18 Mar Resources for Artists and Creatives
We realise there is so much noise and information online right now about the Coronavirus so we’ve been trying to compile some information and resources in one place. We will keep updating this as we see new opportunities or resources (adding new additions to the top of each list), so check back in as the situation develops…
User discretion is advised when clicking through the links, as they will take you off the Mimbre website. If you see something useful that you think we should add please drop a line to info@mimbre.co.uk or tag us on social media: Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
We last updated this post on 9th June 2020 and it is no longer being maintained.
Commissions and funding opportunities
We have found that a lot of the emergency funds and commissions that were made available at the end of March and early April have now closed and the opportunities have been slowing down as everyone works around a new way of life. That being said, we will continue to update the below list.
+Commissions for Circus Writing and Creative Responses The team behind Laura Murphy’s Contra are producing an online publication and are looking for written and visual contributions. (Deadline: 19th June)
+New Creatives is a national talent development scheme that will nurture and showcase new emerging creative voices. Screen South has 100 commissions to give out across Film, Audio and Interactive spanning 4 calls in 2 years. They are currently in their final call for Film & Audio. (Age requirements: 16-30, Deadline: 5pm, Monday 6th July 2020)
+ Festival Stoke: With a theme of creating art in a different landscape, Festival Echoes has 4 open commissions available in July, August, September, October (artist fees: £1,250).
+ Working Class Artist Group: A Twitter Thread of Opportunities
+ Dorset Artists’ Emergency Fund. Activate has made available a short‑term emergency fund to enable Dorset creatives to survive financially. The fund will assist individuals in meeting their most urgent financial needs during the current time of crisis. Artists can apply for £100-£500 to support immediate financial commitments they cannot otherwise meet. will be considered in 3 rounds. (Deadlines: Friday 5 June and Friday 19 June)
+ Funding opportunity in Gloucester for artist-led projects in response to Covid-19, by JOLT’s Creation Fund. (Deadline: Thursday 4th June)
+ The Social Distancing Festival, submissions open (unpaid)
+ Creative distance festival, submit an idea for this online festival, pay will be based on donations from online audiences
+ List of opportunities from the International Curators Forum, many of which are suitable for other art forms too
+ List of opportunities put together by Amelia Ideh: financial support for artists and creatives in urgent need of money to cover their living expenses, including UK and International funding opportunities
+ Support for Theatre Professionals during Coronavirus which includes some funding opportunities
See ‘Emergency Funding’ below, for ACE Covid-19 emergency funds
Other opportunities to earn money creatively
+Creative Skills Sharetribe for creatives affected by Covid-19, the opportunity to share skills and get paid for them.
Unpaid Creative opportunities
+ 48hr ISOLATION Film Challenge – Make a short film in your homes up to 3 minutes long in 48 hrs, open to everyone
+ BCG Pro Video Contest: submission opportunities for comedians
Emergency funding and relief funds
+ Freelands Foundation Emergency Fund: For artists and freelancers in England and Northern Ireland in partnership with a-n The Artists Information Company. Grants of £1,500 – £2,500 available to apply fo as emergency funding for artists and freelance creative practitioners across the UK affected by the Covid-19 crisis. (Deadline: 2:00pm on Thursday 18th June 2020)
+ General Information from Arts Council England on their support
+ The government has made a handy guidance page for individuals to check if they are eligible to claim a grant through the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme.
+ OutdoorArtsUK have compiled a useful list of key dates
If you’ve worked in the outdoors and are not on their mailing list – now is the time!
+ Circus performers can apply to The Equity Charitable Trust
+ Dancers can apply to the Dance Fund
+Freelancer relief fund from the Turbine Theatre. “If you’re in need of financial support then all you need to do is email: submissions@paultaylormills.com with a few sentences about your situation.”
+£200 Emergency fund for Musical Union members
+ Support for Theatre Professionals during Coronavirus
Support and Resources
Support and Resources for Hackney-based artists
+ Message from the Mayor of Hackney: How they’re supporting our cultural sector
Support and Resources
+ Find out how HMRC works out total income and trading profits for the Self-employment Income Support Scheme. For those self-employed or a member of a partnership in the UK and have lost profits due to coronavirus (Covid-19).
+ Paul Lewis Money on the Self-employment Income Support Scheme: Information about whether or not or how the self-employed scheme will complicate an application for Universal Credit and vice-versa
+ Creative Industries Federation and Crowdfunder have started Pay It Forward scheme, which provides creatives with the tech and tools to pre-sell tickets, products, bookings, services and more
+ People Dancing: Online learning programme, for practitioners
+ Zoom tips, for those of us relying heavily on zoom chats at this time: Some handy tips on how to stop randomers crashing zoom chats and disrupting them. Zoom also offers a great library of resources with tutorials to many questions you might encounter.
