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Episode 2

Why we became a charity after 26 years in theatre

16 April 2026 — Mark Hornsey

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In this episode of Bigger Slice, Luke speaks with Mark Hornsey, Co-Artistic Director (co-founder) of Babbling Vagabonds: a rural theatre and community arts charity.

They talk about what it takes to keep a small arts organisation alive over decades: how their income mix has shifted from schools work and commissions to grants and public ticket sales, what changed (especially post-Covid), and why they chose to become a charity in 2023. Including all the trade-offs of more bidding, more reporting, but ultimately more stability.

We also get into the messy reality of measuring impact in participatory arts, and Mark shares practical, human ways to capture the stories that matter without drowning in impact paperwork.

Be our guest

Bigger Slice isn’t only for listening. We want to talk to the people actually running small charities — not about them from a distance, and not through the lens of organisations ten times your size.

If you’re leading a small charity and have something worth saying — a hard lesson, an unexpected win, a funding crisis you survived, a question you can’t stop turning over — we’d love to hear from you.

You don’t need to be polished. You don’t need a comms team or a rehearsed story. You just need to be honest about what it’s really like to do this work. That’s the whole point of the show.

Be our guest →