Skip to main content

Funding and Support for Dance Artists

Arts Council National Lottery Project Grants (this has replaced Grants for the Arts)
Project Grants is the Arts Council’s open access programme for arts, museums and libraries projects, funded by the National Lottery. Funding is available to support individual artists, community and cultural organisations.

Arts Council England – Developing your Creative Practice
An Arts Council England (ACE) funding programme that gives individuals the opportunity to apply for £2,000 to £10,000 to take a dedicated period of time to focus on their own creative development, and take them to the next stage in their practice. Arts Council England would like to see applications for development activities from practitioners working in any of their supported disciplines (music, theatre, dance, visual arts, literature, combined arts, museums practice), where a clear development opportunity has been identified. This could be for a period of research, time to create new work, travel (including international working), training, developing ideas, networking or mentoring.

The Arts Council England website also has information about other sources of funding, including a list of funding bodies, databases and directories.

Artsadmin’s Artists’ Bursary Scheme
A Bursary Scheme offering awards to UK-based artists at any stage in their career working in live art, contemporary performance and interdisciplinary practice. The bursary offers a cash award, mentoring, a week-long studio residency at Toynbee Studios and an invitation to present work in a Bursary Showcase at Toynbee Studios.

The Deutsche Bank Awards for Creative Entrepreneurs (DBACE) 
The programme aims to enable and celebrate talented 18-30 year olds driven to make positive social impact through their creative enterprise. Winners receive up to £20,000 investment to start or grow their enterprise and 12 months of business support.

Regional Dance Agencies

Dance agencies are organisations involved in dance development activity across a local area, region and, in some instances, nationally. They offer a range of professional development opportunities for dance artists.  You can find a list of dance agencies on the One Dance UK website. It’s worth looking into what they each offer.

Support for travel

Lisa Ullmann Travelling Scholarship Fund (LUTSF)
LUTSF supports individuals working in all areas of movement and dance who wish to travel in order to enrich their professional practice. Applications are welcomed from choreographers, performers, lecturers, teachers, writers, therapists, administrators, producers and related professionals. The average award is around £600.

Winston Churchill Memorial Trust
The Trust awards Churchill Fellowships to UK citizens from all parts of society to travel for 4-8 weeks, anywhere in the world, researching a project of their choosing – one they believe can make a major difference to their profession or community when they return.

STEP Travel Grants
STEP travel grants support culturally active and engaged individuals for international return travels within Europe or to/from its neighbouring countries to a partner organisation for a professional cultural collaboration that serves a wider community. STEP stands for ‘Supporting Travel for Engaged Partnerships’ and is initiated and managed by the European Cultural Foundation (ECF) with the support of Compagnia di San Paolo.

Related Links