CATAPULT - Northern School of Contemporary Dance

Open Call

CATAPULT is a year-long professional development opportunity for an emerging dance maker, creative partnership or collective based in Yorkshire.

The selected artist(s) will receive free rehearsal space, producing and business advice from Spin Arts and a bursary of £3000. In 2022/23 CATAPULT will run November 2022 – October 2023.

Applications for 2022/23 are now closed

CATAPULT aims to support your creative practice and professional development, with a focus on:

• Researching and developing your artistic ideas, with the option to present new work to an audience
• Raising your profile in the region and beyond
• Helping you to transition from training to industry
• Helping you to establish core organisational skills

CATAPULT is delivered by NSCD as a National Portfolio Organisation of Arts Council England, in partnership with Spin Arts.

Application Pack

What we can offer:

Creative business advice and management

Producing and business advice from Spin Arts. Services include:

• Artist development – coaching about career goals and ambitions
• Fundraising – identifying sources of funding and supplying successful examples of applications
• Distribution – advice on tour feasibility
• Project Management – supplying contract and project planner templates
• Financial Management – supplying budget and cash flow templates
• Marketing – advice and promotion via Spin Arts, including use of social media platforms, and supplying marketing pack examples
• Evaluation – discussion and help in shaping evaluation frameworks and providing report examples.

Rehearsal space

• 10 days of free rehearsal space (to be agreed)

Production Support

• Access to NSCD’s Riley Theatre – an opportunity to present new work or work-in-progress
• Artistic Mentoring, Technical and Marketing support at Riley Theatre, by NSCD staff

Professional development

• A bursary of £3,000 to support theatre trips, promotional material, professional development and artistic mentoring
• Networking and shadowing opportunities

In return you will be asked to:

• Act as an advocate for the CATAPULT programme, NSCD and Spin Arts
• Share your practice or learning with the local community or local professional community
• Discuss and write a project agreement, outlining aims and objectives prior to being awarded a £3,000 bursary
• Share work-in-progress a minimum of once during the 12-month programme
• Write a final evaluation report reflecting on achievements and challenges

CRITERIA

In order to apply you should have:

• Graduated from a dance programme at degree or postgraduate level, or equivalent study, within the last five years (i.e. graduated between 2018 – 2022)
• Evidence that you are based, living and/or working in Yorkshire, or may have come to study in Yorkshire, and can demonstrate a commitment to the region
• A demonstrable passion and talent for dance choreography that is conceptually relevant to the society that we live in
• A track record of being pro-active, self-motivated and committed to the development of your practice, and a willingness to engage with others in the process of developing and reaching audiences
• A commitment to sharing work-in-progress during the 12-month programme

NSCD believes that diversity and a diverse workforce is critical to its future development. As an equal opportunities employer we actively encourage interest from suitably qualified and eligible candidates regardless of sex, age, race, cultural background, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion or belief.

HOW TO APPLY

Artists are required to submit the following by Friday 30 September 2022 via an online form

Contact details
A brief biography detailing where you have trained, to what level, a description of the creative team who will undertake the programme – who you are and how you will work together
An artistic statement including:
a. An outline of key artistic projects to date
b. Details of a new artistic project or creative idea you wish to develop, with a specific context in mind for reaching audiences (e.g. the stage, outdoors, the screen, community settings)
c. A predicted timeline of how and when you would hope to realise the project
A rationale for how this programme will benefit you, why it is important to your artistic and career development as well as examples of how you have previously demonstrated being pro-active, determined, self-motivated and committed to making dance that is of relevance to society today
Contact details for a referee who has witnessed your artistic work in a professional capacity
Links to up to two clips of your artistic work, accompanied by a brief paragraph contextualising the work (no more than 150 words per clip)

Candidates will also need to complete an Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form

If you have any questions, please contact us at catapult@nscd.ac.uk

Apply now