Centre Stage is a 2 year project supported by Arts Council England and Backstage Trust that sees young people aged 12-18 across Nottinghamshire engaging in programming, commissioning and co-creating new theatre by leading artists/companies from across the UK.
Through co-creation workshops young people will work with artists to develop new theatre shows alongside the findings of Nottinghamshire Youth Trends - the county’s largest youth-led survey. Artists will work with the participants to present existing or create new shows, informed by their ideas and the things that matter to them the most.
Working with 5 secondary schools across Nottinghamshire, the commissioned shows will be presented in front of approx. 500 students (100 per school) followed by workshops to explore the content and how it was made.
What We’re Looking For
We’re looking for two companies or artists to join us on this journey of Centre Stage across multiple call-outs, programming opportunities and commissions which will be. This call-out is for one company/artist to be commissioned to create a new piece of work that will be presented as part of our Autumn 2025 programme weeks as part of our artist commission programme.
What You'll Get
- A commission fee of up to £5,000 to support the development of your show.
- Performance and workshop fees of up to £1000/day (excl. VAT) over up to 5 days.
- Technical support to enable the show to tour to school environments
- Support from the Nonsuch team on co-creating with young people and planning for the Centre Stage programme week, as well as co-producing support where appropriate..
- Support on delivering the show within 5 schools
- Dramaturgical sessions and development support with Nonsuch’s Artistic Director
- Opportunity to explore evening public performances in Nottingham (tbc)
Themes, Thoughts & Ideas
During our first Centre Stage week in November 2024, we spoke to participants about the types of shows that they would like to see, and themes they’d love to see tackled on stage.
We’re therefore are particularly interested in shows that respond to or are inspired by the following themes:
- Reimagining History &/or The Future
- Identity & The World
- Inequality & Social Justice
How to Apply
In order to apply for our Autumn 2025 commission please send us PDF document of no more than 4 pages of A4 containing the following information:
- Information about you, your company and your work (including information/links to previous performances and projects)
- What’s your idea? What show do you want to make? What story do you want to tell?
- Why do you want to perform as part of Centre Stage and why is your show appropriate for 12-18-year-olds?
- What is your plan to produce and create this show? Are other partners involved? Will your project be dependent on securing other funding?
- How you would approach presenting and performing your show in a school building setting? How do you envisage the audience experience, minimum space requirements, technical needs.
- What you would envisage the workshops would focus on in relation to the content of the production (thematic workshops) and how the show was made (theatre skills and drama workshops).
- A breakdown of the whole project budget including the Centre Stage Commission to realise the show.
- A breakdown of fees for the show performance days including workshops (this should be inclusive of travel, accommodation and any company costs).
- Details of your preferred availability for a week to perform in Nottinghamshire in October/November 2025 (avoiding local school holidays).
- Confirmation that everyone in your team is willing to undergo or provide us and our partner schools with an Enhanced DBS Certificate.
In addition to your application pack, you may also attach pre-existing documents as PDFs.
- Tour Pack for the show including any links to videos or photographs
- Technical Specifications about the show.
Your Application PDF should be emailed to hello@nonsuchstudios.co.uk with CENTRE STAGE AUTUMN 2025 APPLICATION in the Subject Line.
The deadline for submissions is Tuesday 25th February at 10am.
