The Open Fund for Individuals is one of Creative Scotland’s key funding programmes, supporting the wide range of activity initiated by artists, writers, producers and other creative practitioners in Scotland. The overall annual budget for this fund is £5 million.
The fund is intended to support periods of research, development and/or delivery of creative activity, such as specific projects and productions for up to 24 months. It can support an individual’s time where this is related to specific creative outcomes.
We will ask you to tell us the start and end date for this activity and to describe the outcomes, benefits and impacts that you wish to achieve.
Freelance and self-employed artists and creative practitioners living in Scotland who are at least 18 years old are eligible to apply. You must have a UK bank account in your name.
If you are not a self-employed individual or a sole trader, you may be eligible for the National Lottery Open Fund for Organisations.
Please read the guidance for full information on eligibility.
You can apply for between £500 and £50,000.
As standard, if your application request is between £500 and £20,000 you will hear the outcome in 10 weeks. If your application request is between £20,001 and £50,000 you will hear the outcome in 14 weeks.
Please see above for details of our 25/26 Christmas closure and the effects it will have on our processing timelines.
York Theatre Royal Youth Theatre exists to provide opportunities for young people aged 5 – 19 yrs from our community to participate in weekly drama sessions with the aim of improving confidence, developing performance skills, working as part of a team and enabling participants to live creative lives. Our programme works across the week at the theatre and across community settings and we’d love for you to come join us.
Winner of the Little Viking’s Best Drama Class for five years running (2018 – 2022), it’s no surprise that our Youth Theatre is hugely popular with York families.
Our Youth Theatre takes place in venues across our beautiful city, including:
You can select any of the following fee bands online when you making your booking:
Sibling discount: If you have more than one child in Youth Theatre, there is a sibling discount of £5 off each young person, which can be applied to any of the 3 fee bands. Use discount code: YOUTHSIB5
If you have selected the lower priced bands we will ask to see some evidence of your situation after you have made your booking, to ensure the system is fair for everyone.
Autumn 2026 Sessions
Priority booking for current members opens on 23 June at 1pm.
Public booking for new members for our Autumn Term opens on 30 June at 1pm.
Places can be booked online via our website, in person at the Box Office, or over the phone. All places are offered on a first come, first served basis, so we recommend booking as early as possible to secure your preferred class.
Our Autumn Term runs for 10 weeks from the week commencing 21 September (11 weeks for production term groups), with no sessions taking place during the half-term break (Wc/26 of October).
Mon 21 Sep - Wed 23 Sep
Actor-musicians are increasingly in-demand performers who combine first-rate acting ability with a high level of musicianship.
Mountview’s Actor Musicianship course develops these dual skills to the highest level, enabling graduates to combine them in their performance.
Whilst a high level of prior musical experience is a pre-requisite, it is not necessary to have achieved formal music qualifications before applying.
COURSE CONTENT AND DELIVERY
Study takes place over three 12-week terms a year for three years. It is an actor training programme with specialised music elements. Students work in small classes and receive over 25 hours of direct teaching time each week, including one-to-one singing and instrumental lessons.
The course is delivered through classes, projects, workshops and performance opportunities. During the course students engage in a range of performance projects, working on Shakespeare, contemporary plays, and musicals as well as devising original work. The first half of each term is devoted to skills classes whilst in the second half of each term these skills are applied to performance projects.
In the second year, skills are further explored in collaboration classes which include peer integration and team teaching to enhance your creativity and help you to make connections between subjects.
Additionally, there is time given to tailored ‘surgeries’ to focus on detail and help develop independence and confidence in each individual’s practice.
Mountview is currently the only UK drama school to offer Directing, Dramatic Writing and Producing as three distinct, specialised pathways within a single, unified Creative Practice MA framework. The course is designed for multi-hyphenate practitioners who are excited by collaboration and meeting the demands of the twenty-first century creative industries.
By bringing directors, writers and producers into one ecosystem, the course mirrors the professional world by fostering creative partnerships through shared engagement with modes of collaboration, creative enterprise, dramatic structures and critical contexts.
Students on the Dramatic Writing pathway develop an in-depth knowledge of dramatic structures and the core competencies for writing across different forms and styles. The course develops an understanding and critical awareness of current practice through engagement with industry practitioners and academics. You will be mentored by award-winning playwright Roy Williams OBE (Death of England National Theatre, Sucker Punch Royal Court), who oversees aspects of the course as Distinguished Visiting Artist.
The course concludes with the opportunity to put your learning into practice through the staging of a public facing, fully-realised festival of new work. VIEW Festival allows students to develop their pathway specific skills while also collaborating closely with the Producing, Directing and Performance students.
Our MA Creative Practice graduates leave with an established network of industry contacts and prepared for high-impact careers as Playwrights, Screenwriters, Dramaturgs, Directors, Creative Leaders, Theatre Makers, Artistic Directors, Commercial and Independent Producers and Venue Leaders.
STAFF AND PRACTITIONERS
The Creative Practice teaching team is led by Hamish Pirie and Dawn Ingleson as Joint Course Leaders, alongside Roy Williams as Distinguished Visiting Artist. Dawn worked extensively at the National Theatre as a creative producer and has also taught at LSBU, while Hamish’s directing credits include work at the Royal Court, Donmar Warehouse, Paines Plough and Traverse Theatre. Roy is a multi-award winning writer whose credits include Death of England: The Plays (National Theatre), The Lonely Londoners (Kiln and Jermyn Street Theatre) and Sucker Punch (Royal Court, Olivier Award nomination).
