Incubate 2025 FAQs
- What are the key dates and deadlines for the programme?
- Who can apply?
- What sort of work are you looking to support?
- What are you looking for – and what aren’t you looking for?
- What organisations have you supported previously?
- What are the session topics?
- When are the sessions?
- 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
- Programme end date: Monday 10 November 2025
- Fee: As a mentoring and development scheme, this programme is not paid. It is free to attend and CRIPtic will cover the access costs associated with joining the programme.
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.
Incubate is a leadership programme for four UK-based disabled people or small disabled-led organisations, investing in the next generation of cultural leaders building organisations and working in the arts.
We’re looking for disabled people leading change or building organisations in the arts – people developing new ideas that will make an impact. The impact could be sector-wide or community-specific, as long as you’re adding to a shared ecosphere of disabled people and organisations.
We are looking for people with ideas that have the capacity to benefit from the programme we offer – but also have something to bring to it. We’re looking for organisations who fit between “a well thought-through but untested idea” and “established for a year, with regular income and staff”. You can apply whether you’re a small team or an individual establishing an organisation. However, if you are a group/company, at least 50% of the members must be disabled and it must be disabled-led.
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 to support?
We’re looking for feasible, unique, marketable ideas that fit into a niche in the arts and creative industries.
There are no limits on the type of cultural leaders or arts organisations which can apply – but you will need to demonstrate that the idea could work and that you are able to do it, that it’s not already happening, and that there is a market for it – whether funded through grants, consultancy, or something else.
We also want you to consider:
- Why should it be this idea?
- Why should you be the person developing it?
- Why should you develop this now?
What are you looking for – and what aren’t you looking for?
We are looking for organisations that have identified a clear niche within the arts sector, where there aren’t lots of existing organisations, and where the work they are doing is unique and clearly defined. Organisations should be at a stage in their development where it is clear that they would benefit from the programme, but also bring a lot to it.
We aren’t looking for organisations that are already well-established, or working within an area of the sector that is already a very crowded market, unless they can clearly identify what made them unique.
We are looking to create a cohort of organisations working in different areas of the arts sector, allowing them to bring expertise from their field to the wider development, and creating a group that is focused on collaboration rather than competition.
What organisations have you supported previously?
We have previously supported organisations developing theatre, working in the training sector, creating indie games, organising and running events, creating circus performances and more. As long as your organisation is within the wider arts sector, it’s appropriate for Incubate.
What are the session topics?
The planned sessions are expected to be:
- Introductions – who are we, what do we want, where are we going
- Registering a business, organisational structures (e.g. CIC, charity, limited company) and how to get started
- Accessing support – access workers, Access to Work and other options
- Finance, funding and budgeting as an organisation
- Branding and online presence – making your mark
- Half-way check-up – how are we doing, and where are we going?
- Building professional relationships and establishing boundaries
- Rates and negotiation – paying yourself fairly
- Tools, apps and tech – what’s out there to make life easier
- Time management – balancing competing responsibilities
- Developing and running workshops and training
- Sharing resources and planning the future
When are the sessions?
The sessions will happen fortnightly on Monday evenings and will run for 2.5 hours, inclusive of a short rest break.
- Monday 9 June: 6pm – 8.30pm (online)
- Monday 23 June: 6pm – 8.30pm (online)
- Monday 7 July: 6pm – 8.30pm (online)
- Monday 21 July: 6pm – 8.30pm (online)
- Monday 4 August: 6pm – 8.30pm (online)
- Monday 18 August: 6pm – 8.30pm (online)
- Monday 1 September: 6pm – 8.30pm (online)
- Monday 15 September: 6pm – 8.30pm (online)
- Monday 29 September: 6pm – 8.30pm (online)
- Monday 13 October: 6pm – 8.30pm (online)
- Monday 27 October: 6pm – 8.30pm (online)
- Monday 10 November: 6pm – 8.30pm (online)
How do you assess applications?
When we’re assessing applications, we will often ask ourselves questions like:
- How original is the organisation? Do others like it already exist?
- Is the organisation at the right stage of development for us to work together on shaping it?
- Do the applicants have enough experience for us to be confident that they can deliver this organisation?
- How clearly can we identify the shift that Incubate would make in their organisational practice and future development?
- What barriers have they faced in accessing other opportunities? Are there things that Incubate can offer that they need and wouldn’t be provided by other opportunities?
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 beyond this.
If you have any queries about this, please contact us on team@cripticarts.org to discuss.
Apply for Incubate
Incubate
Facilitating four emerging disabled arts leaders or organisations through building their organisations.
