OPEN CALL FOR LONDON-BASED ARTISTS WITH A COMMUNITY OR PARTICIPATORY PRACTICE

London-based artists with a community or participatory practice who want to lead a 25-hour project in which approximately 10-12 students co-create with community members under your leadership.

You must have an established community group which works in London, so the commute is possible for our students. Your group must be established enough that working with the students can be enriching for the group as well as the students.

We will not consider applications from artists without an established group with whom they already work.

The fee for the lead artist on the project is £2400.

In addition, each commission has a small production budget of £200.

We will address any rehearsal space needs of each group individually once the artists and groups are appointed. Space is available at The Place.

We are, however, keen for our students to predominantly experience working in situ where your community usually meets.

We are aware that each community group will have different needs concerning schedule and it is difficult to change meeting days/times for some community groups.

Your project can take place over a period of five weeks and should aim to have around four hours of delivery per week if possible, so the time is spread out over the five weeks. This is not a hard and fast rule, and we understand that some projects might need to work more or less intensively in some weeks. We have listed the days on which our students can work with you below.

We ask you to deliver your 20-hour project with the students and your community group within the hours specified on any of the dates below.

We cannot consider projects which propose to work on other dates, and we cannot accept applications which propose to work in the evenings and weekends.

We ask you to apply with a confirmed schedule for your 20-hour project. You should have discussed this with any project partners in advance of applying. Please add 5 hours (1hr per week) for reflection time with you and the students into the schedule.

You are asked to contribute to the Community Commissions festival on 4 June 2027 11-4 pm at The Place when all groups will share their work in a form of their choosing (performance, workshop, film, presentation, talk etc). We ask you to keep 4-5 of your project hours for the Community Commissions festival if you think your group might want to perform live. There is no requirement to perform live.

You will offer a Taster Class to LCDS students at The Place on one of the follow days: Tue 2 Mar, Fri 5 Mar, Mon 8 Mar, Tue 9 Mar

The dates when you can schedule your 20 hours with the community group plus 5 hours of reflection are:

• W/C 26 Apr | Mon 26, Thurs 29: 9am-12pm; Tue 27, Fri 30: 9am-6pm
• W/C 03 May | Thurs 6: 9am-12pm; Fri 7: 9am-6pm
• W/C 10 May | Mon 10, Wed 12, Thurs 13: 9am-12pm; Tue 11, Fri 14: 9am-6pm
• W/C 17 May | Mon 17, Wed 19, Thurs 20: 9am-12pm; Tue 18, Fri 21: 9am-6pm
• W/C 24 May | Mon 24, Thurs 27: 9am-12pm; Tue 25, Fri 28: 9am-6pm
• Fri 4 Jun - Community Commission Festival

Please click on the Apply Now button at the end of this page after you have read/listened to all the information. You are asked to introduce yourself, your work and the community group with whom you want to co-create. You must also submit a 3–5 minute video introducing yourself and your practice. You must submit a project schedule of the 25 hours which has been confirmed with project partners.

Community group

We recognise that having our students join your group will affect your process. We want to generate co-creative processes which are mutually beneficial to everyone involved in them. Please consult with the participants in your group to test their interest in co-creating with our students before you apply.

Access

It is possible to submit the application form in different formats (e.g., sound file).

A large print PDF of all text and the application form are available. Other formats can be made available on request.

We can offer financial support should you need support from an access worker to support your application.

Please email Lily Kind at lily.kind@theplace.org.uk with any questions you may have.

Decisions will be announced by email mid-November 2026. We regret that we cannot give feedback on unsuccessful applications.

The fee includes:
20 hours project with 10-12 students and your community group
5 hours planning/reflection with students (1 hour per week)
4.5 hours taster workshops for the second year BA students
8 hours paid planning time with project partners (including 2 hour planning session with students)
4 hours compulsory exchange meetings with all 6 artists and LCDS staff

Taster workshop:
A taster workshop of 1.5 hours for the students at LCDS. The same workshop will be offered 3 times to 3 different groups of students: 4.5 hours of work in all. After this workshop the students will choose which Community Commission they join.

Each Community Commission has 30 contact hours with the students. This includes:
20 hours of workshops with the students and the community dancers under your facilitation/leadership
5 hours of planning and reflection time with the student group without the community dancers
5 hours for the Community Commission Festival

DBS Checks
All artists working with young people or adults at risk will be expected to hold an enhanced DBS disclosure. The Place can assist with obtaining these checks if they are not already in place.  We will endeavour to ensure that all LCDS students working with community groups will hold an enhanced DBS disclosure. Where this is not possible, we will work with commissioned artists to find appropriate roles for students without DBS checks.

Health and Safety
Risk assessments will form part of the planning process for project and artists will be expected to work in line with The Place's Health and Safety Policy.