improvisation' we mean any emergent or iterative process that seeks to bring awareness to each unfolding moment and an understanding that positive change comes not from one person, group, or ideology but will grow from the interactions between us. This flows through to how we view leadership, not as a top-down dictation but a ground up, empowering, collaborative process that welcomes the unknown and embraces change rather than shutting it/people/spirits down to meet the mission statement.    

This Winter Residency is for everyone who considers themselves a leader – anyone who has an idea, a spark, a need to do or to dream. 

 Join us for the week and become part of a transformative journey that will shape the future of the arts sector, one inspired leader at a time. 

Applications open 10 September and close 1 October 2025. 

There will be a Q&A with Kathryn and Ellie who host the week on zoom on 11 September at 1pm. Drop in if you have questions about the week or the application process. Sign Up here.  

Feedback from previous Improbable residencies:

‘Go on this course, it will change your life!’ - Winter Arts Leaders Participant 2024 

‘My experience at Improbable's Arts Leaders' Residency was wonderful. I arrived full of love for my work and in the midst of a very dangerous flirtation with burnout. I laughed a lot and ate incredibly well; gently and without cringeworthy exercises, I rediscovered a vulnerable expansiveness; I made a healthier relationship with my sense of purpose and have already begun to shift my practice in ways that will enrich both my life and the impact of my work. I am confident that the week and the people I shared it with will continue to bolster me and my work. Highly recommend.’ - Winter Arts Leaders Participant 2024 

‘The impact from this week will be with me for a long time and it has been an incredible investment in my personal and professional practice.’ - Winter Arts Leaders Participant 2024