Photo Credit: Farah Saleh by Amy Sinead

Our vision is to build, support and nurture the national and international success of Scotland-based dance artists, using our resources to ensure that all dance artists in Scotland have opportunities to develop successful careers. 

For 20 years we have been proud to offer our award-winning building, and two of our beautiful dance studios, to professional dance artists as a warm and welcoming space to create, practice and explore. 

 Following consultation with the community and our Artist Advisory Group we have refreshed the way in which we allocate our studio space. Our revised structure continues our clear commitment to the professional dance sector, and echoes our organisational values of inclusivity, collaboration, bravery and responsibility. The programme will build on the strong work of previous years, ensuring that our residency programme, and space provision for artists, continues to provide opportunities for dance artists across Scotland, and is relevant, responsive and fair for the artistic landscape we are in. 

Artists working in dance, choreography or movement practice can access studio space at Dance Base in three ways:  

• Paid Artist Residency Programme: to provide Scotland-based artists with the practical, financial, and creative support to develop their practice, while paying themselves and their collaborators fairly. 

• In-Kind Studio Space & Support: to provide practical support to artists applying for external funding to develop a specific project, and to enable Dance Base to welcome international artists to Edinburgh to share their practice. 

• Open Studio Space: to provide Scotland-based artists, teachers, dancers and performers with the practical support to explore ideas, engage with each other and play. 

 

What has changed? 

A fundamental change within this new programme is that we are committing to  providing you with the funds to pay yourself and your collaborators fully for residency work. Our Residency programme will now only provide funded residency weeks and artists will be asked to detail the budget that they require for the week. We understand this will mean fewer residencies, but we believe it is important to support artists and place value on their work.

This does not represent an expectation for larger pieces of work or for ‘finished’ pieces, but rather a reflection of the work that is being undertaken during residencies (accounting for varying numbers of collaborators and expenses). 

Where we cannot provide financial support directly, we can provide In-Kind Studio Space & Support to enable artists to apply for external funds. We will also provide Open Studio Space where artists can access up to three days of free studio space a term to explore, create and connect with no expectations or outcomes required. 

 

Get in touch: 

If you have any questions or would like to discuss any element of the programme, please contact Kirsty Somerville, Head of Professional Programme, on Kirsty.Somerville@dancebase.co.uk