Tatum, a non-binary person, sits in a spotlight, their back to the camera.

Launchpad

A development and staging scheme for four theatre makers to further develop an existing script.

Launchpad celebrates disabled artists and makers, removed from the pressures and oppressions of being defined by non-disabled people. It builds a world outside narratives of diagnosis and medicalisation. A world in which we can imagine crip pasts and crip futures, in which we can joyfully bring our whole selves.

Key information
Who we’re looking for
What the programme involves
Programme dates
Payment
More information
Apply to become a Launchpad artist

Key information

Applications open: Friday 13 February at 12pm
Applications close: Friday 13 March at 5pm
Informal chats/interviews: w/c Monday 23 March, by arrangement

Please note these chats are for candidates whose applications we would like to know more about. You may be accepted onto the programme without a chat with the team, or we may invite you to talk to us about your idea if we feel we need further clarification.

Programme start date: Tuesday 14 April

Fee: £1,000 for the development of their script at peer-facilitated sessions, 1:1 sessions and the residentials, and the final script delivery. Additional £100-£600 for performance residential (£100 for writers to attend for two half days; £600 for writer-performers for the week)

Who we’re looking for

Launchpad is a development and staging scheme for four theatremakers or small companies (max. three people) to further develop an existing script for production. It culminates in a showcase in September 2026 at Tobacco Factory Theatres in Bristol, where artists will stage a fully realised 20-minute excerpt of the work.

If you’re applying as a company, the company should be no more than three people and a minimum of 50% of the company members should be disabled.

We’re looking for people who have a draft script ready for development which has not been professionally staged (though work-in-progress and scratch sharings are allowed). You should have already developed and delivered work on smaller stages and/or through other development programmes and are now ready to step up and take your work to the next level.

We’re looking for works that celebrate what it is to be alive in the face of death, joyful in the face of emptiness, present in the face of absence, and taking up space in the face of exclusion. Performances that conjure up worlds as they were, are, or could be. Performances that are vulnerable, satirical, bold, silly, biographical, mythical: there’s no limit.

We’ve previously shared an exploration of neurodivergence and the moon landings, a love-letter from mother to daughter, an intimate affair between an older couple, the rot at the heart of a younger relationship and the pain of loneliness, a Pagan exploration of grief, and a narrative of migration and xenophobia through the lens of a pigeon.

The piece can be a solo show or an ensemble piece for up to three performers and we’re open to applications from both writer-performers and those who just want to write.

*When we talk about disabled people, we mean “people who face disableist [including audist] 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 see our FAQs.

What the programme involves

The Launchpad cohort will take part in a programme including mentoring, development, group writing sessions, 1:1 dramaturgy, and a performance residential, with the programme culminating in a public staging. This programme is led by theatre, film & TV director, Debbie Hannan and CRIPtic’s Artistic Director, Jamie Hale.

Critical feedback sessions and workshops will take place online with captions, rest breaks, and BSL interpretation where required, and we aim to meet other access requirements across the programme as far as possible. As an access requirement, we can also create a hybrid offering for the residentials.

As part of a final showcase, produced by CRIPtic Arts, you’ll share an approximately 20 minute excerpt of your piece. The pieces will be directed by Jamie Hale and designed by a team of professional disabled designers tasked with building a unifying vision across the work.

Dates

Group writing sessions (online)
- Tuesday 14 April, 6.30pm – 8.30pm
- Tuesday 28 April, 6.30pm – 8.30pm
- Tuesday 12 May, 6.30pm – 8.30pm
- Tuesday 19 May, 6.30pm – 8.30pm
Workshops (x 4; online)
- Dates TBC, April-June
Draft script delivery
- Friday 12 June, 12pm (noon)
Residential (in person in London; hybrid available)
- Monday 22 June – Friday 26 June, 10am – 6pm
Dramaturgy sessions (online)
- Monday 6 – Friday 10 July, by arrangement
Final script delivery
- Friday 17 July, 12pm (noon)
Rehearsals (in person in London & Bristol; hybrid available for makers not performing)
- Monday 17 – Saturday 22 August, 10am – 6pm
- Monday 24 – Saturday 29 August, 10am – 6pm
- Monday 31 August – Wednesday 2 September, 10am – 6pm
  - Please note you will not be required for all of these dates
Performances (in person in Bristol)
- Thursday 3 & Friday 4 September, times TBC

We expect Launchpad participants to be able to attend all of these sessions. Exceptions will be made for missing occasional dates.

Payment

Launchpad artists will receive a total of £1,150 for their participation on the development programme and delivery of the script.

If you are also performing in the showcase, you will be paid an additional performer’s fee of £1,075 for rehearsals and performances, estimated at 1.5 weeks of time. If any additional days of rehearsal are required, this will be paid at a rate of £150 per day.

Hotel, travel and per diems for the residentials, show rehearsals and performance will be provided by CRIPtic Arts as required.

More information

If you want to hear more about this opportunity, we are hosting a Q&A to discuss our programmes with Artistic Director Jamie Hale on Tuesday 24 February, 1-2pm. Book your space here.

We also have a limited number of 1:1 sessions available with our team on the afternoon of Tuesday 24 March, reserved for disabled people from groups who are underrepresented in the arts: wheelchair users who are unable to work in spaces that aren’t wheelchair accessible; People of the Global Majority; people from working class backgrounds/working class people; and people with parenting or caregiving responsibilities (including parents and guardians of young children).

Book 1:1 info sessions for wheelchair users between 2pm-3pm here: https://calendly.com/cripticarts/cp26-wu
Book 1:1 info sessions for People of the Global Majority between 3pm-4pm here: https://calendly.com/cripticarts/cp26-gm
Book 1:1 info sessions for working class people between 2pm-3pm here: https://calendar.app.google/RhkBQX5rVSnPDacD8
Book 1:1 info sessions for people who have caregiving responsibilities (including parents and guardians to young children) between 3pm-4pm here: https://calendar.app.google/LRv5K7Th2vKRAhFNA

Note: the number of sessions for each group is limited by team capacity. Please only book into a 1:1 session if you identify as being part of the group described.

You can also read our FAQs here, which contain more information about the programmes and what we’re looking for.

We have also created a guide to our friendly application process here.

Apply to become a Launchpad artist

To apply, please fill in the below forms by 5pm on Friday 13 March.

Application form (with BSL): https://forms.gle/7og7Jqx7UcwzKHaL7

Diversity & monitoring form: https://forms.gle/ucDW4F1jMZfzoGS18

You can also submit an audio or video file in spoken English or BSL (7 minutes max), or download and send the questions as a Word document to artists@cripticarts.org. Please find the Word versions of these forms below:

Word version of application form: Saved here

Word version of diversity & monitoring form: Saved here

For information about what we’ve put in place to make our application process as accessible as possible, see information about our friendly application process.

Feedback

We will always try to be transparent about where we can offer feedback and where we can’t to applicants who we don’t take onto our programmes that year. For 2026, if we have interviewed a creative about the programme, we will offer feedback via email on request.

If we didn’t take your application through to the interview stage, we will not be able to offer feedback, but we will create an overall guidance document, explaining why we took certain work and why we couldn’t take other pieces forward, and publish this on our website.