+ Free Course: How to Teach Online from General Assembly, ongoing course to sign up to
+ Theatre-specific breakdown of what the support for self-employed means by TheataAccounts
+ Free (and donation-based) Digital Circus Training / Resources from Kevin Wratten of the Roundhouse
+ MOOC Create in public space, online course (open until at least Friday, 15th May)
+ Theatre Means Business, webinars for off-stage theatre professionals
+ Creative Industries has started a hashtag in response to current circumstance: creative professionals are finding solutions to aid communities in their moment of need, they are going to be sharing the stories they find on their social media channels to spread some cheer – to be featured, tag them in your posts and use the hashtag #creatingpositivity!
+ Covid-19 Impact Survey for the cultural sector, by Culture Counts, Scotland
Other Lists and Resources
A lot of people are also compiling other really helpful lists as well:
+ Support for Theatre Professionals during Coronavirus which includes some funding opportunities as well
+ Resources for Artists and Freelancers by Manchester International Festival
+ Covid-19 Resource Hub from the audience agency
+ Coronavirus resources from Rosa, the UK fund for women and girls, they also offer a long list of emergency funding for charities non-profits.
+ Arts Professional have created CovidCulture – a space for news and information relating to the coronavirus pandemic, and how it might affect you working in the arts
+ Resources for disabled artists and freelancers in response to Covid-19, by Unlimited and Shape Arts
+Theatre Skillshare 2020 lists all the offers on an open Excel database, which also includes an area for people to ask for specific help, and industry events and projects that are taking place during building closures
+ Independent Theatre Council’s very useful list of information & resources. This includes explanations about all the new Covid-19 terminology regarding employment, support and contracts
+ Crying Out Loud have also compiled a helpful list of support available for artists
+ Covid-19 Support, resources from activate performing arts
+ Covid-19 Resource page by the Creative Industries Federation, including a sub-page specifically about Covid-19 Support From Government
+ Resources from PiPA (Parents and Carers in Performing Arts)
+ Resources from the F-Word
Keep Your Body Moving, Virtual Circus, Fitness & Dance Workouts
+ Our friend Maiya Leeke is holding contemporary dance classes with Wildhawk Studios Thursdays, starting 11th June. Inclusive for all bodies & abilities, Maiya will lead this Contemporary Class from the floor and will encourage and invite translations for sitting and standing dancers and tiny spaces too!
+ Dance while isolating by South East Dance Company, offering a selection of a variety of dance classes throughout the week.
+ Stokey Yoga offers pay-what-you-can yoga classes for different ages. As well as a range of styles to suit different needs, such as Vinyasa Flow, Slowflow, Yin Yoga, Yoga Nidra, and Yoga for Athletes.
+ Pay What You Can donation-based classes run by Rebecca Rennison, one of the inspiring and talented The Exploded Circus performers. Mon, Weds, Fri 11am: Workout for all levels (Cardio, Glutes, Abs, Upper Body Strength). Tues, Thurs 11am: Aerialists – Strength and Stability (& Super Abs). Both are 1-hour long and can join via Zoom.com. Email Rebecca on rerennison@gmail.com for Zoom link and password. Suggested donations for people able to are £1.00 via Paypal to rerennison@gmail.com
+ Rambert‘s pay what you can dance classes for all ages and different levels
+ Sweaty Betty Workouts and daily virtual workout challenges
+ 30 Day Handstand challenge from Natalie Reckert
+ Free Handstand Programme from Jonathan Last
+ For Aerialists with nowhere to hang, keep your grip tight with 5 quarantine-friendly exercises by Rebecca Rennison
+ Cloud Aerial Arts Patreon page (paid)
+ 20 Black Yoga Teachers with Online Classes in 2020 by the Yoga Green Book
+ Yoga with Adrienne
+ Asana Rebel app, for wellness-based yoga workouts (paid)
+ Les Mills, free content. (Scroll past the sign-up for a free trial and you’ll see the free content on offer.)
+ For those of you who want a workout challenge: Uptown Abs workout at Gymtastics Gym Club
And for a laugh…
+ Jane Fonda’s 1982 workout for beginners, a classic
+ Cindy Crawford Shape Your Body Workout, for more nostalgia
There is a wide selection of online at-home parties being organised across Facebook and Instagram, some people you follow might already be hosting live dance sessions. This relies so much on your individual taste, but here are a few to get you started: How about a Saturday party with the Quarantine Queens? I’m stuck at home but still want to have fun on Facebook has organised a few ‘Thank stuck it’s Friday’ parties, which were really fun, so keep an eye out on their events too.
