Aims/priorities: Arts Council England has launched the Incentivising Touring scheme to support mid- and large-scale theatre and dance productions in touring across England. Designed to mitigate the financial risks associated with such tours, the scheme aims to demonstrate the potential for productions to generate a financial return with investment. Currently in its pilot phase, the scheme is running across two funding rounds.
Scheme objectives:
- Expand opportunities for high-quality theatre and dance productions to tour.
- Boost confidence and incentivise boards and investors to support touring projects.
- Empower venues and producers to create, tour, and programme a wider variety of work.
- Increase audience access to large-scale, high-calibre theatre and dance productions.
Eligible applicants can seek investment for new productions. Applications must include a tour budget and recoupment schedule, demonstrating that Arts Council investment will enable the production to achieve recoupment of 55%–75% of box office receipts.
Who can apply? UK-based, publicly funded, commercial and independent theatre and dance producers may apply. Organisations must be registered in the UK with Companies House and/or the Charity Commission, with a UK bank account in its own name
The scheme is also open to National Portfolio Organisations (NPOs), Transfer Organisations, and organisations working in collaboration or co-production (one organisation must be the lead applicant).
Applicants can tour a new dance or theatre production (new work or new revival) or a remounted production for a new or first tour. Theatre encompasses plays (including text-based, physical and visual theatre forms), musicals and circus.
Productions must tour to permanent, ticketed performance venues, each with a minimum of 500 seats, including a minimum of four venues in England that:
- Are outside inner London (for the purposes of this fund, inner London is defined as the Boroughs of Westminster, Camden, Islington, City of London, Lambeth, Southwark, Lewisham, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Haringey, Hackney, Kensington and Chelsea, Wandsworth, Hammersmith and Fulham).
- Are outside the ownership of the applicant organisation or the parent company of the applicant organisation.
Beyond the minimum of four venues that meet these requirements, all further venues in the tour must be performance venues each with a minimum of 500 seats, but can include other venues in England, inner London venues, venues in the other UK nations, international venues, and venues owned by the applicant organisation or its parent company.
For tours to be eligible, the first day of rehearsals must start no earlier than 1 April 2025 and the tour must end no later than 31 March 2028.
Grant amount: A budget of £5 million is available in total across two rounds. Applicants can apply for up to 25% of their production's capitalisation costs, up to a maximum of £500,000.
Funding will be in the form of a repayable grant. A repayable grant is a form of repayable finance designed to reduce some of the risk and help leverage other investment. The grantee must repay (partially or fully, in this case depending on how much of the capitalisation costs are recouped by income from the box office) the grant when a certain level of income is achieved as specified in the grant agreement.
Subject to meeting all payment conditions, funded applicants will receive:
- 5% of their repayable grant once they have accepted their formal grant agreement.
- 90% of their repayable grant 12 weeks before rehearsals start.
- The remaining 5% once the tour has finished if the tour recoups less than the cost of its capitalisation.
Application process: Applications for Round one can be submitted between 25 November 2024 and midday on 20 January 2025.
Before applying, applicants must book a 10-minute conversation with a member of the Incentivising Touring team before 29 November 2024, and it must take place before 6 December 2024. This conversation will be an opportunity for applicants to ask any questions they may have about their tour's suitability or eligibility, or about the application process.
To book a conversation, applicants should email incentivisingtouring@artscouncil.org.uk
Round two will launch in Spring 2025, with applications made over Summer 2025.
Applications are made online.
More information is available at the Arts Council England website.
Deadline: Friday 29 November 2024.
Contact information: Email: incentivisingtouring@artscouncil.org.uk
Website: Incentivising Touring Scheme | Arts Council England