If you are an artist or venue based in Dumfries & Galloway, your event could be included in our 10 day Arts Festival or year-round Arts Live programme. We can provide support for performance events that must take place in D&G during our Arts Live Spring/Summer season (March – July 2022), or 10 day Festival 2022 (20th – 29th May).
Support for Ambition is an initiative that enables local venues and artists to present performance events in the region by providing financial, promotional, and advisory support to deliver the next season of performing arts events. This is a great opportunity for those based in the region – for artists to showcase their work and venues and promoters to share performances with local audiences.
If you are a local artist, you may want to apply to Support for Ambition to stage a performance in the region. This might allow you to realise a creative idea and present it to an audience, establish a relationship with a venue or attract new and existing audiences to your work.
If you are a local venue, you may want to apply to Support for Ambition so we can support you to take risks in the work that you programme by offering financial support for your event. This could be because you are trying to build a new audience, try something different, or something a bit more ambitious which carries a financial risk that you cannot support yourselves.
We are looking for theatre, music, dance, comedy and spoken word performances, to be presented in a venue based in D&G. We also welcome applications to present online performances. You are not required to find a venue for this, but D&G Festival at Hame will host your online event.
Successful applicants will receive:
- Advisory support from the D&G Arts Festival team
- Inclusion in either the Spring/Summer Arts Live or 10-day Arts Festival programme
- Free publicity across our social media and marketing channels
- An event entry on our websites ‘What’s On’ section
- Inclusion in our printed promotional materials, which are distributed to key outlets throughout D&G
- Inclusion in our core marketing campaigns and regional online and offline advertising and PR
You can apply for up to £1,000 maximum to present one performance event in the region between March – July 2022. You can apply to present your event during our Arts Live Spring/Summer season or during our 10-day Arts Festival in May.
What we support:
- Artists’ fees, travel and accommodation*
- Venue hire*
- Publicity
- Set-up and technical costs*
- Box Office Fees
*If you run a venue, are artists or sound technicians, etc. these will include your fees provided they are included in the application.
Please note, that an allocation of 75% of tickets per event must be made available for D&G Arts Festival to sell via its online ticketing system.
What we won’t support:
- Venues’ time
- Costs of catering for the public
- Rented items that are not returned
- Cancellation costs
- Increases in your expenditure budget after your application
HOW TO APPLY:
To apply, please fill in the online application form via the link below. To access and fill in this form, you must be on a PC. If you don’t have access to a PC, please contact us and we will provide the form in an alternative format:
We welcome proposals in alternative formats such as BSL, Braille, sound or video recording or transcribed by phone. We have a budget for removing barriers you might face to submit a proposal. Please contact us if you would like to discuss this in more detail or submit your application by phone.
As a rural organisation working in an urban-centric performance sector, we recognise the urgent need to centre the work of marginalised artists as an essential act for achieving equality in society. Dumfries & Galloway Arts Festival is especially welcoming of applicants who face marginalisation, including D/deaf and/or disabled people, LGBTQIA+ people, women, people of colour, working-class, and people from any related background or identity. If you feel you are often excluded from performance opportunities, we would like to hear from you and support you.
If you would like to discuss your application beforehand, please contact us and someone from our team will get back to you either by email or to arrange a meeting. Please be cautious we are a small team and might not be able to fulfil all requests.
If you are an artist, who needs support pairing with a local venue to submit your application, please contact our General Manager, Lou Davies, who will be able to advise: lou@dgartsfestival.org.uk
The deadline for receiving applications is Sunday 14th November 2021 at midnight.
SELECTION PROCESS:
All proposals are entered into our admin system and sent to a panel, comprising of D&G Arts Festival staff, members of our Board and venues and artists from or with a connection to D&G. They will read the proposals before attending a panel meeting to discuss and select
During the panel meeting, we will assess each application using the following criteria:
- The artistic quality and creativity of the event idea
- Ability to capture a new or existing audience
- Ensure there is a realistic budget, ticket income projection and ticket price
- Ensuring a mix of performance work that appeals and reaches different audiences in our diverse region
- Can the event still be delivered if there are further COVID restrictions?
We conduct our selection through a fair and open access application process that is in line with our equal opportunities policy. No decisions will be made before the application deadline.
IMPORTANT DATES, LINKS AND INFORMATION:
Deadline: Sunday 14th November 2021 at midnight
Selection Meeting: w/c 15th November 2021
Decision Date: Wednesday 24th November
Contact email: Suzie Thorpe at info@dgartsfestival.org.uk
Application: Application Form
Voluntary EDI Form: EDI Form
Dumfries & Galloway Arts Festival:
D&G Arts Festival is the only region-wide performing arts organisation in D&G. Our 10 day Arts Festival in May is the largest rural performing arts festival in Scotland, bringing performance to people in some of the most remote areas of the UK.
Since 2016, we have developed and delivered our year-round programme, Arts Live, and we are a promoter and performing arts network that supports venues, artists and promoters across the region, who, in turn, enable us to curate a diverse year-round performing arts programme.