Applause Rural Touring

Arts Council England; England; Remote; GBP 28,000 - 42,000; Full time

Job summary

Arts Council England invites applications for a new theatre piece to join the Create Tour Connect touring project across the South East and South West of England. The role focuses on developing a piece suitable for rural venues, with a 36-date national tour planned between late Jan and early May 2028, and development in 2027/2028.

Applicants should have experience in touring to community spaces and creating work that resonates with rural audiences.

Qualifications

• Based in or connected to the South East or South West England region.
• Experience or understanding of touring to community spaces.
• Scripted or devised new writing; not predominantly circus or dance.
• Work that resonates with rural and community audiences nationally.
• Experience developing work for small-scale touring and adaptable to multiple settings.

Responsibilities

• Develop a new show suitable for touring to rural venues.
• Assist in marketing the show by creating social content and PR material.
• Coordinate with schemes and venues to confirm requirements and logistics for a 9-week tour.
• Ensure access to rural and isolated venues, where transport links may be limited.

Job description

Wed, 21 Oct 2026">published - Wed, 21 Oct 2026

Job Summary

Companies and performance artists from the south east and south west are invited to be part of the national Create Tour Connect project, to tour their work across the country

Job Description

Create Tour Connect brings together 18 arts organisations from across the country, to support new shows to be developed and toured nationally. Since 2024 more than 3000 people have seen a Create Tour Connect show.

The project has successfully secured funding from Arts Council England to support, develop and tour three more shows from 2028-2029. The first will be from the south east/ south west regions.

We are looking for a new piece of theatre relevant to contemporary rural and community adult audiences (three hander plus one tech on tour) for a funded (minimum) 36 date tour across the rural touring network from late Jan - early May 2028. The development period will be 2027/2028.

Job Requirements

The company or artist must be based in the South East or South West region of England as defined by Arts Council regions.

The company or artist must demonstrate understanding of or experience in touring to community spaces.

We are looking for:
Scripted or devised new writing, that could include physical theatre, but it should not be predominantly a circus or dance show.

Work that resonates with rural and community audiences nationally - this does not mean we are just looking for work which reflects specific rural issues.

Work that is developed for small-scale touring and can be adapted to multiple settings. We are not looking for theatre aimed at children and young people or work that has previously toured.

Job Responsibilities

To develop a new show suitable for touring to rural venues.

To support the marketing of the show by creating content for social media and PR.

You must demonstrate strong communication skills and understand the requirements around administrating a 9-week tour. While tour dates will be pre-booked, companies will need to liaise with schemes and individual venues to confirm requirements and logistics.

It is essential that you have the means to tour to rural and isolated communities. Many of our venues are not near to regular train, bus or taxi services.

• Job Title: South East/ South West Callout for Performance Artists and Companies
• Hours: Full time
• Artform: Theatre
• Role: Technical & Production
• Contract: Contract
• Location: South East South West