The Actors Children’s Trust (ACT)

ACT gives grants to help the children of professional actors. They also offer advice and support, and can help you find other funding. Some parents seek one-off help. Some families are in touch with ACT for many years.

ACT’s Trustees are actors who understand how precarious the business is. They understand the difficulty of juggling last-minute job offers with finding childcare for unsocial hours, and understand that almost every actor will experience times of hardship.

Artsadmin E-Digest

Artsadmin’s E-Digest is a free artists' resource featuring information on funding / commissions / platforms / calls for artists / seminars / workshops / courses / resources / jobs and opportunities and much more.

Arts Council England - National Lottery Project Grants

Project Grants is the Arts Council's new open access programme for arts, museums and libraries projects, funded by the National Lottery. The fund will support thousands of individual artists, community and cultural organisations, and replaced Grants for the Arts in March 2018.

Arts Council England - Other Sources of Funding

Arts Council England have helpfully provided a list of other funding sources for creative projects, with trusts and foundations including the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and The Paul Hamlyn Foundation.

Arts Emergency

Arts Emergency is an award-winning mentoring charity and network. Their mission is to help marginalised young people overcome barriers to participation and success in higher education and the creative and cultural industries.

Comedian Josie Long and campaigner Neil Griffiths founded Arts Emergency in 2011 as a way to do something meaningful for the young people most affected by rising tuition fees and cuts to the arts. They currently work in London, Greater Manchester and Thanet in Kent but plan to sustainably expand our work across the country.

Arts Jobs

Sign up to Arts Jobs for free, where you'll find listings of current vacancies and opportunities in the arts community, and Arts News details arts events, news and press releases. Both mailing lists are generated entirely by Arts Jobs and Arts News members.

BBC Writers Room

'This website has a wealth of online resources in our Writers' Lab, a Script Library, Industry Opportunities and our Blog with news and features on the latest BBC programmes, help and advice.

From their bases across the UK they run public events (for example Writing for Medical Drama, TV Drama Writers' Festival and the Scottish Writers' Festival) and workshops, Q&As and masterclasses at festivals, theatres, writers' groups and courses.'

Bruntwood Playwriting Award

The UK’s biggest national competition for playwriting, run every two years in association with the Royal Exchange Theatre Manchester.

The website not only has details on how to enter but blogs, talks and videos on how develop your writing as well as information about previous winners.

Common Theatre

COMMON is the leading national arts organisation which exists to support the UK creative industries to achieve greater intersectional, socio-economic diversity. Their mission is to make arts and culture widely accessible to the working and under-class; whether they be artists, audiences or communities.

COMMON deliver a range of different events, programmes and opportunities to support the meaningful skill and career development of creatives from working and under-class backgrounds.

We'd like to thank COMMON, alongside our other sources, for their support in putting this list together.

The Creative Society

The Creative Society is an arts employment charity that helps young people into jobs in the creative and cultural industries.

The Creative Society has the support of leading figures in the arts, entrepreneurs, politicians from across the political spectrum and policy makers. They recognise the urgency of protecting, nurturing and investing in the arts if we are to prevent a generation of creative talent being lost to the recession. They're working with the government to help put unemployed people into creative placements in arts and culture, and finding spaces across the UK which will become “incubator centres” providing space, support and advice for people setting up on their own.

Devoted and Disgruntled

D&D is a nationwide conversation about theatre and the performing arts, run by theatre company Improbable.

Since 2006, D&D have been using a process called Open Space Technology to facilitate gatherings where everyone’s voice can be heard and no topic is censored. There are no key-note speakers and no fixed agenda - you decide what gets worked on at the event. They say: "If we’re going to change the world for the better, we all need time and space to collaborate on an equal footing. Devoted & Disgruntled is that time and space."

Digital Theatre

A vast listing of high-quality, live theatre recordings. Stream world class theatre experiences to any device, anywhere in the world. Rent single productions or get unlimited access for £9.99 per month.

Get Into Theatre

Get Into Theatre is a website which helps people find all the information and opportunities they need to pursue a sustainable career in theatre in the UK. From backstage to performing, training to apprenticeships, you will find up-to-date theatre jobs information and advice on this website.

House Theatre Resources

House supports venues by improving the range, quality and scale of theatre presented across South East and Eastern England, and exists to build the audience for contemporary theatre across the region. They have put together a section of resources for artists to support best working practice in touring and the wider theatre sector. All resources featured can be shared and downloaded for free.

ITC – Rates of Pay

ITC is the management association for theatre's independent sector. They are a community of peers spread across the UK working in drama, dance, opera and musical theatre, mime and physical theatre, circus, puppetry, street arts and mixed media. ITC exists to enable the creation of high quality professional performing arts by supporting, representing and developing those who manage and produce it.

This is specifically a great resource for finding the industry standard rates of pay for artists across many different mediums.

JMK Trust

At the age of 26, James Menzies-Kitchin staged his first production. In June 1996, at the age of 28, he died suddenly and unexpectedly. In the intervening year and a half he had established himself as a theatre director of thrilling promise. He was an entrepreneur of unstoppable drive. His clarity of vision, his tenacity of purpose and above all his courage, inspired all those who worked with him.

The JMK Trust commemorates James through its James Menzies-Kitchin Young Director Award (The JMK Award), which encourages others in the same spirit of enterprise, vision and inspiration.

