New Work Place scheme for dancers

The Place, London’s leading centre for contemporary dance, will be investing £500,000 over the next three years in a new programme aiming to sustain some of the UK’s most talented dance professionals and enable them to thrive in a network of fully-skilled independent dance practitioners. The scheme, named Work Place, will support up to 12 artists at different stages of their career. Created in response to direct feedback from independent artists, and in line with the 2009 Arts Council England study ‘Dance Mapping: a window on dance’, it will provide a platform for creating and performing new works, as well as offering educational and entrepreneurial training. It aims to address “chronic issues affecting the industry, which involve a lack of teaching, entrepreneurial and management skills, and result in an under-developed professional artistic network”. Each Work Place artist will follow a bespoke programme, combining artistic research and creative production with training initiatives, residencies at local, national and international level, coaching opportunities addressing managerial and financial needs, and developmental teaching contracts. Artists will also have the chance to work with Richard Alston Dance Company and be mentored by Richard Alston, The Place’s Artistic Director. Other London organisations collaborating with The Place on the initiative are Dance Umbrella, East London Dance, Greenwich Dance, Laban, ROH2, Sadler’s Wells and Southbank Centre.