Networking Bursaries

For directors and theatre makers living and working in Bradford and surrounding Priority Places who are working class or from a low socio-economic background

Our Networking Bursaries are designed to support reducing social and cultural capital barriers for mid-career directors and theatre makers who are working class or from a low socio-economic background.

Some people simply ‘know the right people’ either through family, school or university and have social connections with people working in the arts giving them an advantage in gaining opportunities and employment.

Following on from our Class Assembly Bradford event last year, we’re continuing to deepen our connection to the region, and we are offering five Networking Bursaries of £800 for theatre makers and directors who live and work in Bradford or the surrounding Priority Places (Barnsley, Bradford, Doncaster, Kirklees, Rotherham, Selby, Sheffield and Wakefield).

These bursaries are for theatre makers and directors who are working class or from low socio-economic backgrounds to begin or continue to grow their networks.

We’re really open to what the bursary is used for but at its heart the idea supports building connections and networking opportunities for working class theatre directors and theatre makers.

This could be hosting a networking event for the working class theatre directors and theatre makers in your city/town or nationally or paying for your time to have meetings with key people you want to connect with e.g. artistic directors or programmers at theatres or potential collaborators you want to work with.

It is flexible in how the bursary can be spent. This might be on fees for yourself or others, hire of space, resources like refreshments for meetings, Zoom accounts, travel, or accommodation costs etc. but you will need to provide a brief budget.

You can apply as an individual, a group/collective, or as a company.

Where possible, RTYDS can assist with building these connections through our existing networks.

WHAT’S AVAILABLE?

Five bursaries of £800. The bursary should be used between September to December 2026.

WHO IS IT FOR?

  • Directors and theatre makers living and making work in Bradford and the surrounding Priority Places.
  • Mid-career directors and theatre makers.
  • Those who are working class or from a low socio-economic background.
  • You should be resident in Bradford or a surrounding Priority Place at the point of application.

DEADLINE TO APPLY

Monday 10 August 2026 at 12 noon.

See below for more information about if this opportunity is for you.

More information

To apply for a Networking Bursary, click the link below to complete the online application form:

APPLY HERE

You can also apply via video or audio (approximately three minutes in length). Click on the link above and follow the form for instructions.

The form begins with eligibility questions, so please make sure you read the ‘How do I know it’s for me?’ section below carefully.

You can find accessible versions of the application form and the equal opportunities monitoring form in the ‘ACCESSIBLE DOCUMENTS’ toggle below.

TIMELINE

Deadline: Monday 10 August 2026 at 12 noon

Decisions: Friday 28 August 2026

Bursaries take place: between September to December 2026

Once we have received and read the applications we may get in touch if we need a little more information.

We will be in touch with everyone who has applied with the outcome of their application by the end of August 2026.

At the end of the time your bursary covers, we’d like to hear about what you did and what you learnt or developed. This isn’t a measure of ‘success’, it’s so that we can feed your exploration or activity into our thinking and further plans. You can present this in any way you choose. This could be a blog for us to put on our website, an audio report, short email with bullet points, a diagram, etc. We will also share a 30-second survey.

£800 dropping into your bank account might not be the most financially accessible way for you to receive the money, and we can be really flexible with how we distribute the money so please don’t let this be a barrier to applying.

If you have any questions, please email RTYDS Programme Producer Manli Siu on rtyds@rtyds.co.uk.

HOW DO I KNOW IT’S FOR ME?

You do not need to meet all of these criteria. They are intended as indicators to help you reflect on your experience and stage of development as a theatre director or theatre maker.

This opportunity is for:

Mid-career directors and theatre makers who are working class or from a low socio-economic background who live and make work in Bradford or a surrounding Priority Place.

We recognise the complexity around identification of class, economic and social background. We offer this as a starting point to thinking about whether this is an opportunity for you:

  • You identify as working class, benefit class, criminal class, and work professionally in theatre.
  • You claim Universal Credit, Jobseekers Allowance, Housing Benefit, Employment Allowance and other government funds.
  • You might identify with coming from a low socioeconomic background or having lived experience of long-term poverty or long-term benefits.
  • Have an annual family household income of less than £33,000 or less than £40,000 with mitigating circumstances (caregivers, care leavers, are over 18 and receiving Disability Living Allowance, Jobseekers Allowance or a Carers Allowance).
  • You may have lived experience of the care system or the criminal justice system.
  • You may have stopped formal education before further and higher education, or you may have been the first in your family to go to university.
  • You are a migrant or refugee who experiences economic marginalisation both in your home country and England.
  • You should be resident in England at the point of application.

