Founder of Inc Arts UK, a national centre for advocacy for the creative, contractual and economic rights of the UK’s ethnically diverse arts sector workforce, Parker is a changemaker who has delivered sector-leading research and consultancy on equity, diversity and inclusion in creative and cultural organisations.

She will Chair a panel consisting of: Miranda Cromwell, Olivier Award winning Theatre Director; Julie Hesmondhalgh, award winning actor and supporter of the Royal Exchange Theatre; Kimber Lee, winner of the inaugural Bruntwood Prize International Award in 2019; Farai Matekenya Nhakaniso, Local Exchange Ambassador for the Leigh area for the Royal Exchange Theatre; Kate Vokes, Non-Executive Director at Bruntwood, and Roy Alexander Weise, Joint Artistic Director at the Royal Exchange Theatre.

Amanda comments:

“I admire the Bruntwood Prize’s commitment to seeking new voices from the widest possible pool of talent. New writing is the spark that grows great theatre, and I’m very excited to be diving into this fresh crop of work with the rest of the committee. It’s an honour and a thrill to have ‘first sight’ of what will leave future theatre audiences spellbound. I’m champing at the bit!”

The Judges will receive a shortlist of 15 plays, which will be judged anonymously on 20 October before the identities of the shortlisted writers are revealed on 24th October 2022 before the winner of the 2022 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting is announced at an awards ceremony at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, on 14th November 2022.

For 2022 the Prize is split across four categories: an overall winner of the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting, who takes home £16,000; three winners of £8,000 Awards – the Judges Award for a ‘runner up’; the International Award for international playwrights who can apply through partners in the US, Canada and Australia and, new this year, the North West Original New Voice Award and Residency, in recognition of the Prize’s Manchester home. This new category has seen the number of entrants from the Great Manchester area on a par with those from London for the first time ever, with 15% of 2022 submissions coming from the Manchester area to London’s 17%.

All winners enter a development process with the Royal Exchange Theatre in an endeavour to bring their work to production, with the winner of the North West Original New Voice Award and Residency also receiving access to an additional £10,000 fund dedicated to their professional development at the Royal Exchange Theatre during a bespoke one-year residency in partnership with Bruntwood and the Oglesby Charitable Trust.

Amanda Parker is the Founder of Inc Arts UK, a national centre for advocacy for the creative, contractual and economic rights of the UK’s ethnically diverse arts sector workforce. As CEO Parker led Inc Arts to produce sector-leading research and consultancy on equity, diversity and inclusion in creative and cultural organisations.

Parker’s career spans screen, broadcast, arts and cultural campaigns management and communications – including Director of the London Short Film Festival and Editor of Arts Professional magazine. Previous roles include her leadership of BBC’s recruitment and awareness campaign for the launch of BBC Radio 1Xtra and, as Head of Communications for Directors UK, Amanda created the UK’s first industry-wide research into gender diversity in TV directing and partnered with the UK’s leading broadcasters to make systemic change in the industry. 

A former BBC broadcaster and programme maker for BBC Arts (TV) and BBC Radio and Music, recognition for her EDI advocacy and broadcast campaigns include 4 International Anthem EDI Awards, CRE Race in the Media, Royal Television Society, MIND Mental Health in the Media, Stephen Lawrence Foundation and Alfred Fagon awards.   

Amanda has served on the London Government Task Force Covid-19 Arts and Culture Strategy Group, the University of Sheffield’s culture and arts recovery advisory board and the London advisory group for the Government Arts Collection Committee. She is a former trustee for Film London, serving on the FLAMIN visual arts committee and supporting the Jarman Awards; Amanda is a trustee of Intermission Youth, a trustee of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and a Critical Friend of Glyndebourne Opera.