STOMPING GROUND CALL OUT

Commission

The selected project will receive a £20,000 commission to create a new outdoor work.

Artists are not expected to secure additional match funding.

Development Support

The commissioned artist will receive:

• Up to two weeks of in-kind studio space at The Place (subject to availability)

• Opportunities for facilitated sharing with groups of children

• Guidance and support in creating and producing outdoor work

Touring

The work will tour for five weeks as part of The Playground Tour, produced by The Place. Performers' fees and agreed touring costs will be covered separately by The Place and are not expected to come from the £20,000 commission. Performers on tour will be paid a minimum of £660 / week, plus holiday and pension pay.

We are looking for a short solo or duet created for children and tourable to primary schools, festivals and other public spaces around the country.

The piece needs to be suitable for performances in school playgrounds for primary aged children, to be presented as part of The Place’s Playground Tour Summer 2027. We also expect that the commissioned piece will be suitable to tour to other outdoor festival contexts offered by the Stomping Ground partners.

The piece should be created with children as the primary audience in mind. However, we welcome proposals from artists interested in adapting aspects of the work for presentation to broader audiences in a festival setting.

Small in scale doesn’t mean small in ambition. We are looking for ideas which encourage play, curiosity, discovery and joy, and want to commission works that are dynamic, engaging and centre innovation. In your application, we encourage you to think about what makes your idea particularly exciting for children. We know for example that children respond well to humour, high energy, decisive and bold movements. You might also be exploring a theme currently on the school curriculum or ask questions that will spark children’s curiosity.

We are particularly interested to hear from artists who incorporate dance styles which are underrepresented in the sector.

You don’t need to apply with a completely new idea. You can apply with a piece that has already had some development if it hasn't toured yet.

We are looking for artists who are willing to test the work with children during rehearsals and use their feedback to inform its development. This may include sharing the work in primary schools at different stages of the creation process. Opportunities for testing and feedback will be developed in partnership with the commissioned artist and our commissioning partners.

We are inviting applications from UK-based artists, who define themselves as having an established practice, and track record of making and presenting high quality work.

We encourage applications from artists with a range of lived experiences and from a range of backgrounds, and we particularly welcome applications from those who are underrepresented in the dance sector, including artists from Global Majority backgrounds, artists who identify as LGBTQIA+, deaf, disabled, neurodivergent artists and artists from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

Please read the guidance and parameters before applying.

Artists applying must:

• Be based in the UK

• Be applying for a work with a strong and distinctive movement element - we welcome applications from dance artists as well as artists from other disciplines who use movement in their practice

• Have previous experience of making and touring high quality work in different contexts

• Not apply with a work that has been submitted to Stomping Ground before unless it’s had further development since applying

• Not currently be in education (unless at PhD level)

We are interested in hearing from artists who we haven’t worked with before as well as artists we have existing relationships with.

To apply, please fill in the form via this link: Application Form

You can also submit your application via video. Please follow the instructions in the application form.

A word document version of the application questions is available under the Access heading – if you are having any trouble using the form, please contact us at producing@theplace.org.uk

If you require any support during the application process, or if another format or application process would be more accessible for you, please contact producing@theplace.org.uk and we will make the appropriate arrangements.

Please also complete one of our Equal Opportunities monitoring forms which you will find attached to the application form.

The Equal Opportunities monitoring form is optional and will help us to monitor whether our Call Outs are reaching groups that are currently underrepresented in our programmes. These forms will be reviewed by our HR team and will not be seen by the shortlisting or interview panel.

Wednesday 5 August, 9am: online application workshop focusing on making work for children and for outdoors, BSL interpreted. Please email producing@theplace.org.uk to sign up

Thursday 3 September, 12pm (midday): deadline for applications

Tuesday 20 and Wednesday 21 October: online interviews

Shortlisted applicants will be notified by Monday 5 October if they have been invited to interview.