In addition to working alongside the core teaching team, MA Creative Practice students also benefit from industry masterclasses specific to their pathway, led by the world’s most prestigious creative powerhouses. Recent MA Creative Practice sessions have featured:
Illuminate Drama Teacher CPD Day is back for its fifth year on the South Coast!
Join us in person for a full day of inspiring workshops, featuring exciting opportunities to meet and talk with theatre education specialists, industry professionals, and fellow drama teachers.
This year we will have three workshops throughout the day that will each take a deep dive into different practices over the course of two hours. You will get to partake in all the following workshops:
Workshops will take place across both of our venues: Mayflower Theatre and Mayflower Studios.
There will also be the exclusive opportunity to see Blood Brothers at Mayflower Theatre for an additional £20 to round off a theatrical and inspiring day!
Please note spaces are limited and available on a first-come-first-served basis. Payment must be made before Friday 19 December 2026 otherwise your place will be released.
ACTING WORKSHOPS Further Than The Edge Productions are running weekly Open Level Acting Workshops for adults in two Camden venues. A motivating, fun and safe space for beginners, and people with experience who want to develop existing skills.
Develop your creativity, your skills of voice, space and movement, work collaboratively on improvisation and scripts, have fun, build your confidence.
These are open level workshops, so no previous acting training is required, but you must be prepared to work with other people - communicate and collaborate, and move around the space. You will also read/use extracts of playtexts/scripts.
Where and When:
2 sessions per week, 2 different venues - Wednesdays and Fridays
mornings 10am - 12.30pm
starting
Friday Oct 3rd to Dec 5th - Euston venue
and
Weds Oct 8th to Dec 10th - Swiss Cottage venue
Calling all theatre-makers, writers and creatives!
Have an idea for a new theatre project? Riverside Studios’ R&D Autumn Season Callout is now open.
We’re offering selected artists a week of free rehearsal space to research, develop and test new work, with a sharing at the end of the week.
Successful applicants will also receive basic technical and marketing support, a dedicated dressing room, and 10% off food and drink at Riverside.
We’re particularly keen to hear from creatives who are currently underrepresented in theatre, with at least 50% of places allocated to Global Majority, LGBTQ+, working-class and disabled artists.
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society is the organisation that underpins the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Its core aims are to support participants, assist Fringe audiences and celebrate the Fringe and what it stands for all over the world.
As an open membership organisation, we're always looking for new and diverse voices to join the conversation and help shape the future of the Society.
Membership costs £5 a year to cover administration costs and members are responsible for electing the Board of Directors, adopting the accounts and appointing the auditors each year. By choosing to become a member of the Fringe Society, you play a significant role in one of the world’s most incredible arts festivals.
Membership to the Fringe Society is annual and runs for 12 months from the point at which you join. Before your membership expires we will remind you to renew your membership so you can continue to make a contribution to the Society.
The founding principle at the heart of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe – to be an open-access arts event that welcomes anyone with a story to tell and a venue to host them – still guides the work of the Society today.
It’s our policy that no single individual or committee determines who can or cannot perform on the Fringe.
The Society was formed in 1958, in recognition of the fact that more and more performers were coming to Edinburgh despite not being included in the Edinburgh International Festival programme. Its earliest tasks included providing information to artists, publishing the Fringe Programme and creating a central box office. In 1969 the Society was incorporated as a limited company and its constitution published.
Unlike many other festivals, our constitution celebrates the fact that the Society does not vet the Fringe Programme. That means we have no artistic director and that the programme is shaped by the initiative and vision of performers willing to showcase their work here.
Want to have a go at Directing? We have an opportunity for you!
We're looking for directors to participate at our first Scratch Night, this July 13th at The Bread and Roses theatre (@breadandrosestheatre)
Each piece will be between 10 & 15 minutes, with 4 or fewer performers. Scripts will be performed Script-in-hand, with one online rehearsal, and one in-person rehearsal on the day. You must be available from midday on the 13th July to participate. We want to hear from anyone, regardless of experience, but especially those who are first-time and early career writers!
This is a profit-share opportunity at this stage. We are looking at alternative ways to fund these events in the future.
Would you like to see your writing performed by professional actors? Are you interested in learning more about writing for stage?
Wac Arts is thrilled to continue their intergenerational series with a free creative writing project exploring how theatre and storytelling can promote positive conversations and relationships across the community.
They are looking for young people aged 16 – 24 with an interest in creative writing and theatre to take part in a series of weekly workshops with members of the University of the Third Age at Wac Arts. Under the guidance of playwright Beth Flintoff, Associate Playwright at The Royal Court, the group will explore key aspects of writing for theatre, receive 1:1 script development support and create a series of pieces that will be performed by professional actors.
Dates: 1 June - 13 July, 16.30pm - 18.30pm
Final Sharing Date: 19 July, 13.00pm - 17.00pm
Location: Wac Arts, 213 Haverstock Hill, London NW3 4QP
