In late 2016, Creative Scotland commissioned an independent review of Touring for Theatre and Dance, and the final report was published in April 2017. Among the main conclusions was a call to establish a dedicated touring fund. This £2m fund has consequently been developed in partnership with the Federation of Scottish Theatre, and working groups made up of representatives of Scottish dance and theatre companies.
This fund aims to change the way we tour publicly funded theatre and dance productions, and support greater access to a variety of theatre and dance for a diverse audience. It also aims to provide broader opportunities for a more diverse range of artists and producers. This fund aims to bring about this change by:
- Funding high quality work to tour in a way that could improve the relationships between venues and producers of touring work
- Funding work that will increase audiences across Scotland
- Funding work that increases the diversity of artists, producers and companies touring theatre and dance across Scotland
- Creating conditions where artists are recognised for their work and can retain a proportion of the income their work creates to sustain their ongoing practice
- Creating conditions to support venues to be more sustainable and give them the ability to invest more in developing audiences
- Supporting the programming of work in venues or locations that would not otherwise present it.
This fund is supported by the National Lottery through Creative Scotland.
All applicants must be based in Scotland and involved in the production, programming and/or touring of theatre and dance. Creative Scotland will accept applications from:
- Individual dance and theatre artists, companies and organisations.
- Independent dance and theatre producers
- Consortia of venues.
Upcoming deadline for applications: 6 November 2018
Decisions announced: week commencing 17 December 2018
There will be 2 further deadlines in 2019, with dates published for these in early 2019.
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Rhiannon attended an information session at Eden Court on Tue 9 Oct, where Lorna Duguid, Multi-arts Manager at Creative Scotland, explained more about the fund and the thinking behind it.
Interesting points to note are that:
- work funded to tour will be offered to venues/promoters/programmers for free
- they are looking for performers to have strong and clear working relationships with venues/promoters
- box office income will be split 80/20 between the venue/promoter and the performer (in the venue/promoter’s favour), which can be retained by both to sustain future projects and programming
- groups of venues can work together to submit an application to commission new work.
We’re interested to see what work is included in the first round of funding, and will be considering how the launch of this new fund impacts the delivery and scope of our Supported Programme.