SUPPORT FOR AMBITION CREATIVE PRACTITIONERS 

Across the two Support for Ambition (SfA) funds, for both creative practitioners and venues, we will award a total of £8,000 for Spring – Summer 2025. There will be a second opportunity to apply for financial support from SfA this coming September.

Creative practitioners living and working in Dumfries & Galloway, or who have a significant on-going connection with region, can apply to the SfA fund for any amount up to a maximum of £3,000.

What we fund

We are interested in applications which describe clearly how a period of focused time-limited research and exploration would enable you to begin to realise a brilliant creative idea, or how developing new technical understanding and confidence would help you to advance your performing arts career further.

You may want to work with a dramaturg or writer, or a musician or choreographer; you may want to attend a summer school or training course; you may wish to shadow a fellow practitioner whose methods and output you have always admired – this fund exists to provide support for specific, defined stages of your creative journey.

In addition, if a successful applicant requests it, we also offer informal bespoke mentorship and wellbeing support, as well as tickets to attend events our organisation presents. This assistance might, for example, help an emerging or early career performing arts practitioner develop their understanding of and engagement with the cultural sector, or facilitate an established artist to make a significant step change in their working practice.

SfA will support the following costs:

  • Fees for your time and that of your collaborators (All personnel involved in your application, including yourself, should be remunerated at the least at minimum ITC/Equity/Musicians Union, or other relevant trade bodies’ rates)
  • Relevant technical costs
  • Rehearsal venue, studio or equipment hire
  • Masterclass, training and/or workshop fees
  • Relevant travel, accommodation and per diem expenditure.

What we do not fund

  • Costs which in any way relate to the latter developmental stages of a full production
  • A practitioner’s or organisation’s ongoing running costs
  • Submissions which form part of a larger application to any of Creative Scotland’s funding schemes.

How to apply

To apply, you must complete the application form which you will find on our website:  www.dgartsfestival.org.uk also completing the accompanying confidential anonymised equalities and diversity monitoring form: https://forms.gle/FppMd5HXuArgZ3q29

Applications must be sent to info@dgartsfestival.org.uk by the deadline.

Please send your application as a pdf. All applications submitted will be acknowledged and each applicant will be informed of the outcome of their submission. If you require the application form in another format, or require support or assistance, please contact us: info@dgartsfestival.org.uk

Application Form & Example Budget Downloads: 

D&GAF Application form SfA CREATIVE PRACTITIONERS 12Sep2023

D&GAF Specimen budget SfA CREATIVE PRACTITIONERS 12Sep2023

Dates

  • Open for applications: Monday 7th April, 10.00am
  • Applications’ deadline Monday 5th May, 12.00pm
  • Decisions announced Friday 16thMay, 4.00pm.

Projects should not start before Monday 9th June and should be completed by Monday 29th December 2025.

Successful applicants will receive 80% of their award up front. The balance of 20% will be provided at the end of the project on our receipt of a short report from the applicant. An end of project report template will be provided to successful applicants.

If requested, we will provide feedback to those applicants who have not been successful. There will also be an opportunity for applicants to provide us with feedback, to help us refine the SfA and its processes.

Our selection process

Our selection panel will consist of Dumfries & Galloway Arts Festival’s Director & CEO and Up Yer Airts’ Producer, and an independent performing arts practitioner and/or programmer working in the region. Based on the information an applicant provides we will discuss each submission in detail and assess them on the following criteria with a points-based system:

The merit of the proposal – given a practitioner’s track record to date, how successfully will they be able to deliver it, and/or how beneficial to their working practice will a request for funds to develop skills be?

How realistic is the proposal’s timeframe and what the applicant wishes to achieve?

Is the budget realistic and is everyone paid appropriately?

If relevant, at the end of a proposal’s timeframe, what is its potential for future development, both for the applicant and potentially for the wider performing arts sector?