ACE launches grant scheme for theatre and dance tours

Arts Council England (ACE) has launched a new pilot scheme to support and promote the touring ecology in the theatre and dance sectors.

The scheme, called Incentivising Touring, will offer repayable grants to producers to support them to tour to larger-scale venues.

ACE said it has been developed in close collaboration with the sector to combat some of the challenges facing regional touring, and to ensure more people across England have access to a wide range of high-quality cultural experiences.

It is hoped the repayable grants will reduce the financial risk for touring productions, giving boards and investors increased confidence and incentive to support tours.

The pilot programme has a total budget of £5m which will be made available across two funding rounds. Individual grants will cover up to 25% of a production’s capitalisation costs, to a maximum of £500,000.

Successful applicants must tour to at least four venues across England and outside inner London. Beyond that, tours can also include dates in inner London, the rest of the UK, and international venues.

ACE said the programme is designed to recycle funds, with commercially successful shows returning the investment for re-investment in other tours.

“The pilot will allow the Arts Council to test a new mechanism for funding work at scale with the ambition of creating a longer-term programme informed by feedback and evaluation,” ACE said.

ACE has also commissioned a major study of the touring of theatre, dance, music and combined arts activities to venues presenting work on indoor stages in order to gain in-depth intelligence on the current touring landscape, which will report next year.

‘Potential game-changer’

Kate Varah, executive director and co-chief executive of National Theatre, said: “Touring is essential for the National Theatre.

“It allows us to bring people together, spark imagination and share stories with audiences across the UK.

“Yet, rising post-pandemic costs make touring nearly unaffordable, for all but the most commercial propositions. Arts Council England’s Incentivising Touring Scheme offers an innovative new way forward, providing vital support and empowering theatres and producers to create, tour, and present a broad range of high-quality productions to audiences nationwide.”

Chris Stafford, chief executive of Curve Theatre in Leicester, said the investment fund has the potential to be a “game-changer” for the sector.

“Now more than ever we need to find innovative solutions to ensuring we safeguard the future of our touring ecology; this critical investment from Arts Council England will incentivise producers to take greater risks on work that has commercial potential, ultimately benefitting theatres and most importantly audiences across the country.”