HOW DO I KNOW IT’S NOT FOR ME?

  • You identify as lower middle class, middle class, or upper class.
  • You have family already working in the arts.
  • You went to private school not on a bursary.
  • Have an annual family household income of more than £33,000 or more than £40,000 with mitigating circumstances (caregivers, care leavers, are over 18 and receiving Disability Living Allowance, Jobseekers Allowance or a Carers Allowance).
  • You live and work outside of England at point of application.

MID-CAREER

We also know that there are no hard and fast rules about how to determine where you are at in your development as an artist.

By mid-career we mean experienced artists who are confident in their practice and their artistic voice and have developed a body of work and defining style over a period of a number of years. They know the kind of work they want to make and why it matters.

When considering whether you identify as mid-career, some of the following may apply to you:

  • You have worked professionally as a theatre director or theatre maker for around 10 years or more.
  • You have originated and led the creation of work, rather than working solely as a performer.
  • If you attended college or university, you are no longer a recent graduate and completed your studies more than five years ago (unless you returned to education later in life after already establishing a professional career).
  • Directing/theatre making is your profession and primary creative practice, even if you have undertaken other work alongside it.
  • You have created and realised several theatre projects (typically four or five or more) and have had opportunities to develop your craft, artistic voice, and approach to making work.
  • These productions may have included short runs, participation projects, community-based work, or other settings that have contributed meaningfully to your development as an artist.

You do not need to meet all of these criteria. They are intended as indicators to help you reflect on your experience and stage of development as a theatre director or theatre maker.

THEATRE MAKERS

RTYDS specifically supports directors and theatre makers. We define theatre makers as artists who originate and realise theatrical work, shaping a project from its initial conception through to performance. The term also encompasses multidisciplinary artists whose practice is not defined by fixed roles such as director, writer, or designer.

PRIORITY PLACES

We are focused on deepening our connection with Bradford and the surrounding areas, and the below places have been taken from the Arts Council England and DCMS lists of Priority Places:

  • Barnsley
  • Bradford
  • Doncaster
  • Kirklees
  • Rotherham
  • Selby
  • Sheffield
  • Wakefield

Application forms

British Dyslexia Association style

Large Print

Screen Reader

Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form

British Dyslexia Association style

Large Print

Screen Reader

Please return completed application and equal opportunities monitoring forms to rtyds@rtyds.co.uk by Monday 10 August 2026 at 12 noon.

 

DEADLINE TO APPLY: MONDAY 10 AUGUST, 12 NOON

 

Previous Networking Bursaries

 

Your Content Goes Here

Networking Bursary recipients 2024:

Koko is a Black-mixed, Queer, Disabled Artist & Producer. She takes pride in her roots, being ‘the other’ and blends theatre, spoken word and music throughout her work. She aims to make all her work #AccessibleAsStandard.

An Alumni Associate Artist at Ovalhouse, Resident Artist at the Roundhouse and Oberon Books/Bloomsbury published author, Koko has worked with the National Theatre, Latitude Festival, Soho Theatre, Brainchild and Glastonbury Festival as well as international performance collective Hot Brown Honey.

With a move to Sheffield planned, Koko used the Networking Bursary to branch out beyond London – reviving old connections in the North and making new ones. She also developed a menu of transferable skills to help her find creative ways to sustain her artistic work.

WEBSITE: www.heykoko.com

SOCIALS: @theKokoBrown

Masha is an Artist of Ukrainian, Russian and Jewish heritage. She is the Artistic Director of OPIA Collective.

Recently she directed the world premiere of LOVE BOMB by Benjamin Salmon at National Youth Theatre and toured the five star production of LALI to VAULT Festival & Mercury Theatre, nominated for the Origins Award for Outstanding Theatre 2023. Masha is a JMK Finalist 2022 for her production of Crave by Sarah Kane. In 2020 Masha was awarded the inaugural Bryan Forbes Bursary for NYT REP Company where she assisted Ed Stambollouian and Miranda Cromwell before writing and directing the acclaimed Ordinary Miracle, premiering at National Youth Theatre. Her debut play ‘The Girl With Glitter In Her Eye’ premiered at Bunker Theatre to a great critical reception.

Masha used the Networking Bursary to have in-person meetings with the Artistic Directors and Producers of eight venues outside of London, to make better connections and get a first-hand understanding of the venues.

