Rural Touring Dance Initiative Receives ACE Funding to Boost Dance in Rural Areas

An innovative partnership founded to increase touring by dance companies to rural areas has been awarded £416,855 to continue its work over a further three years. The new funding, announced today, will allow the Rural Touring Dance Initiative (RTDI) to build on its success by working with more local rural touring schemes and venues, delivering 195 performances over the next three years across England, Wales and Scotland. This is an increase on the 115 performances staged in the first three years of the RTDI, which included touring shows by Uchenna Dance, Lost Dog, Luca Silvestrini's Protein and Joan Clevillé Dance.

The new funding follows overwhelmingly positive responses to the project from participating rural touring schemes and promoters, with 93% of promoters reporting an increased interest in promoting dance and 100% of touring schemes reporting that the RTDI increased their interest in programming dance.

The second phase of funding will cover curating and supporting three annual 'menus' of dance which local promoters can select from, working with dance companies to adapt existing pieces so they are suitable for rural touring and commissioning dance companies to make original work for the rural touring circuit. The RTDI's first commission, Point of Echoes, a collaboration between international choreographer Ben Wright and musician Stuart Warwick will tour in Spring 2018; further works commissioned especially for rural touring will be developed during the second phase.

Additionally, the next three years will have an enhanced focus to involve more children and young people, as well as support workshops for promoters interested in staging dance performances in village halls and rural venues around the UK, many of whom are volunteers working to stage high quality performance in the heart of their communities. RTDI 2 will also develop partnerships with Pavilion Dance South West and DanceEast, capitalising on this burgeoning new dance audience.

The Rural Touring Dance Initiative was launched in 2015 with the aim of substantially increasing dance touring in rural England over an initial three-year period, due to end in July 2018. It is a partnership between NRTF, the Yorkshire-headquartered membership body for rural touring schemes in the UK; leading dance institution The Place; Birmingham-based independent producing studio China Plate; and Somerset's county dance agency Take Art. It was formed in response to Arts Council England's rural evidence and data review (March 2015), which found that only 2% of NPO funded dance companies toured to rural areas.

Speaking about the award, Pete Massey, Director North, Arts Council England said "Yorkshire has a particular strength in dance and I'm delighted that we are supporting the National Rural Touring Forum to develop its dance initiative through our National Lottery funded Strategic Touring programme. Working with partners across the country, they will tour to a variety of places that would not usually host this sort of event, enabling rural audiences who may not have experienced dance before to see performances where they live - and to encourage children and young people to get involved."

Ralph Lister, Development Director of NRTF, said "The NRTF is absolutely delighted by the Arts Council of England's decision to support the second phase of the Rural Touring Dance Initiative. Driven by a clear vision and commitment, shared by the 4 partners and Project Manager, a strategic intervention of such significance needed this further 3 years to solidify the tremendous gains made so far. The next 3 years will see a further 200 contemporary dance performances in village communities across the UK and we are really excited about working with more dance companies and making rural touring a regular part of their touring activity".

Ed Collier, Director of China Plate said "This significant second tranche of funding from ACE will allow us to really embed a culture of making dance for rural audiences amongst the most exciting contemporary dance practitioners and companies."

Eddie Nixon, Director of Theatre, The Place said "The success of this initiative in the first 2 years has shown there's a huge appetite for dance performance amongst audiences in rural venues and a real desire amongst dance companies to tour there. This support from Arts Council England means we can allow this interest to flourish well into the future".

Alison Lord, Dance Director, Take Art said "Establishing a network of Rural Touring Scheme Dance Ambassadors is a key development for the next phase as is greater involvement of children and young people. We are excited to be part of this ground breaking audience development initiative and are determined to make it a great success".

Website: http://www.ruraltouring.org/work/work-rural-touring-dance-initiative

A film about the RTDI has been made by Director Rachel Bunce and can be viewed here: https://vimeo.com/227900006/84124db5bd

Founded in 1997, the NRTF is a member-led organisation that works to deliver high quality art experiences that strengthen communities, providing the rural touring network with training, information and networking services as well as promoting better understanding of the rural touring network through research and advocacy. The NRTF has identified a paucity of dance on the rural touring circuit and the development of a dance project is evident in its business plan. As a result of a fruitful relationship that has developed with The Place and a successful dance showcase at the New Directions Conference 2014, curated in partnership with China Plate, there is momentum to develop dance and rural touring - 89% of conference attenders scored the dance showcase highly or very highly. Through its members the NRTF can access a huge rural touring circuit with over 2,000 promoters. Individual rural touring schemes will play an integral role in the successful roll out of the project.

The Place has been a driving force for contemporary dance in the UK for 45 years. The Place is unique and is comprised of; a training organisation, a producing and receiving theatre, a home for a national touring company and a hub for hundreds of independent artists. Our artist development department provides professional development, training, residencies, commissioning and producing support for dance artists at each stage of their career. Having developed a relationship with the NRTF and after attending the New Directions Conference there is an understanding, excitement and new commitment to supporting dance artists and the dance sector to engage with and take advantage of rural touring opportunities.

China Plate's portfolio of activity encompasses developing, making and programming new work. They have worked closely with the NRTF for a number of years and curated the New Directions Showcase Festivals in 2012, 2014 & 2016 and programmed the Edinburgh Village Halls Project 2011 - 2013. They are interested in the interrogation of ideas and form and believe that rural communities should have direct access to the highest quality contemporary work. The cross over between dance and theatre is of particular interest and over the last few years China Plate has developed close links with Dance East, programming dance with them into the Pulse theatre festival and worked with Warwick Arts Centre to programme, commission and develop work with a number of choreographers including Charlotte Vincent, Tom Dale and Aakash Odedra.

Over the last decade Take Art has hosted the Somerset county dance agency, supporting the infrastructure for the development and promotion of professional dance in Somerset. It has also run a rural touring scheme since 1987 and the services have worked and gained experience together. Take Art was the lead county dance agency in Up Close, the first south west rural touring dance project in partnership with Dance South West in 2007. Its hands on experience of and commitment to dance and rural touring at a local level provides the partnership with a grounded perspective.

Arts Council England champions, develops and invests in artistic and cultural experiences that enrich people's lives. We support a range of activities across the arts, museums and libraries - from theatre to digital art, reading to dance, music to literature, and crafts to collections. Great art and culture inspires us, brings us together and teaches us about ourselves and the world around us. In short, it makes life better. Between 2015 and 2018, we plan to invest £1.1 billion of public money from government and an estimated £700 million from the National Lottery to help create these experiences for as many people as possible across the country. www.artscouncil.org.uk

The Rural Touring Dance Initiative is a partnership project led by The National Rural Touring Forum with The Place, China Plate and Take Art. The project is funded by Arts Council England through its Strategic Touring Fund.

To post a comment, you must register and login.