Letters sent, replies received, and developments in the campaign for post-Brexit creative touring — the record, as it happened.
1–3 Oct 2026 · Vienna
Carry On Touring at Waves Vienna 2026
Carry On Touring was at Waves Vienna — the largest showcase festival and conference in Central and Eastern Europe — represented by campaign coordinator Gill Morris of Devo Agency and Ian Smith of UKE Arts Work.
The festival's 16th edition made the United Kingdom its Guest of Honour, with a curated showcase of UK acts alongside panels and talks with leading voices from the UK music industry: more than 100 acts and 50 conference and fringe events across three days.
Cross-border touring was firmly on the agenda. The conference programme included "Rethink, Rework, Reassemble: The Future of UK–EU Cultural Exchange", on mobility, funding and collaboration across borders, and "International Mobility for Creative Arts in Challenging Times", on the barriers artists and crews still face around travel, visas and funding.
Waves Vienna is led by festival director Sarah Heher, who sits on the Carry On Touring Advisory Group and is one of our ambassadors. She also co-manages the Austrian Music Export Office.
Carry On Touring write to Prime Minister Andy Burnham
With a new Prime Minister in Downing Street, we have written to Andy Burnham setting out a pragmatic plan to get UK touring working again — and asking for a meeting to take it forward. Our proposal is a Digital Creative Mobility Exemption, built on the HMRC A1 certificates touring professionals already hold, which would exempt approved creative work from the 90-in-180-day rule without reopening the Trade and Cooperation Agreement. No new bureaucracy, no political renegotiation: a smarter use of systems that already exist. With the EU's Entry/Exit System and ETIAS now coming into force, the case for moving quickly has never been stronger.
UK–EU Roundtable with the European Parliament's Culture Committee
Carry On Touring and the Musicians' Union hosted a roundtable at Europe House in London with a visiting delegation from the European Parliament's Culture and Education Committee — setting out, face to face, the difficulties creatives and support crews have faced touring between the UK and EU since Brexit.
It's the latest in the campaign's run of roundtables and summits bringing UK and EU Parliamentarians together with touring industry experts — from the UK–EU Summit of 20 May 2021 to our session with Parliamentarians in the House of Lords in 2022.
A month later, at the launch of the Cultural Exchange Coalition in the European Parliament in Brussels — where Carry On Touring ambassador Peredur ap Gwynedd spoke on the panel — Culture Minister Ian Murray pledged the UK Government's "full commitment" to delivering on the touring commitments made at the EU–UK Summit.
Following our UK/EU Summit with Parliamentarians in the House of Lords, Lord Clement-Jones co-authored a letter to Rt Hon Michelle Donelan MP, Secretary of State.
We wrote to Julia Lopez MP, Minister of State for Media, Data and Digital Infrastructure, about ongoing post-Brexit creative touring issues. Here is her response.
Tim Brennan and Ian Smith were nominated for the Petition Campaign of the Year Award at the Your UK Parliament Awards.
An open letter to Oliver Dowden MP
Oliver Dowden MP, then Secretary of State for DCMS, announced we could freely tour 19 of 27 EU member states — but time limits and red tape still apply to each one.
Representatives from across the UK and European Union came together for a day of action demonstrating support for creative touring professionals and artists.
Every contribution to our UK–EU Summit, recorded: artists, crew, unions, trade bodies and cross-party Parliamentarians — 43 videos, including the full two-hour session.
Ahead of the petition's Parliamentary debate on "Seek Europe-wide visa-free work permit for touring professionals and artists," we briefed Parliamentarians from across the industry.