If you have any questions, we would encourage you to read the application guidance carefully. If your question is not answered here, please email producing@theplace.org.uk

We want to commission a new work that has the potential to tour widely to schools and outdoor festival contexts.

Applicants should consider the parameters below when submitting their idea.

Production parameters:

• A solo or duet
• Using dance or movement as the main medium
• For children aged 5 to 11 years-old
• Up to 20 minutes long, followed by a Q&A when touring to schools
• Minimal props which can be packed easily and transported in a small vehicle
• Can be performed on a variety of surfaces (e.g. concrete, astroturf, grass); or with a light and transportable flooring e.g mats.
• We encourage applicants to detail in their application any adjustments required for access needs.
• Can be performed twice a day
• Can be toured with one technician

Budget parameters:

We are expecting the project to be made with:

• £20,000 commission
• 3 to 4 weeks of rehearsal including test sharing with groups of children which will be organised with the commissioning partners
• 1 or 2 understudies
• The piece’s presentation cost should be £2,000 maximum per performance days including travel, accommodation and per diems when possible
• The Place will manage The Playground Tour and contract the performers separately. Performers will be paid a minimum of £660 per week, plus holiday pay and a 3% pension rate. They will receive a 5-week contract, and should be available from Monday to Sunday of each week, the touring schedule will include days off which will be confirmed ahead of touring.
• If invited for an interview, you will be asked to send in advance a creation and performance budget.

Timeline parameters:

• The piece should be ready to premiere in May 2027
• Available to tour for 5 weeks throughout June and July 2027
• The commissioning partners will be given the priority to book the piece for their festivals and outdoor events

More information about The Playground Tour can be found here.

The selection is carried out by a panel of producers and programmers who work in the partner organisations.

If invited to an interview, you’ll need to tell us a bit more about your idea, how you’ll use the resources - money, strategic support - to make the project happen, and show how your previous experience will support you in making the work.

You will also be asked to send in advance a creation budget - detailing how you will be using the £20,000 commission - and an idea of presentation costs - we expect the selected piece to cost up to £2,000 for one performance day, including travel, accommodation and per diems when possible.

You will be notified of the interview panel when invited to the interview and will be offered a fee to prepare for and attend the interview.

Application Questions (Word Doc)

Call Out (Text to Speech)

Access Costs

The partners have a budget to support access costs for applicants to prepare for and attend an interview. There is no additional money, on top of the commission, to cover access costs in the making of the work.

In some cases, support workers and/or access equipment and technology can be funded via Access to Work funding if support is necessary and relevant to you. For more information, visit the Government website or check out Disability Arts Online's handy guide to interpret the Access to Work rules and official guidance, with specific advice for the arts and cultural sector.

https://disabilityarts.online/projects/access-to-work-guide/

What should you be thinking about when applying

We are looking for ideas that are innovative, engaging, dynamic and playful, which respond to the way the world is now.

In your application, we encourage you to think about what makes your idea particularly exciting for children. We know for example that primary audiences respond well to humour, high energy, decisive and bold movements. You might also be exploring a theme on the school curriculum or ask questions that will spark children’s curiosity.

We encourage you to think about how your work will work in other outdoor contexts, how it can appeal to both dance and non-dance audiences, committed attendees and passersby.

We are open to receiving ideas for adaptations of existing indoor works reimagined for outdoor, but we will want you to strongly demonstrate how the piece is suitable for outdoor performances.

We are asking applicants to demonstrate in the form how access is considered in the way the piece is made and how it communicates with an audience.

We are keen to hear from artists who want to explore more sustainable ways of making and touring, and who explore themes of environmental sustainability in their work.

We will ask you to talk about your collaborators and the performers for the work you’re applying with. We are interested in hearing about how their skills and experience will contribute to making a high quality work.

Examples of previous commisons

BUG by Lea Anderson - Stomping Ground and The Playground Tour

Created in collaboration with choreographer and performer Lewis Norman and composer/musician Steve Blake, design by Simon Vincenzi.

