Touring Fund for Theatre and Dance (United Kingdom)

The purpose of the Fund is to support touring of high-quality theatre and dance (including outdoor, circus, interdisciplinary and site-specific work). This can include remounts of previously successful shows, shows which have previously undergone research and development, and tourable work yet to be produced. The goal is to support a range of work of different scales to tour throughout Scotland, and to help the touring sector engage with and develop audiences. The fund also aims to support work created by a diverse range of artists, companies and producers, and for a diverse range of audiences.

Funding Information

• The overall budget for this round of the Touring Fund for Theatre and Dance is £2,000,000.
• There are no upper or lower limits on the amount an applicant can apply for.

Who can apply? 

• All applicants must be based in Scotland and involved in the production and/or touring of live theatre and dance. They will accept applications from:
  • Individual dance and theatre artists, companies and organisations.
  • Independent dance and theatre producers on their own, to create an individual piece of work or on behalf of artists.
  • Consortia of venues for a shared programme of named touring work. These can include venues which are Regularly Funded Organisations (RFO’s) and are funded to receive touring productions – provided they can demonstrate that this consortium activity is additional to their core work, that they are providing significant benefit to the consortium and that the majority of consortium venues are not RFO’s. The lead applicant cannot be an RFO.

Who cannot apply? 

• Applicants seeking funding to research and develop projects to an early stage of production.
• Applicants seeking funding to create work for presentation in schools.
• Applicants seeking funding to create work for online/digital dissemination.
• Applicants seeking funding to create/present work that has no live performance.
• Applicants seeking funding to create digital versions of the work.
• Applicants seeking funding to present work at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe or Edinburgh International Festival. Due to the high demand on the Touring Fund for Theatre and Dance, they are unable to support performances of your project at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe or Edinburgh International Festival. You may still carry out Fringe performances in addition to your tour, but none of the costs or income for these should be included in the budget for your application.
• Applicants seeking to create work that will not be touring
• Applicants seeking funding for touring work in a medium other than theatre or dance
• Creative Scotland Regularly Funded Organisations whose funding agreement includes making and touring theatre and/or dance as part of their core activity
• Student and non-professional companies
• Applicants seeking funding for touring activity outside Scotland.
• Applicants who are not based in Scotland.
• Please note: these types of projects may be eligible to apply to the Open Fund. Organisations who are not based in Scotland can apply to the National Lottery Open Fund for Organisations to tour to venues in Scotland; individuals who are not based in Scotland cannot apply to the Open Fund for Individuals to tour to venues in Scotland.

Assessment Criteria

• Applications will be assessed against the following criteria:
  • Artistic quality and ambition
  • Potential for audience engagement and/or development and diversification
  • How you intend to present your project
  • Your approach to Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion within your project
  • Your approach to Environmental Sustainability in your project
  • Rationale for the proposal against recommendations of the Theatre and Dance Touring review
  • Management plans
  • Financial plans and value for public funding (i.e. through effective planning and budgeting, high quality work and audience experience).

For more information, visit Creative Scotland.