Better Business / Member profile
‘A Better Bristol recognises that culture is where we come together’
Heidi Vaughan is the artistic director and chief executive of Tobacco Factory Theatres, leading the south Bristol venue since 2023. A seasoned theatre-maker, she previously headed Travelling Light Theatre Company in Bristol and London’s Kazzum, and has spent more than a decade directing acclaimed work for young audiences, championing emerging talent and driving socially engaged, imaginative theatre across the UK.
What’s the one thing that inspires you to get up in the morning?
I’m fiercely ambitious about what art and culture can do – the social value it creates for everyone it touches.
Whether you’re the young person discovering something about yourself in a workshop, the artist finding space to take a risk and make bold work, the family experiencing their first theatre trip together at our Rapunzel show, or the audience member who walks out of Macbeth seeing the world slightly differently – culture has this extraordinary capacity to transform. It builds connection, it challenges us, it creates space for difficult conversations, it brings joy.
That ambition – that belief in what’s possible when we create the conditions for great art to happen and for everyone to access it – that’s what gets me up. Not in an abstract way, but in the very practical sense that I see it working every day. I see what happens in a rehearsal room, in our auditorium, in our community. It’s fundamental to how we understand ourselves and each other.
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If you could pick one thing to change about Bristol what would it be?
If I could change one thing, it would be a fundamental shift in how Bristol values and resources culture – recognising it as essential infrastructure that creates genuine social value for everyone it touches, from the makers to the audiences to the communities it serves. That requires investment, curiosity and an understanding of how nourishing the cultural ecology is; and its broader impact across health and wellbeing, community cohesion, education, employment and environment.
What does a Better Bristol mean to you?
A Better Bristol recognises that culture is where we come together – to laugh, to be challenged, to feel less alone. It’s the antidote to isolation in rapidly changing times. At Tobacco Factory Theatre (as with so many organisations across this City) our work addresses economy, skills, young people, wellbeing – culture weaves through all of it, creating the human connections that make everything else possible.
A Better Bristol invests properly in its artists and keeps theatre doors open to audiences without forcing impossible choices. It understands that when times are uncertain, we need spaces to gather, to imagine differently, to remember what binds – it’s how we make sense of the world together.
Tobacco Factory Theatres (TFT) welcomes over 60,000 audience members annually through its doors for an exciting mix of in-house productions and visiting shows – photo: TFT
What action could you as an individual take? What action could your company take?
Leadership in this sector isn’t that different from being in a rehearsal room: you create space for others to thrive within clearly defined roles, you’re not frightened of uncomfortable moments, and you stay mission-led even when the familiar path would be easier.
As Tobacco Factory Theatres, we’re keeping ticket prices affordable for audiences – that’s non-negotiable – which means constantly exploring new income streams as costs rise. With Rapunzel this Christmas and Macbeth next spring, we’re striving to be both accessible and ambitious. But we’re also talking more and more about the fact that social value ripples far beyond the auditorium. We can’t do this on passion alone; we require strong business acumen and the space to look up and out.
What do you want to see from the Bristol business community in the next five years?
Recognise Bristol’s cultural offer as a strategic investment – we’re addressing skills gaps, mental health, talent retention, and community cohesion with measurable impact. I want the business community to advocate alongside us: use your influence to push for proper cultural infrastructure investment at every level.
Help us prove that culture isn’t a cost, it’s an investment that pays dividends across every metric that matters to a thriving city. Bristol’s creative spirit is at the heart of this City – let’s back it like we mean it.
In the 2023 adaptation from writer Adam Peck and director Heidi Vaughan, Dickensian London is transported to contemporary Bristol – photo: Camilla Adams
Main photo: TFT
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