Nottingham Puppet Festival will return in April 2024, bringing the city to life with puppets and people. Nottingham’s Theatre Royal & Royal Concert Hall and City Arts are producing the festival.
The festival is offering two bursaries of £1000 to artists, collectives or companies from the East Midlands who work with puppetry in any form.
Available in Easy Read
Download this information and application form in Easy Read.
The bursary will support you to develop a piece of work and share the outcome as part of Nottingham Puppet Festival 2024. Your work can be small or large scale, street puppetry or studio based, verbal or non-verbal, object theatre or craft based. The outcome could be a performance, a walkabout, a Q&A session, an exhibition or something else. You will have an additional materials budget of £200.
It is fine if your work is still in development when you share it at the festival. Alternatively, you might have a piece of work in progress that needs completing. In this case the bursary can provide you with support to finish and share it with an audience.
The bursary will be managed by City Arts. If successful, you will receive support from the City Arts team. If you need space to work on your project, you can use the City Arts building. We will connect you with other people and organisations working with puppetry.
Successful application will be chosen by the Puppet Festival partners and artists who have been awarded bursaries at previous festivals.
Who can apply?
This opportunity is open to artists, collectives or companies based in the East Midlands working with the artform. Anyone can apply, however priority will be given to:
- People from Black, South Asian, East Asian and Mixed Ethnic backgrounds, or backgrounds Indigenous to the Global South
- D/deaf, disabled and neurodivergent people, including those with hidden disabilities and learning disabilities
You might be part of more than one of these groups.
If you are unsure whether this opportunity is right for you, please get in touch. We can talk about it with you. Please email alison@city-arts.org.uk or call 0115 9505251.
Time Commitment
If successful, your will undertake your project between February and April 2024. An individual timetable for each award will be created with you and the City Arts team.
Access
If you are interested in submitting a proposal but have access needs which might make it difficult to undertake the work in the way we have described it, please still make an application. If at the end of the process we offer you the bursary, we will work with you to find practical solutions to any barriers you might encounter. This might include BSL support, Easy Read documents or access to a translator. Your access needs will not be a factor in the decision to make you an offer.
If you need support with the application process, please email alison@city-arts.org.uk or call 0115 9505251.
Critical Dates
- Proposal deadline: 6pm, Monday 29 January 2024
- Bursary awarded: From 5 February 2024
- Expected sharing dates: 9-21 April 2024
How to apply
Use the form below to submit your proposal. A Word form is available on request.
If you would prefer to make your proposal as a video, please send it to us via Whatsapp or email it to recruitment@city-arts.org.uk. Make sure to respond to same questions as in the form.