Creative Inspiration
+ For those who have younger friends and family members they want to inspire: + A Mighty Girl is an online store dedicated to making empowering and inspirational books and toys available to young girls. They have complied lists of books they have on offer that we thought you might like: 50 Inspiring Books on Girls and Women of the Civil Rights Movement and Dissent Is Patriotic: 50 Books About Girls & Women Who Fought for Change
+ The first ever WOW (Women of the World) Festival to take place online is happening now! Go to WOWxBBC Festival.
+ Company Chameleon offers dance classes for different ages as well as performances to watch.
+ Crips Without Constraints. A digital programme designed to celebrate D/deaf and disabled artists by our friends, Graeae, a disabled-led theatre company.
+ Free ways to upskill in digital streams, a resource list by In Good Company
+ Not My Monkeys: A new podcast exploring everyone and everything circus! Dissecting shows, discussing history, debunking myths and addressing the elephant in the room…
+ For some Circus reads, have a look through the Circus Diaries
+ By the fantastic team at The Space: Culture to your couch: arts you can experience at home.
+ Sarabande Sessions, by the Lee Alexander McQueen Foundation, shares daily inspiration at 5pm, featuring industry leaders from the worlds of art, fashion, film and jewellery
+ ScreenSkills’ Indie Training Fund offers a variety of online training courses covering the digital, diversity, legal and business, people skills, production, scripting and technical aspects of TV and film (many of these are transferable skills)
+ 10 Phenomenal Women to Inspire You Whilst Working from Home
+ Puppetry Lab by Puppeteers UK, “somewhere between a scratch night and a discussion group. The idea is to test out ideas for performances, workshops and everything in between with a view to setting up a digital public space for puppetry.”
+ Beautiful and thoughtful words from Victoria Amedume, Artistic Director of Upswing
+ Resources for Creative Isolation by the March Network
+ 10 University Art Classes You Can Take for Free Online
+ For Neil Gaiman fans: free offerings from the author
+ Open-Acces JSTOR content for academic research
+ Take a Virtual Tour around 12 famous museums
+ For those of us without a garden, not quite the same as the real deal but, here are Nine virtual garden tours you can do from home, by Gardens Illustrated
Things to watch
+ Brighton Festival is revisiting some of its headline acts from across the years and streaming these for free.
+ Surge Cabaret: Alan and the Surge team have started a zoom cabaret on Wednesday nights streaming live at 9pm, and a virtual pub quiz on a Monday night at 8:30. Make sure to check out their Facebook page. For artists based in Scotland Alan offers one-to-one surgeries for anything from creative questions to tedious tax questions. You just need to write to him through their Facebook to set that up.
+ Gary Clarke Company is no online, check out their timetable of online events and follow them in instagram.
+ Netflips, a video rental service of independent circus productions from around the world. Check their Facebook page for more information.
+ The Guardian’s selection of the “hottest front-room seats: the best theatre and dance to watch online” offering virtual theatre from Firday, April 17th onwards.
+ Streamed musicals and shows online by Official London Theatre
+ KEEPING CULTURE ALIVE! – Online Theatre Events Database (Google Sheets)
+ Cultural Digital Streams: Get some culture at home
+ Free Theatre Screenings (Google Sheets)
+ Online theatre calendar from Official London Theatre
+ We Belong, a contemporary dance film by Seven Circles is made with and for stateless children in Thailand, exploring their sense of belonging, identity and growth
+ Watch theatre, music and dance shows at home during the Covid-19 pandemic, an ongoing list by the Culture Diary
+ The Royal Opera house is streaming a programme of free content
Mental Wellbeing
+ Government Guidance for the public on the mental health and wellbeing aspects of coronavirus (Covid-19)
+ Theatre Helpline
+ for some positive news: the happy arc, “positive stats and happy news about Covid-19”
Petitions and Fundraisers
+ Petition Government to create an emergency fund to support freelancers with Coronavirus income loss, by IPSE and the Creative Industries Federation
+ Petition Government to offer economic assistance to the events industry during Covid-19
+ Outdoor Arts UK is running a crowdfunding campaign to raise £10,000 to support Micro-Grants of £500 for the sector.
+ #StaySafeAtHome Covid-19 Emergency Appeal fundraiser by Solace Women’s Aid to support women facing Domestic Abuse.
Follow these links to our other resources:
Physical and Creative Kids Activities
Resources for Youth and their Families
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