They also work with venues around the UK to offer groups for young and emerging theatre directors through their Regional Programme, to provide access to exclusive free workshop and development opportunities, as well as a chance to meet regularly with a group of peers to network and share ideas. There is no upper age limit for these groups.

Julie’s Bicycle

‘Julie’s Bicycle is a London based charity that supports the creative community to act on climate change and environmental sustainability. We believe that the creative community is uniquely placed to transform the conversation around climate change and translate it into action.

We provide the creative community with the skills to act, using their creativity to influence one another, audiences and the wider movement. We run a rich programme of events, free resources and public speaking engagements, which contribute to national and international climate change policy development.’

Michael Grandage Futures

MGCfutures reach out to people of different ages and backgrounds, providing information on theatre careers, guidance and support through mentorship, online resources, workshops and participatory activities. It is also committed to bringing young people into the theatre through accessible pricing.

They have recently launched a bursary scheme, awarded across a range of theatrical disciplines including directing, writing, producing, choreography, and video design. Offering both financial and on-going mentoring support from the MGCfutures team, their recipients come from across the UK: https://www.mgcfutures.com/bursaries/bursary-recipients-2017

The Mono Box

The Mono Box is a collaborative, not-for-profit network that caters for actors and theatre-makers seeking alternative, affordable training. They are committed to empowering actors by opening the door to what can seem like a daunting industry. Over the past three years The Mono Box has become a go-to resource, creating a dialogue between the professional world and those who are emerging into it.

They have a free play library where you can borrow plays, discover writers and parts, get advice when looking for audition speeches for auditions and showcases in a relaxed and friendly environment, test a monologue out in a speech showback then get peer feedback and help from a director, talk to passionate industry professionals about their experiences both informally and in Q&As, and participate in specialist workshops.

The National Youth Arts Trust

The National Youth Arts Trust helps provide access to the performing arts, at all stages, for young people from non-privileged backgrounds.

They provide bursaries for music lessons, dance classes and drama school (recall) audition and tuition fees to those who cannot afford to fund themselves, alongside setting up and running youth theatre projects in areas where there is little or no such provision.

Open Door

‘Open Door is a 8 month part time intensive course designed to give you what you need to take the next step in your career. We work with people aged between 18-25, based in London or the East Midlands who are serious about pursuing a career in either Acting, Backstage or Production Arts but may need a little help in getting there. We know how difficult and expensive the process of applying for drama school can be so we want to help by giving you the support you need so you can go into your auditions feeling prepared, confident and without any worry of financial strain. And it’s all free!’

Papatango Playwriting Award

Papatango discover, produce and publish brilliant playwrights, launching the best new talent with maximum impact. They inspire artists and audiences that theatre is open to anyone, regardless of background.

Their discoveries have won BAFTAs, Alfred Fagon, Off West End and RNT Foundation Playwright awards, premiering in over 20 countries worldwide. Their free playwriting training reaches over 4000 people a year. Their unique commitment to give feedback on every script they receive – over 1500 a year – and their unprecedented travel bursaries ensure that anyone, anywhere, can access new writing.

RTYDS

The Regional Theatre Young Director Scheme (RTYDS) is a professional artist development programme for new and emerging theatre directors in the UK. The scheme seeks out and nurtures the most talented theatre directors at the early stage of their careers; developing their skills and experience by placing them in the UK’s leading regional theatres and providing unique training and professional development opportunities.

Script Yorkshire

Originally founded back in 1989 as Yorkshire Playwrights, Script Yorkshire is a charitable organisation run by volunteers and funded entirely through membership subscriptions (we currently have just over 200 members of all levels, from newbies to published writers).

Their mission is to provide aspiring scriptwriters with the skills, industry insight and encouragement they need to develop a career in writing for live or recorded media.

Stage One Producers

Stage One support new UK theatre producers and productions and are committed to securing the future of commercial theatre through educational and investment schemes. If you are an aspiring theatre producer, Stage One can help get you onto the first rung of your career ladder, and turn your entrepreneurial ideas and ambitions into reality.

Tonic Theatre

Tonic supports theatre and the arts to achieve greater gender equality, diversity and inclusion. Since 2011 they have been driving tangible change across theatre and the wider performing arts and creative industries. Through a range of programmes, resources, training, tools and events Tonic has demonstrated that meaningful sustained change can happen.

Theatre Jargon Buster

An extensive list of terms and language which is regularly used in the theatre industry, but terms that for those without existing cultural / industry-based knowledge can often feel exclusionary.

Venues North/Routes In

A pdf which lists all of the programming information for venues in the North of England as well as general information and advice about getting your shows programmed.

What Next?

What Next? is a movement bringing together arts and cultural organisations from across the UK, to articulate, champion and strengthen the role of culture in our society.

We want to work collaboratively to build alliances outside of the cultural sector, build relationships with local and national government and engage the public in new and different conversations about the arts.

Click here for the Sheffield link

Young Vic Directors Programme

As the only scheme of its kind, the Young Vic Directors Program provides proactive support for professional directors at the early stages of their career, offering a range of opportunities to help directors develop their craft.

These opportunities and activities include skills workshops, peer-led projects, paid assistant directing roles through the Jerwood Assistant Director Program and Boris Karloff Trainee Assistant Director Program on Young Vic productions, and their online network, the Genesis Directors Network, where the majority of their activities and opportunities are posted.