Breakthrough 2025 FAQs
- What are the key dates & deadlines for the programme?
- Who can apply?
- What sort of work are you looking for?
- What are you looking for – and what aren’t you looking for?
- How do you assess applications?
- What support is available to me when I apply?
What are the key dates & deadlines for the programme?
- Applications close: Sunday 11 May 2025, 5pm
- Interviews: Friday 16 May 2025 – Friday 23 May 2025, by arrangement
- Artist welcome session: Wednesday 4 June 2025
- Programme start date: Monday 9 June 2025
- Award: £6,000
Who can apply?
CRIPtic’s work is for disabled people – by which we mean “people who face disableist [including audist or neurotypist] barriers”, or “people who identify themselves as deaf or disabled – or are identified by others as deaf or disabled in society”. To find out more about what we mean by this, please look at our website.
Breakthrough is designed for disabled creatives who have had major showcasing opportunities and are making work at a level where they could be achieving mainstream industry success, but are facing barriers as disabled people that are preventing them from achieving this. The work can be in any creative field, but it should be clear from your track record that you are ready to break through into the mainstream.
In 2025, we are intensifying our efforts to support disabled individuals who continue to face significant barriers in accessing opportunities in both mainstream and disability arts. We aim to dismantle disabling barriers and enable people to do their best work, instead of constantly fighting to have their needs met. We want to direct part of our organisational focus towards working with people who need the expertise and resources we have, and who face particular barriers in finding opportunities that meet their access needs.
Part of the expertise we have at CRIPtic includes:
- Sourcing venues with comprehensive wheelchair access, including facilities like Changing Places toilets
- Working with people who use 1:1 support
- Implementing robust infectious disease and illness protocols.
- Designing remote-only or remote-priority work environments
- Providing BSL interpretation across the board in our work
We are also very keen to reach out and be in contact with disabled creatives who are underrepresented in the arts; from the global majority and other disabled creatives who face barriers (including racist, classist, and ageist ones) or are underrepresented in the mainstream arts sector for other reasons.
What sort of work are you looking for?
The proposal should be to create a very small sample of work at a very high quality – instead of trying to make the budget stretch as far as possible. We are looking for proposals that utilise the budget for excellence over quantity, and recommend that you plan to create no more than five minutes of audio or visual content, or a small sample of written content.
Your proposal should be clearly designed as a ‘calling card’ demonstrating your talent and expertise to the wider industry, and should be self-contained within the timelines and funding of the Breakthrough grant.
There is no limit on the artform – we are accepting applications from everyone from theatremakers to singers, fine artists to filmmakers, comedians to lighting designers.
What are you looking for – and what aren’t you looking for?
We are looking for:
- People whose track records show that they are on the brink of breaking through into the mainstream arts sector – and who can show that this commission would challenge the disableist barriers currently limiting their opportunities
- Proposals for commissions that function as an independent ‘calling card’ to the industry, rather than a smaller part, or partial development of, a wider project
- Proposals that rely entirely on Breakthrough funding and are not seeking or relying on other funding or partnerships
- Small ideas that focus on using the full budget to create excellent work, rather than on creating as much work as possible with the budget
- Proposals whose budget is feasible – including paying yourself and all partners fairly, and with enough funding budgeted to ensure you can use high-quality services
We aren’t looking for:
- Proposals focusing primarily on your personal development (e.g. proposals designed for Arts Council England Developing Your Creative Practice funding)
- Proposals for Breakthrough to fund part of a wider project (e.g. the script for a TV episode), unless it is clear that you are applying to create the work that you will use to demonstrate your talent and ability to the wider industry
- Proposals for Breakthrough to fund part of a project alongside other funding streams
- Proposals that focus on external work (e.g. community outreach) instead of producing an item of excellence
- Proposals for projects that would take longer to complete than the Breakthrough timeline (completion by Dec 2025)
How do you assess applications?
Breakthrough exists to support disabled creatives who are at the top of their careers, but who are struggling to progress further due to disablist barriers, to break into the mainstream. When we’re assessing applications, we will often ask ourselves questions like:
- Is this person at the right stage in their career for this project? They should be excelling, but not quite getting the highest profile opportunities they’re reaching for
- Will this commission help this person break into the mainstream?
- Is their proposal clearly marketable within the trends and expectations of mainstream work in that genre and field?
- Do the applicants have enough experience for us to be confident that they can deliver this project?
- Are the samples of work submitted of a quality and level that demonstrate clear potential for mainstream success?
- How many opportunities have the applicants had previously, and to what extent do they need Breakthrough specifically, as opposed to other programmes and commissions?
- Is it clear to us what disableist barriers the applicants are facing, and how the Breakthrough commission would support them in challenging those?
Don’t worry about neuronormative applications and what you think is “expected” in terms of spelling, grammar and structure – your application will be read by a disabled team and will be assessed on its creative or organisational merits. Just tell us about the things we’ve asked you to tell us about, in the way that works best for you.
What support is available to me when I apply?
We accept applications via Google Form, Word document, or audio or video file (in spoken English or BSL and up to 7 minutes long).
Our application process is designed to be simple, and we’re focused on the quality of the idea, not the quality of your writing.
We’re able to support applicants with transcribing answers on a 1:1 Zoom, but cannot provide or fund individualised access support for applications.If you have any queries about this, please contact us on team@cripticarts.org to discuss.
Apply for Breakthrough
Breakthrough
A commission for a creative or company who is ready to break into the mainstream.
