Associate Artist Callout 2026-28

Are you a choreographer with a socially-engaged practice and in search of an organisation that supports and champions your work in a holistic way? Would you benefit from some fresh sea air and a supportive, friendly team? Are you up for the challenge of working with new communities? 

We’re looking for our next Associate Artist to work with us potentially for the next 2 years. We offer up to four weeks per year in our studio and theatre space free of charge. In addition, there is up to £3,000 cash over 2 years for you to use either to support your residency period or to develop your artistic practice. In return, we would love to work with you on how dance can be used in our communities both in our building or out and about. 

If your application is successful, we’ll discuss what this could be. 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. Access support is available (please see the attached Associate Artist Callout document below).

Pavilion Dance Programming 

Pavilion Dance empowers and champions diverse artistic voices. Rather than curating to specific themes, our programme celebrates the unique perspectives and experiences that artists bring to our dancing community. We collaborate deeply with artists, amplifying their voices and connecting them with the people. We are therefore interested in working with artists who:

 • Engage and connect with people in our community

 • Activate and reimagine spaces in creative ways  

For this iteration of Associate Artist, we are specifically interested in appointing a choreographer with a socially-engaged practice. As a dance organisation we see ourselves as a conduit between artists and communities and we would like to support an artist whose ethos aligns with ours. We define socially-engaged practice in this context as artists who work proactively and collaboratively within communities. The practice should be informed by participation as well as performance, e.g. community cast, co-creation or a workshop series. 

We are interested in new and exciting ways that artists connect with communities so please feel free to include them in your proposal. Our Associate Artist is probably already known to us and this scheme is intended to instigate a deeper partnership.

 We welcome artists who we have not had a chance to encounter yet to apply for our Visiting Artist scheme instead. 

Criteria 

This opportunity is for an established UK-based dance artist or company and we would be delighted to hear from:

 • Artists or companies (based anywhere in the UK) with whom we have established, or can establish, a relationship. We’ve seen your work, you may have been presented in our theatre, you could simply be in conversation with us or you may have been a Visiting Artist previously.

We will be assessing applications according to:

 • How your proposed work connects with our values: Kind Inclusive Innovative Empowering

 • How you are proposing to connect your work with audiences, communities or participants.

You must be over 18 years of age, but you can be at any stage in your artistic career.

 Applicants will be assessed using these priorities and criteria by Victor Fung (Artistic Director), Jeanette Hinton (Performances Producer) and one independent artist.

How to apply

Please complete the MS form below including:

• Description of your practice

• What you hope to achieve from your association with Pavilion Dance 

Pavilion Dance South West Associate Artist Open Call 2026-28

If you cannot access the MS form above, then we can send you a version to complete in Word. Please email jeanette.hinton@pdsw.org.uk if you need this. Alternatively, we are happy to accept application by voice note or video outlining the two points above (no more than 5 minutes). 

Please send your file to jobs@pdsw.org.uk with ‘Associate Artist application 2026’ in the subject line. You will also need to submit short films of two examples of past work.