Visiting Artists - Open Call 2026 (Creation Residency)

Job Description

Introduce yourself and your work to Pavilion Dance, the dance house by the sea...

Our Visiting Artist scheme is open to any UK artist working in a dance or movement based practice who would benefit from a short studio residency. It is an open-call scheme and there are two awards available – one to an artist based in the southwest region and one to artists based anywhere in the UK.

Dance artists who have a specific live performance project to progress or finish are invited to apply for our summer award. We are particularly interested in artists who have not worked with us before and are interested in sharing their practice with 
others. Our venue is fully accessible and there is a cash bursary of £750. You can use this bursary to pay for travel/accommodation as well as your time.

What is involved?

Residencies of 5 full days (27 - 31 July 2026) in one of our beautiful studios which 
may be used to finish your project with the added benefit of access to advice and 
support from our in-house dance professionals should you wish. This may include: 
advice and help with funding applications; career guidance; objective observation 
and feedback. Informal chats with the team are encouraged and there is no expected outcome from your residency.
 

We’re interested in artists finding a meeting point between their practice and our 
communities. This could take the form of open classes, workshops, talks or a sharing, all of which we would be happy to discuss and help you with. In return, the Pavilion Dance team is keen to learn from our Visiting Artists about how best to support their practice. We are also keen for Visiting Artists to learn from each other so we will devise the best way to do this together.

...an amazing week at PDSW! I can't get over how lovely it was to be in your gorgeous building with my dancers, all at once working together. Going from sporadic rehearsals here and there to a full blown residency with time and space to create and breathe was incredible.

Criteria

All applicants need to be 18yrs+ with at least two years professional experience, 
including the public presentation of at least one choreographic work. Applicants will then be sorted by the following priorities:

• Applicants (from anywhere in the UK) who haven’t worked with us before on 
  this scheme
• Project and/or practice which can engage and connect with people in our 
  community
• Applicants producing live performance work (as opposed to film/digital)
• Project and/or practice which can animate space/s in unusual ways

We will also be assessing applications according to:

• How your work connects with our values: Kind Inclusive Innovative 
  Empowering
• How you propose to connect your work with people beyond the theatre/studio(either in its current form or in the future)
• Where this project sits in relation to your career development
• What you may be able to share with the other Visiting Artist in terms of 
  experience and practice insight

We are pleased to offer this opportunity to artists at any stage in their artistic 
career. Applicants will be assessed using these priorities and criteria by Victor Fung (Artistic Director & Joint CEO), Jeanette Hinton (Performances Producer) and one 
independent artist. You may apply more than once per year if you are unsuccessful, but please note our call out in June for residency in December will be for exploratory, practice-based residencies (rather than for specific projects).

How to apply

Please complete our application form outlining what you hope to achieve from your residency, an outline plan for the week and any career highlights to date.
Alternatively, we are happy to accept application by voice note or video (covering 
where you’re based, what you want to do and points 5 - 8 above in no more than 5 minutes). You will also need to send us a filmed example of your work. Please send 
your files to jobs@pdsw.org.uk with ‘Visiting Artist application 2026 (Creation 
Residency)’ in the subject line.
• Deadline is 6pm on Saturday 28 February 2026
• All applicants will be contacted by Friday 10 April 2026

Access

If you feel there is a barrier preventing you from applying, please get in touch to 
discuss how we can work with you to remove those barriers. Each successful visiting artist will be given £750 to support the cost of accommodation, travel and artist fee. 
Please let us know if you need additional access support in order to do a residency with us, e.g. quiet space or a support worker. You can contact jeanette.hinton@pdsw.org.uk to discuss in confidence.