Chisenhale Dance Space is launching its reimagined CDS Artist Community and is seeking 200 dance and performance artists to form its artistic leadership.
The organisation’s renewed focus will be on supporting early-career artists with little or no institutional support. Collectively the artists will develop programmes and opportunities, trialling new approaches and ways of working that advocate for a fairer, more equitable dance sector.
The CDS Artist Community will be made up of dancers, choreographers, directors, educators, producers, curators, writers and other creatives invested in experimental dance and interdisciplinary performance.
New Executive Director Reece McMahon was part of the team that created the artist-focused NDT Broadgate, run by New Diorama Theatre, in 2021/2022. He said, “at a time when artists’ lives are ever more precarious and competition for space and resources is intense, we knew we needed to embrace our legacy and challenge existing organisational models to power a new future for the artists of today.
"We want CDS to be a creative home for artists who need one—a supportive environment where they can take risks and try things for the first time. This new model supports and empowers the people we believe can influence change and shape the diversity, creativity and future of the cultural sector—independent artists.”
Applications will open on 4 September and close on Friday 6 October. The Artist Community names will be announced in late October.