• Increase the volume, visibility, and diversity of South Asian-led work across NTS’s programme.
• Encourage wider participation of South Asian creatives in the programming and commissioning ecosystem.
• Ensure South Asian perspectives are engaged in artistic decision-making to provide appropriate dramaturgy and guidance for South Asian artists, to positively inform their work, our working culture, and development processes.

• Create equitable, accessible pathways for South Asian artists at all career stages to develop and showcase their work.
• Enable South Asian creatives to have a voice in the shaping of artist development opportunities.
• Build a collaborative, transparent network of organisations committed to sustained support for South Asian artists.

• Increase access to, representation and participation of South Asian audiences across all NTS public-facing activity.

• Strengthen relationships with South Asian communities and ensure artistic activity is rooted in meaningful connection.

• Empower South Asian young people to see a future in the arts through sustained creative career initiatives.

• Action 1: Continue to seek, commission and develop new work led by South Asian artists. Aim to begin producing these works from 2027.

• Action 2: Pay a team of South Asian Creatives to support us to research and explore the South Asian play canon, to identify existing work that speaks to Scotland's South Asian audiences in a new production.

• Action 3: Ensure South Asian perspectives inform artistic decision-making about South Asian led works in development, or under consideration, through the attachment of paid South Asian artist consultants.

• Action 1: Develop a South Asian writer development programme, in partnership with sector peers, developing new plays towards short term, small scale production opportunities on non-NTS platforms, including a rehearsed reading stage presented within a relevant community setting.

• Action 2: Support members of the South Asian creative community to develop a self-led scratch programme, offering financial support, advice on producing models, and identifying performance platforms through our peer network.

• Action 3: Bring together sector peers, initially in Glasgow, to encourage the development of opportunities for South Asian creatives and long-term projects/collaboration.

• Action 1: Create engagement opportunities around the South Asian led projects the Company has commissioned and are developing to build visibility for the work, and establish our commitment to developing work for South Asian audiences with those communities.

• Action 2: Use the results of a research project identifying Glasgow based community organisations to establish new partnerships and opportunities to connect with potential South Asian audiences.

• Action 3: Work with South Asian community partners and advisors to identify new groups of South Asian young people to engage with our Creative Careers programme, encouraging young people to consider a future in the arts.

During 2026 and looking into 2027, we have continued to invest in the development of new South Asian-led work and creative talent through a range of artist development, partnership and engagement activity.

We launched an initial pilot South Asian Playwrights Programme, supporting writers Surya Elango and Niall Moorjani to develop new work. The programme is a partnership with Bijli Productions, A Play, A Pie and A Pint, and Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland and also created opportunities for emerging theatre makers through trainee dramaturg positions for Shamama Fatima and Yusuf Javed, providing practical experience and mentorship in new play development.  Readings of the second draft of each play will be performed to a private audience made up of partners and South Asian community guests – supported by our South Asian Advisor Atta Yakub.

We supported South Asian Artists in Scotland (@saartistsscotland), led by Kal Sabir and Niloo-Far Khan, to deliver New Sauce Scratch Night, a scratch night at the Citizens Theatre showcasing four new pieces of work at various stages of development: Dashaavatar by Aishwarya Patil, these hands are utensils too by Deergha Chennubotla, Only Fools and Punjabis by Zara Janjua and Uboor (Crossing): Between Departures by Alishan Sohail. The event created a platform for artists to share work with audiences and peers, receive feedback and build relationships across the sector and with the pieces spanning theatre, comedy, poetry and dance.

We continue to support South Asian Artists in Scotland, to deliver a South Asian Networking Event, held at our home in Rockvilla in November 2026.

As part of our commitment to increasing understanding and visibility of South Asian theatre practice, we paid four South Asian script readers to read 33 plays from the UK South Asian play canon from which our team are reading and considering plays for new Scottish productions. Our internal script reading team continue to engage with South Asian plays and writers, expanding knowledge of the South Asian theatrical canon and informing future artist development and programming conversations.

We welcomed Smriti Rajgarhia, Director of Serendipity Arts Foundation, as part of a Clore Fellowship placement. During her time with us, she shared insights into her work and practice through discussions with staff and artists, helping to strengthen international connections and knowledge exchange.

We continued conversations and collaborative working with colleagues at the Citizens Theatre and Tron Theatre around shared ambitions for supporting South Asian artists and audiences in Scotland, contributing to a more joined-up approach across the sector, including creating links to South Asian audiences for East is East at the Citizens Theatre.

Alongside this, we continued the development of several South Asian-led projects initiated through previous phases of the programme, including the reimagining of a Shakespeare tragedy by Joeravar Sangha and Taqi Nazeer, a new musical about international courtships conceived by Shilpa T-Hyland, working with Niall Moorjani and MJ McCarthy, and a new play with songs by Manjeet Mann working with Tessa Walker. These projects remain at different stages of exploration and development as we work with artists towards future programming.  

We continue to look for screening opportunities for Kal Sabir’s short film Kinaara, which has already been screened at a number of film festivals including: Scottish Mental Heath Arts Festival, Care For Me Film Festival, South Asian Film Festival of Montreal and the West Lothian Film Festival.

We received and reviewed research, undertaken by Ankna Arockiam, into Glasgow's South Asian communities, commissioned to identify organisations, communities and potential partners with shared values and ambitions around culture. The findings will help inform future engagement activity and relationship-building across the city.

We undertook a second Creative Careers session with young people from Glasgow’s South Asian communities, giving them the opportunity to learn about the many behind the scenes roles such as producing, artistic development, audience and media (sales, marketing and communications), finance, and various technical roles which allows the sessions to be accessible for pupils who do not study drama, or have no theatre experience, as well as those who do.

Together, these activities have enabled us to continue developing new work, strengthening artist networks and building relationships that support our wider commitment to ensuring South Asian artists and communities play a meaningful role in shaping the future of the National Theatre of Scotland.