Breakthrough FAQs
- 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?
- Any other advice?
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 2026, 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 want to increase representation of specific groups of disabled people in the arts, and are particularly keen to receive applications from wheelchair users who are unable to work in spaces that aren’t wheelchair accessible, People of the Global Majority*, people from a working class background/working class people, and people with parenting or care-giving responsibilities. This is because we recognise that disabled people from these groups will have typically had less access to opportunities in the arts.
*People of the Global Majority includes people of Black Caribbean, Black African, South Asian, East Asian, South East Asian, Middle Eastern, Arab, Latinx, Jewish, Romany and Irish Traveller heritage.
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’ that demonstrates 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/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 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 2026)
- Proposals where anyone – including you! – will be expected to work in any part for free or at a significantly reduced rate to the industry standard
How do you assess applications?
BBreakthrough 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?
- Does this person 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 has this person 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 this person is facing, and how the Breakthrough commission would support them in challenging those?
- Can we see clearly how CRIPtic Arts is able to help this person achieve their goals?
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?
As a disabled-led team, we understand the barriers disabled people face to applying for arts opportunities. That’s why we’ve tried to design a “friendly application process” for our projects that is as universally accessible as possible to diverse, and neurodiverse, communities from the outset. Read more about this here.
Advice before applying
We will always hold at least one online Q&A session about applying for our development programmes, led by one of the panel who assess applications. This will be recorded and published to our website as a video after the fact. Where we are seeking to reach groups we are prioritising in our work, or who are under-represented in our work or the sector, we offer group-specific Q&A sessions or 1:1 sessions.
How you can apply
You can submit an application:
- By filling in a Google Form
- By downloading and filling in a Word document
- In audio format (in spoken English and up to 7 minutes long)
- In video format (in spoken English or BSL and up to 7 minutes long)
- Using bullet points or full sentences in response to questions
- Using an image or images (e.g. a mind-map or photo of handwritten answers) in response to questions
Please note that audio, video and images may be transcribed into written English, to meet the access needs of reviewers.
Our application forms contain a guide character count or word count, showing how much we expect applicants to write, but these limits are set higher to take into consideration that not everyone can explain concepts within a low word/character limit.
Where possible, we will provide a “mock answer” to any longer written questions to give applicants an understanding of what we are hoping to receive, or a list of bullet points that explain what sort of information we’re looking for. We’ll also include an explanation of what we are assessing in the answer.
If there are questions or things in the application form that you don’t understand or are struggling with, please do say so in your application – we will not discount an application we would have otherwise moved forward because a question has not been answered, but will get in touch with you to discuss it.
Support when writing your application
We can’t offer 1:1 support with applications – because everyone applying for opportunities with us is disabled, this wouldn’t be financially or logistically feasible. However, we don’t expect all applicants to write applications solo, and happily accept those written with partners, friends, peers, support workers, or anyone else.
We know applicants might use AI to support with or write their application – however, we value unique approaches and self-expression and we’d always prefer a less “well written” application that conveys your individual voice, over a perfectly written application that was produced by AI. Ultimately, we’re looking for the ideas behind what you tell us, not how you tell us them, and encourage you to ensure that comes through in your application.
Deadlines
We will always have a fixed deadline, with the option for people to apply for an extension of up to a set number of days or weeks, as an access consideration where required. We will always publish the fixed deadline, instructions for applying for an extension, and the maximum extension available on the project.
Please note that we won’t ever be able to extend beyond the maximum extension stated.
How your application is reviewed
Applications are reviewed and decisions are made by a disabled panel, including at least one neurodivergent person, and we do not expect them to be written in a neurotypical style. This means you will not be disadvantaged for using different spelling, grammar, speech, signed language, or structure. If we want to move your application forward but parts of it haven’t been done in a way we expected, contain mistakes, have gaps that concern us, or if we don’t understand an answer given, we’ll come back to you and work with you in those areas before we make a decision. Your application is not the end of the conversation, it’s the starting point.
Any other advice?
We have our 2026 Q&A later this month but, in the meantime, you can view:
If you have any queries about anything here, please contact us on artists@cripticarts.org to discuss.
Apply for Breakthrough
Breakthrough
A one-year commission for a mid or late-career creative to break the barriers to mainstream success.
