Dance North are the successful recipients of the Creative Scotland tender for the North-West Scotland Professional Dance Infrastructure Project. The project proposed to work with professional dance artists, dance organisations, venues, arts membership bodies, businesses, local authorities and audiences to deliver a pilot programme of professional dance development across North-West Scotland. The project aims to create a resilient and sustainable networked infrastructure for strategic development amongst professional dance artists and project-based organisations.

The Regional Artist Support (RAS) programme supports the development of dance artists through the provision of networking opportunities, training, the sharing of resources and the provision of opportunities for continued practice and the creation and presentation of new work. We are delivering the project using four main elements;

• Consultation and Network Building
• Residencies and Commissioning
• Presentation
• Training

The eight artists currently being supported by the programme are;

1. Kathryn Spence (read more)
2. Lewis Normand (read more)
3. Cath Giles (read more)
4. Gabriella Sanchez (read more)
5. Katrina McPherson (read more)
6. Robbie Synge
7. Julia McGhee
8. Rosalind Masson (read more)

As the project has been one of co-design and consultation, all activity has been informed by extensive conversations with dance artists and organisations across the Highlands and Islands. Whilst this has meant the delivery of activity has evolved, the objective of the pilot remains to create a model of working that can be rolled out across all genres (as well as contemporary dance) for supporting the development of the dance in the North of Scotland. The overall aims are to;

• enable dance artists in the North-West to excel in professional dance creation
• enhance the profile of the regional dance sector, as well as increasing opportunities for exchanges and residencies further afield
• support the growth of a robust, developed and capable dance sector in the North of Scotland

If you are are a professional dance artist in the field of contemporary dance who lives and/or works in the Highlands, Islands and Moray (or further afield) you can join the RAS Programme mailing list for project updates, invitations and occasional news about the programme. Contact us on info@dancenorth.scot to sign up.