A six-month funded programme for artists with bold new ideas

What would you make if you stopped worrying about whether it was too ambitious, too political, too different, or too difficult?

We're looking for bold new ideas that respond to the world we live in now.

About SHIFT Artist Labs:

SHIFT Artist Labs is a 6-month funded programme running between January and July 2027, for artists with ideas that need the time, care and investment to grow.

We know that many artists carry work that has been put on hold: ideas that have been self-censored, scaled back, deprioritised, or simply haven’t had the resources to develop. SHIFT Artist Labs exist to help those ideas take their next step.

We are looking for projects that ask difficult questions, challenge dominant narratives, and ask who gets to tell stories and on whose terms. Joyful or provocative, intimate or epic, we’re interested in stories that feel alive to the present moment.

What the Programme Offers:

Five projects will receive a tailored package of investment including:

The Process:

You'll be matched with a dramaturg, a producer, an industry steward, and join a programme of workshops with the wider SHIFT network.

Important Dates:

The compulsory workshops will run for 2 hours either in person or on Zoom during:

The programme will conclude with an in-person sharing on Thursday 1 and Friday 2 July 2027.

Travel for the in-person days and accommodation for the two-day final sharing will be covered for artists based outside London.

Who Can Apply:

  1. SHIFT Artist Labs are open to artists at every stage of their career.
    Whether you’re early-career, mid-career or established, what matters most is the ambition of your idea.
  2. You can apply as an individual or as a group of up to 4 artists.
    Your project can be:
    • An idea you have held back, whether through self-censorship, limited resources or lack of support.
    • A first draft.
    • A project that has been through an initial R&D.
  3. Projects must have a live performance element.
    This can include new text-based work, musicals, devised theatre, adaptations or interdisciplinary performances.

You cannot apply with a project that:

Available Places:

To ensure the programme reaches artists across regions and communities, the five available places will be allocated to:

In line with Tamasha’s mission and values, we are particularly interested in supporting work by Global Majority artists.

For more information and to apply, click the Opportunity Info link below!

Join us for a conversation with theatre maker and aerial artist Farrell Cox, exploring her career as an interdisciplinary artist.

Farrell will share how she brings different disciplines into her work, how she decides which skills to draw on for each project, and how she weaves her lived experience into the stories she creates.

We’ll also explore how to recognise and make the most of your full creative skillset, and how to keep creating and developing your practice within the current challenges facing the theatre industry.

An informal session with space to reflect, share ideas and explore new possibilities for your own creative practice.

Key Information:

For more information and to reserve your place, click the Opportunity Info link below!

Learn practical voice techniques over 8 weeks to develop a stronger, more confident voice for performance, public speaking, and everyday communication.

Key information:

What will this course help you achieve?

What will you leave with?

For more information and to book your place, click the Opportunity Info link below!

This 8-week course takes a multidisciplinary approach to the creation of solo performance for actors, writers, and artists who want to experiment with this eclectic form.

Key information:

What will this course help you achieve?

What will you leave with?

For more information and to book your place, click the Opportunity Info link below!

Build your screen acting skills by performing scenes from film, television and commercial genres on this 8 week evening course.

Key information:

What will this course help you achieve?

What will you leave with?

For more information and to book your place, click the Opportunity Info link below!

Advance your acting skills through contemporary scene work and character exploration twice a week over 8 weeks.

Key information:

What will this course help you achieve?

What will you leave with?

For more information and to book your place, click the Opportunity Info link below!

Always wanted to act? Discover what professional actor training is really like twice a week over 8 weeks in this evening course.

Key information:

What will this course help you achieve?

What will you leave with?

For more information and to book your place, click the Opportunity Info link below!

Applications are open now for LYT ONSTAGE. Join our performance company!

Our season runs January–December, and members can return for multiple years.

At LYT, 60% of members participate for free, while others pay what they can through tiered pricing. Simply tell us what’s affordable in your application — no bursary application needed.

What does a year at LYT involve?

We rehearse every Saturday from 11:30am to 3:30pm at LYT is based at 1A Tower Street in Covent Garden. The Summer Intensive (Show 2) rehearses Monday - Friday in late July to mid-August.

Interested? We’d love to meet you! Click the Opportunity Info link below to sign up for a free Taster Session!

Join award-winning producer, writer and co-founder of the Women's Prize for Playwriting, Ellie Keel, as she offers insights into how to enjoy a successful career in theatre, even in a cultural climate where artistic opportunities can seem fewer in number and more competitive when they do exist.

In a world where artists need to be entrepreneurs as well as creatives, we'll explore how to maintain vision and volition, through a mix of identifying gaps in the market, creating opportunities, building relationships, and taking strategic risks with the reward of making the work you want to make.

This Masterclass will reveal how to start new ways of working, how to sustain yourself both commercially and creatively, and how to find the support you need to make things happen. Ellie will share her experiences of engaging and retaining stakeholders, garnering support, and – whether staging a play or starting a prize competition which evolves into a registered charity – learning the skill of effective fundraising.

This Masterclass, aimed at early- to mid-career theatre-makers, will equip participants with practical tools, fresh insights and clearer ideas about what they will make next.

Key Information:

For more information and to book, click the Opportunity Info link below!

Please note: This event has been fully booked. Join the waitlist for the chance to secure a place!

Undertaking PhD study gives you the opportunity to engage with an area of drama, theatre, or performance in depth and at an advanced level. East 15 Acting School, with its growing research profile and internationally recognised research quality is an obvious home for such research.

At East 15, research degree students will undertake one of two paths of enquiry. The PhD in Drama and Performance is a conventional PhD whereby candidates are assessed via thesis and viva voce examination. For the PhD Drama and Performance (Practice-as-Research) course, candidates are assessed via practice-as-research, a thesis that contextualises and analyses the performance practice in relation to the research topic, and a viva voce examination. For guidance, areas of expected practice include: theatre directing, dramaturgy, actor training, design (scenery, sound, lighting, costume), and performance art.

For more information, click the Opportunity Info link below!

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