The Rural Touring Dance Initiative (RTDI) is a national project which supports dance artists to tour to rural venues across the UK. Our venues can range from village halls and libraries to small scale arts centres. We are currently seeking the next selection of artists to tour their existing work to rural locations during autumn 2025 and spring 2026. This year we have a new package of support for artists working with Hip Hop dance styles in their work.
Rural touring is unique, offering you the opportunity to meet audiences in intimate venues, and to transform local spaces.
“It is hard to put into words how special rural touring is. It is almost like visiting family you haven’t yet met. In all the experiences we have had with this show, we have met people who are doing the job voluntarily and so they are doing it with a passion. We have stayed in people’s houses. It feels so opposite to how touring usually works where we don't even meet the person who programmed the show. That adds to the quality of the work.”
RTDI 2, Touring Artist
From this call out, RTDI curates a national 'menu' of dance productions, featuring a selection of up to eight exceptional shows. Rural programmers will have the opportunity to handpick shows from this menu for their programmes.
The project is run by Highlights, National Rural Touring Forum (NRTF), Sonia Sabri Co, Take Art & The Place. In 2022 the project was awarded grants from Arts Council England and Esmée Fairbairn Foundation to continue to support dance touring from 2022 to 2026. RTDI is committed to nurturing dance talent and fostering vibrant cultural exchanges in rural spaces.
Previous artists supported by the project include Joan Cleville, Joshua Nash, Lost Dog, Protein, Aakash Odedra Company and Uchenna Dance.
WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR
TOURING SHOW REQUIREMENTS:
- Tour-ready work that will have premiered by end-August 2024.
- Productions that can deliver a full evening of entertainment ideally an hour(+) in length or to have considered additional activity surrounding the show to extend it, or to offer a post-show element after an interval.
- High quality dance of all styles and forms.
- Shows that have minimal technical requirements or tour with all the technical equipment required.
- Artists who are keen to meet new dance audiences and embrace performing outside of a traditional theatre.
We encourage applications from artists with a range of lived experiences and from a range of backgrounds, and we particularly welcome applications from those who are underrepresented in the dance sector, including artists from Global Majority backgrounds, artists who identify as LGBTQIA+, disabled artists and artists from lower socio economic backgrounds.
We anticipate including at least one family-friendly production and one digital work on the menu.
What successful artist will receive:
- Performance Fees: On tour performance fees ranging from £1,200 to £1,500, inclusive of VAT. These fees are determined based on the scale and production costs of your show.
- Adaptation Bursaries: Financial support of up to £2,000 to facilitate the adaptation of your show for the distinct challenges and opportunities of rural touring.
- Residency Opportunities: The opportunity to undertake an immersive residency at an RTDI venue, where you can fine-tune your existing production or develop new and innovative work for Rural Touring
- Rural Touring Expertise: A funded spot with paid time to attend our 'An Introduction to Rural Touring' residential course, offering invaluable insights into the nuances of touring in rural settings.
- Marketing and Producing Support: Comprehensive assistance in marketing and producing your show, ensuring maximum visibility and engagement with rural audiences.
- Accessibility Development: Guidance and financial support to enhance the accessibility of your touring show, fostering inclusivity and engagement with diverse audiences.
- Environmental Sustainability: Guidance to minimise the environmental footprint of your production, aligning with our ethos of responsible touring practices.
For detailed guidelines and application information, please visit the provided link. We recommend reading all the guidelines fully prior to submitting your application
We look forward to hearing from you!
HOW TO APPLY
KEY DATES
Deadline for applications – 9am Monday 29th July 2024
Artists notified that they have been selected for the 2025/26 menu - w/c 8th October 2024
Practical Introduction to Rural Touring Lab w/c 11 November 2024.
Please also complete one of our Equal Opportunities monitoring forms. The Equal Opportunities monitoring form is optional and will help us to monitor whether our Call Outs are reaching groups that are currently underrepresented in our programmes. These forms will be reviewed by our HR team and will not be seen by the selection panel. Please follow this link to the form. https://forms.office.com/r/uMKeByamNe
If you plan to apply, and there are opportunities to see your work live from June to September 2024 then please invite us to see your work by emailing producing@theplace.org.uk. We cannot guarantee that someone will be able to attend.
If you have any questions, please email producing@theplace.org.uk
What happens if you’re selected
- Attending our Introduction to Rural Touring for Dance Lab in w/c 11th November 2024. (compulsory)
The Lab is an opportunity for one representative, who will tour with each company, to meet people from all aspects of the rural touring ecology and think about how we can make better dance shows for rural venues/village halls and audiences. You will learn about how rural touring schemes and promoters work, think about how to adapt your work within the constraints of touring to village halls and non-traditional spaces, and how to make shows for communities in rural locations.
This lab will be accompanied by online resources, which you can share with other members of your company.
Accommodation and travel for the lab will be covered by RTDI and you will receive a fee for taking part in the lab of £500
If you are selected for the menu with an online work, depending on the format of how it will be shared, you may not be required to attend the lab, but you may if you wish, and you will be paid a fee if you attend.
- If required, you will make adaptations to your show so that it is suitable for rural touring.
There are bursaries of, on average, £2,000 available for artists to make adaptations to shows to make them more appropriate for the practical challenges of rural touring. If you are selected to tour your show, we will talk to you about whether this is required for your show.
- Your show will be featured in the ninth national dance menu.
The menu will be distributed to rural touring schemes in January 2025. A ‘menu’ is a selected group of shows which is offered to rural touring schemes and their local promoters, to choose which show they want to put on in their venue. A Producer and Coordinator will broker potential interest from schemes and local promoters alongside the availability of the dance companies they are interested in.
There is no guarantee that your show will be chosen for touring. However, we expect that each show on the menu will be booked for four to eight performances. The touring fee is subsidised through the scheme, and will be negotiated on a case by case basis. In 25/26 fees will range from £1,200 to £1,500 per performance. This is inclusive of VAT . Any wraparound activity linked with your show should be costed separately.
We aim to book touring for each show which minimizes travel and reduces the ecological footprint of each tour.
Touring will take place between September 2025 and June 2026.
How to apply & how we’ll make decisions
To apply, complete the application form, which you can access here by 5pm Monday 29th July 2024.
You can download a PDF or Word Document to see the application questions RTDI Call Out 2024_Question Download.docx. We recommend writing your questions in the word document, and then copying your answers over into the form.
Please also complete one of our Equal Opportunities monitoring forms. The Equal Opportunities monitoring form is optional and will help us to monitor whether our Call Outs are reaching groups that are currently underrepresented in our programmes. These forms will be reviewed by our HR team and will not be seen by the selection panel. Please follow this link to the form.
If you require any support during the application process including the writing of the application or if another format or application process would be more accessible for you, please contact producing@theplace.org.uk and we will make the appropriate arrangements.
Shows will be selected by a panel made up of a rural touring promoter and representatives of 3 of the RTDI partners (The Place, NRTF, Take Art, Sonia Sabri Co and Highlights Rural Touring).