TWITTER/X: @MashaKevinovna
INSTAGRAM: @masha.kevinovna
COMPANY INSTAGRAM: @opiacollective
WEBSITE: www.mashakevinovna.com

Maya is a theatre director and writer based in Oxford. Her work aims to split open cruxes of difficult-to-reach emotion and strives to arrive at a place of hope. She likes to make work that is a little weird, with current preoccupations in capitalism and climate justice. At the centre of her practice is attention and connection.

With the Networking Bursary, Maya connected with sound designers and began to build connections with venues making site-specific work, as well as other creatives living and making work locally. This all fed in to developing her ambitious project, ‘how to run away with the sea’, a love story between a human and the sea.

WEBSITE: www.mayalittle.co.uk

Josie is a working class, LGBTQIA+ theatre maker of colour from Nottingham whose work revolves around three core themes: Mental health, Working-Class people and LGBTQIA+ people, which she uses to create exciting, challenging, and entertaining theatre for the young people. She believes tackling hard subjects with humour is generally how people cope with harsh realities and it is a tool she uses throughout her work to get audiences comfortable talking about the uncomfortable.

Josie used the Networking Bursary to feed into an extensive outreach scheme aimed at underrepresented artists and creatives across the Midlands, which ran alongside a UK tour of her new debut play ROTTEN, directed by Rikki Beadle-Blair, co-produced by Emmerson & Ward, and supported by ACE, Derby Theatre, Curve Theatre and Derbyshire LGBT.

INSTAGRAM: @josiemw1
TWITTER/X: @josiemwhite

 

Networking Bursary recipients 2023:

Porcelain is a disabled multi-disciplinary artist and theatre maker passionate about sharing representative stories. After working as a professional Performer, she grew frustrated at the lack of representative characters and stories and pivoted her practise into theatre making to share lesser told narratives. As a performing artist Porcelain worked across a wide range of genres including: theatre, literature, circus, cabaret and dance. She likes to include aspects of different genres within her own shows to create unique experiences. Her cabaret acts headlined internationally including at: Cirque Le Soir Dubai, Reykjavik Kabarett , Wunder Kabarett Paris and many others. She recently had writing featured on BBC Scotland and published in In Divisible Anthology. She currently has a solo play Toilet Paper Diaries in development. Porcelain is a DaDa Fest Fellow, DANC Ambassador and has received Arts Council England funding.

Porcelain used the awarded bursary to create and develop professional relationships with venues, bookers, artists and other creatives. Porcelain also shadowed some creatives with more experience in creative access to gain knowledge, contacts and ideas to drive her practice forwards.

Rafia is a producer and fundraiser working with socially engaged companies. You can find out more about her work at

WWW.RAFIAPRODUCES.COM

Rafia used the awarded bursary to develop her international network via IETM network and Global Connector 2023-27 programme.

Winnie is a Producer and founder of Seven Black Women which aims to produce new stories and create new opportunities specifically supporting black women creatives, she was previously part of Producers First by Tamasha and New Earth and is currently part of Bridge the Gap Producers Programme.

Winnie used the bursary to meet with venue producers and build on her practice as an independent producer to collaborate on ideas to showcase black womxn writers in some creative form.

Lit Theatre is a working class lead theatre company, co-creating contemporary theatre in Nottingham. Led by Artistic Director Orla O’Connor @orla_oconnor_

Orla teamed up with WBC-C freelancers to use the awarded bursary to run a theatre makers Midlands event at @UpstairsWestern, a pub theatre in Leicester, on 7 June. The event was a celebration of WBC-C creativity for directors, producers, actors, writers, everyone in the industry. It included talks, a space to network, and performances.

Hosted by director @orla_oconnor_ Marketing Consultant @jeavons_tom WC Academic Lisa Mckenzie @redrumlisa @WomenTheatreEM @lit_theatre

Faizal and Khai are Muslim-Malay Singaporeans based in London. They recently presented Siapa Yang Bawa Melayu Aku Pergi? (Who Took My Malay Away?) at the 2023 Vault Festival supported by Arts Council England, RichMix, The Yellow and The Pleasance. The production was nominated for Show Of The Week at Vaults Festival and OFFfest from OFFIES.

Fazial and Khai used the awarded bursary to facilitate networking sessions to create an eco-system and a growing directory of creatives from the Malay diaspora.

Fermanagh native Kat Woods is a Benefit Class writer striving to challenge poverty stereotypes on the stage.

Kat used the awarded bursary to spend time exploring potential working relationships with theatre spaces in London.

FIND OUT MORE

If you have any questions about the Networking Bursaries, please get in touch with us on rtyds@rtyds.co.uk.