Networking Bursaries

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.

We have ten Networking Bursaries of £800 available for:

  • Five directors and theatre makers who live and work in the DCMS Culture Priority Places in the East of England (Basildon, Fenland, Great Yarmouth, King’s Lynn and West Norfolk, Luton, Peterborough or Tendring).

  • Five directors and theatre makers who live and work in the DCMS Culture Priority Places in the North West (Barrow in Furness, Blackburn and Darwen, Blackpool, Burnley, Copeland, Hyndburn, Knowsley, Pendle, Rochdale, Rossendale, Salford, St. Helens, Tameside, Wigan).

These bursaries are for directors and theatre makers who are working class or from low socio-economic backgrounds 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.

 

DEADLINE TO APPLY: MONDAY 30 NOVEMBER, 9AM

 

Please read the information below carefully:

Deadline:  Monday 30th November at 9am

Decisions:  Week commencing Monday 7 December

Meetings with successful applicants: Week commencing Monday 14 December

Bursaries take place: between January to April 2027

We have ten Networking Bursaries of £800 available for directors and theatre makers who live and work in the DCMS Culture Priority Places in the North West and East of England.

Download the application packs for more information:

NORTH WEST – download the application pack

EAST OF ENGLAND – download the application pack

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

APPLY IN THE NORTH WEST

APPLY IN THE EAST OF ENGLAND

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 in the application packs carefully.

If you need an accessible version of the application form and the equal opportunities monitoring form, please contact RTYDS Programme Producer Manli Siu on manlisiu@rtyds.co.uk.

Please read the application packs in the above toggle to find out more information about whether you are eligible to apply.

£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 manlisiu@rtyds.co.uk.

WHAT DO WE MEAN BY MID-CAREER / THEATRE MAKER / DCMS CULTURE PRIORITY PLACES?

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.

WHAT ARE THE DCMS CULTURE PRIORITY PLACES?

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has identified towns and cities across the country where there is limited access to arts and culture. We want to provide opportunities for artists based in these places to enhance opportunity and networks.

We are focused on deepening our connection with the DCMS Culture Priority Places. Please see each of the Application Packs for more information.

We want to deepen our connection with working class directors and theatre makers who are living and making work in these two regions following our Class Assembly East event in Ipswich last month, and ahead of Class Assembly Greater Manchester happening in November 2026.


Meet the Networking Bursary recipients from Yorkshire

Following on from our Class Assembly Bradford event last year, we’re continuing to deepen our connection to the region. We offered Networking Bursaries for theatre makers and directors living and working in Bradford or Priority Places in Yorkshire (Barnsley, Bradford, Doncaster, Kirklees, Rotherham, Selby, Sheffield and Wakefield).

Nicole Joseph is a Bradford-based Writer & Theatre-Maker whose work explores women-led stories, marginalised characters and places, the sublime and genre-bending. She has experience working across writing, directing, dramaturgy and facilitation.

With her Networking Bursary, Nicole wants to re-connect with three theatres in London and have meetings with three new ones – to get to know the organisations better and find out more about what opportunities they have available.

Nicole also plans to reignite conversations with several regional theatres in Yorkshire in her role as a director and dramaturg.

Kamal Kaan is a working class, British-Bangladeshi writer and director from Bradford.

He writes for screen, stage and radio and expanding his practice into directing – having had his directorial debut for BBC Radio 4 with 2-part drama series ‘Trimerous’, starring Juliet Stevenson.

With the Networking Bursary, Kamal will be able to create some dedicated time to travel to London, Cardiff and Bristol, where he has identified organisations and artists that he’d like to meet. The bursary will make it possible for Kamal to build relationships beyond Bradford, covering the costs of travel and time off work to pursue these connections.

Emily Susanne Lloyd is a theatre director based in Yorkshire and Artistic Director of Electric Press Productions. She was nominated for Best Director at the Stage Debut Awards 2025, with her work also receiving recognition at the UK Theatre Awards, Fringe Theatre Awards, Whats On Stage Awards and Heritage Railway Association Awards.

Emily has identified six organisations around the country that she’d like to connect with using the Networking Bursary. She hopes to build stronger relationships with producing theatres across Yorkshire and also better understand how to create theatre within heritage spaces, develop site-specific work and large-scale immersive productions.

John Rwothomack is an award winning Ugandan-born, London-trained writer, director, and actor whose work has made a significant impact on both UK and international stages. He is founder and artistic director of Roots Mbili Theatre.

As a playwright, he has been commissioned by Sheffield Theatres and English Touring Theatre and has received multiple accolades, including shortlistings for the Alfred Fagon Award for Play of the Year and The Sit Up Award, as well as being a recipient of the Peggy Ramsay Award and The African Impact Award for creativity.

John will use the bursary to meet creatives, playwrights and actors he’d like to collaborate with. He will experience their work and take time to read plays by global majority writers before reaching out to them.


Previous Networking Bursaries

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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.