Published: 09 Aug 2018
The new £2m Touring Fund for Theatre and Dance, developed as a collaboration between Creative Scotland, the Federation of Scottish Theatre and their members, is now open for applications.
Developed in direct response to Sector recommendations made within the Review of Touring Theatre and Dance, the Fund will support the touring of theatre and dance, enhancing opportunities for artists, producers and companies to work more collaboratively with venues to grow audiences and provide greater access to high quality work across Scotland.
Applications are invited from Scotland-based dance and theatre artists, companies and organisations, independent dance and theatre producers and venues, for the making and touring of new work or the restaging of previous work for touring to a minimum of 12 locations across Scotland over a maximum two-year period.
The first round opened on Thursday 9 August with a deadline of Tuesday 6 November 2018. Further application dates will be published in early 2019.
Decisions will be made by a panel of five members drawn from the touring dance and theatre sector and up to four Creative Scotland specialist staff. The sector panel members will be recruited by an open call process and selected by Creative Scotland, Federation of Scottish Theatre and sector representatives. Membership of the panel will be for set periods and new members will be regularly recruited.
Pre-application sessions will be available on the following dates, or you can contact our Enquiries Service for advice.
Iain Munro, Creative Scotland Acting Chief Executive, said: “We are delighted to make this announcement today. It is an extremely important and exciting new development which will generate more opportunities for high quality theatre in Scotland to flourish and for more people across the country to experience and enjoy it.
“The co-creation of the fund with the Federation of Scottish Theatre signifies a major step forward in our shared endeavour to address the challenges set out in the Review of Touring Theatre and Dance, strengthening opportunities for theatre and dance artists, venues and audiences.”
Jude Henderson, Federation of Scottish Theatre Director said: “FST members have devoted significant time, thought, energy and care to working with Creative Scotland on the development of this fund.
“We welcome Creative Scotland’s commitment to addressing the issues raised by the Review of Touring Theatre and Dance, and to continuing open dialogue and flexible review of the fund as it operates’.
Find out more about the fund and how to apply at www.creativescotland.com/touringfund.
Sophie Bambrough, Media Relations and PR Officer, Creative Scotland
Email: sophie.bambrough@creativescotland.com
Tel: 0131 523 0015
In late 2016, Creative Scotland commissioned an independent review of Touring for Theatre and Dance. This was published by Creative Scotland in April 2017. The main conclusions relevant to the creation of this fund were:
This fund has been developed in consultation with a group of individual artists and organisations selected from amongst their peers to create a broad representation of the touring sector. Members include All Or Nothing Dance And Aerial Theatre, Byre Theatre, Barrowland Ballet, Creative Scotland, Culture Republic, Cultured Mongrel Dance Theatre, Dundee Rep Theatre, Federation of Scottish Theatre, Fire Exit, Lyth Arts Centre, Macrobert Arts Centre, Mischief la Bas, National Theatre of Scotland, North East Arts Touring, Palace Theatre Kilmarnock, Puppet Animation Scotland, Rapture Theatre, Red Bridge Arts, Rob Heaslip Dance, Scottish Dance Theatre, Summerhall, Tortoise in a Nutshell and Traverse Theatre.
Creative Scotland is the public body that supports the arts, screen and creative industries across all parts of Scotland on behalf of everyone who lives, works or visits here. We enable people and organisations to work in and experience the arts, screen and creative industries in Scotland by helping others to develop great ideas and bring them to life. We distribute funding provided by the Scottish Government and the National Lottery.
For further information about Creative Scotland please visit www.creativescotland.com. Follow us on Twitter @creativescots, Facebook www.facebook.com/CreativeScotland and Instagram www.instagram.com/creativescots.
The Federation of Scottish Theatre is the development body for professional dance, opera and theatre in Scotland, bringing the sector together to speak with a collective voice, to share resources and expertise and to promote collaborative working. FST represents a network of over 200 professional performing arts organisations and individuals throughout Scotland including main house producers, presenting venues, touring companies, companies working in schools and communities, companies producing and presenting work for children, dance companies, local authority venues and educational establishments.
