Derby Theatre is to offer three £2,000 bursaries to artists from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities from the Midlands.
One is for an assistant director on an upcoming Derby Theatre production. Another will be to develop an ongoing artistic practice for artists of any theatre discipline—live arts, acting, writing, directing or devising—from within the East Midlands; and the final one will be to develop an ongoing artistic practice from an artist from either the East or West Midlands.
The bursaries are being offered by the theatre’s professional artist development scheme In Good Company in association with Tamasha Developing Artists and through the Arts Council England sustained theatre fund.
Derby Theatre’s artistic director and chief executive Sarah Brigham said, “it’s fantastic that thanks to the partnership with Tamasha and Arts Council sustained theatre funding we’re able to offer these bespoke packages which will support the development of culturally diverse artists.
“We know we need to get much better at representing BAME artists in the region and this is one small step towards that goal which will hopefully result in some new, fantastic theatre for our audiences.”
The theatre awarded Lekan Lawal a paid director residency for 2016/17 as part of the Regional Theatre Young Director Scheme. His production of Harold Pinter’s Betrayal secured him best director in The Stage newspaper’s Debut Awards.
Details of how to apply can be found at the Derby Theatre web site. The deadline for applications is Wednesday 28 February.