We present - for your entertainment - the spectacular street dances of our awesome insects. Featuring, The Crunchy Cockroach, The Mesmeric Mantis, The Handsome Honeybee, and The Heavenly House Fly!

Brought to you by your buzzin’ hosts; ’BUG’ the drummer, and ‘GUB’ the street dancer.

Deva by Pagrav Dance - Stomping Ground and The Playground Tour A collaboration between Urja Desai Thakore and Hetain Patel which seeks to question and challenge subconscious biases towards brown skin, whilst exploring a playful and engaging way to invite unsuspecting public to reconsider their biases. With British Sign Language integrated, four dancers moving to classical music, wearing classical Indian garments envelop urban outdoor locations as the piece unfolds.

Future Cargo by Requardt & Rosenberg - Stomping Ground

An outdoor dance spectacle performed on the back of a 40ft haulage truck. It transports audiences with an other-worldly experience using binaural headphones. Future Cargo has toured across the UK and internationally since 2020.

TREAD by Walker Movement Theatre Company - Stomping Ground
An outdoor show created for alternative spaces, using a treadmill to discuss internalised frustrations within the Black experience. This entrancing and hypnotic work has a cast of 6 dancers of African/Caribbean descent who stride, amble, trip, dive, pant, and tread their way through the landscapes and hellscapes of their revolving worlds.

the album: skool edition by SAY - The Playground Tour

A short, high-energy and interactive duet created by SAY (Sarah Golding and Yukiko Masui), celebrating the joy and innocence of making up dances in the playground. This piece is part of a series of work called ‘the album’ exploring collaboration between SAY and music artists.

You Too Can Tutu by Gandini - The Playground Tour

Gandini Juggling brings a captivating fusion of grace and playful precision to new audiences. This time, with a mischievous twist—a witty take on classic ballet storytelling, following two ambitious characters determined to create the world’s first juggling ballet.

Book4Shorts by Birdgang - The Playground Tour

An interactive and lively show where two opposing characters discover that their personality differences make them stronger when they work together. The children are directly involved in the story telling, voting on who their favourite character is and are invited to participate by dancing along.

Stomping Ground is a commissioning group comprised of Creative Crawley, Fabric, FESTIVAL.ORG, Festival of Thrift, Pagrav Dance Company, Strike A Light, The Place and Tramway.

We are working with artists to develop ambitious, high-quality work created for outdoor spaces that can grab the attention and imagination of audiences.

We have supported a broad range of outdoor practices since the group’s inception in 2018. Our goal is to support compelling ideas originally conceived for the outdoors that have a strong impact and engage across a broad audience base, and which integrate access for audiences in imaginative ways.

Shows commissioned by Stomping Ground have been presented in diverse contexts, including urban, rural, festival, and high street settings. Stomping Ground has previously commissioned works by Robby Graham, Requardt & Rosenberg, Joseph Toonga, Pagrav Dance Company, AndroidX + MHz, Jessica Walker, Richard Chappell Dance, Francesca Baglione (Miss High Leg Kick) and Lea Anderson.

About the Partners

Creative Crawley is an arts charity (CIO), set up in 2021 to support and present high quality arts and cultural activity in Crawley, West Sussex. We work in partnership with local, national and international artists and local residents to run a free year-round programme of creative activities and artistic learning opportunities.
Our mission is to make quality creativity happen for all in Crawley.

• Artists and people who work in the creative industries are supported and celebrated.
• Creativity becomes part of everyday life – people here create, share, and enjoy art.
• Visitors see Crawley as a lively and welcoming place full of different cultural experiences.
• Crawley people feel happier and healthier, with the safety and inspiring experiences that Creative Crawley offers
• Crawley is thriving, and communities feel connected. Crawley is a town where arts and culture are for everyone

creativecrawley.com

Fabric is a strategic dance development organisation based in the Midlands with sites in Birmingham and Nottingham. Our mission is to create the conditions for dance to thrive, for the health, wellbeing, development and connection of communities, cultures and individuals. Our approach is informed by care, openness, and rigour, through the curatorial values of Curiosity, Disruption and Joy. Fabric has a strategic role in developing the artform and growing the market for dance, supporting dance artists and choreographers to create and develop their practice, whilst building sustainable dance careers. Fabric provides local, national and international leadership, working in partnership with venues, local authorities, education, creative industries and other providers to connect the most extraordinary dance and choreographic practices to the widest possible audience. Fabric is the producer of Nottdance festival and the Applause Youth Dance Festival.

fabric.dance

Festival of Thrift champions creativity, community and coming together to inspire positive action. Rooted in the Tees Valley, we celebrate the region’s rich heritage while reimagining its future as a hub for thrifty and resourceful living. Working together with communities, artists and partners, we thrive to empower people to explore imaginative ways to live well while treading lightly on the planet.
We develop new creative projects and products for touring under the banner The Institute of Thrifty Ideas which engage audiences in playful and surprising encounters, re-imagining the world around them and valuing collective imagination and joy.
Our award-winning, large-scale, Festival of Thrift was first launched in 2013 and is an annual celebration of creativity, sustainability and hands-on fun.

festivalofthrift.co.uk

FESTIVAL.ORG is one of the UK’s most ambitious and prolific outdoor arts producing organisations. We set out to raise the ambition, quality and diversity of outdoor performance produced in the UK. Beyond our flagship annual festival Greenwich+Docklands International Festival (GDIF), we manage the national Global Streets network and are a founding partner of the Without Walls and Stomping Ground consortia. FESTIVAL.ORG plays a distinctive, strategic role within the wider outdoor arts sector working with culturally diverse artists, introducing new artists into the outdoors who might previously have worked in building-based contexts, pioneering new approaches to access and audience engagement and developing new outdoor work with Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent artists.

festival.org

Pagrav Dance Company was originally established by Abha Desai in Ahmedabad, India. The company was re-established in the UK by Urja Desai Thakore in 2005, as a platform for a contemporary, female-led vision of Kathak dance, as well as a vehicle for education, talent development of future generations of professional artists. Pagrav invigorates the classical form of Kathak within a modern British context, design, and presentation. Tracing our roots back to traditional stories, Pagrav celebrates the power of dance and dance making to empower people and to change lives and communities.

pagravdance.com

Strike A Light is a non venue based organisation in Gloucester. We work alongside communities and exceptional artists to produce unforgettable experiences in community spaces that inspires, engages and renews community pride. We combine top-quality, ambitious contemporary artistic work with on-the-ground, relevant community engagement. We bring Gloucester alive with exciting cultural activity that genuinely connects with residents. We are excited by performance that helps create social change, is diverse and champions underrepresented voices.

strikealight.org.uk

The Place, London’s creative powerhouse for dance development, has been leading the way in dance training, creation and performance for 50 years. In a changing landscape, our vision for the future remains steadfast: We are powering imagination through dance, championing new ideas, embracing risks and creating a dance ecosystem unlike any other in the world, with optimal conditions for dance artists and enthusiasts to realise their full potential. The Place is home to London Contemporary Dance School, an extensive theatre and artist development programme, education projects, a range of classes and courses and a nationwide touring model. As a pioneering dance organisation, we are committed to creating no-barriers access to exciting dance experiences and opportunities for everybody, offering a diverse and dynamic theatre programme for audiences, empowering artists and dance makers and giving young people access to the highest quality opportunities to touch their lives with dance.

theplace.org.uk

Tramway

Rooted locally and internationally connected, Tramway is a world-renowned arts centre in Glasgow. Tramway’s mission is to engage, inspire and stimulate meaningful dialogue between artists and audiences by commissioning, presenting and hosting a dynamic year-round programme of free exhibitions, performance, dance, live art and engagement events.

Tramway is managed by Glasgow Life, the charity that leads culture and sport on behalf of Glasgow City Council and is a Creative Scotland Multi Year Funded Organisation (RFO)

tramway.org