Reach

Supporting five emerging writers & performers to develop their first full-length show.

Reach is a space for disabled storytellers to create work that is not limited by preconceptions about disability. It allows you to write universally and to be free to create what you want to create instead of what you’re expected to. It gives you the space to choose – new directions, new work, and new stories, moving beyond tropes about disabled people and the stories we’re encouraged to share, creating work that is bold, intimate, and your own.

We are particularly excited to receive pitches for work that isn’t about someone’s personal experiences of disability – work in which disabled storytellers can go beyond their personal narrative and take up space with other stories.

Key information
Who we’re looking for
What the programme involves
Programme dates
Payment
More information
Apply to become a Reach 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: Wednesday 15 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 1 day; £600 for writer-performers for the week)

Who we’re looking for

Reach supports five emerging UK-based disabled* writers and theatremakers to develop the script for a full-length show through a 4-month development programme. We’re looking for writers who have a strong idea of what their show is, what makes it unique and the audience it’s for. We’re also looking for people who like to work in collaborative group settings, and feel the structure of Reach will be beneficial in helping them to develop their work.

The piece can be a solo show or an ensemble piece for up to three performers and we’re open to applications from 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 4-month programme features writers’ group sessions, 1:1 dramaturgy sessions and workshops, as well as a midpoint residential focused on writing, and a final residential geared towards embedding performance skills, culminating in a sharing of excerpts of the work, with an invited audience including industry professionals. This programme is run by Nickie Miles-Wildin, a theatre and radio director and workshop facilitator. She was previously Associate Director at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, Joint Artistic Director and CEO of DaDa and Associate Director at Graeae, leading their new writing programme.

Peer facilitated sessions, 1:1 dramaturgy 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.

Programme dates

Introductory residential (in person; hybrid available)
- Wednesday 15 April, 10am – 6pm
Group writing sessions (online)
- Wednesday 22 April, 7.30pm – 9.30pm
- Wednesday 6 May, 7.30pm – 9.30pm
- Wednesday 20 May, 7.30pm – 9.30pm
- Wednesday 3 June, 7.30pm – 9.30pm
Writers residential (in person; hybrid available)
- Monday 8 – Friday 12 June, 10am – 6pm
Delivery of draft script
- Wednesday 17 June, 12pm (noon)
Dramaturgy 1:1s (online)
- w/c Monday 22 June, by arrangement
Delivery of final script
- Friday 3 July, 12pm (noon)
Performance residential & work-in-progress sharing (in person; hybrid available for writers not performing)
- Monday 20 – Friday 24 July, 10am – 6pm
Checkout & evaluation 1:1s (online)
- Monday 27 July – Friday 7 August, by arrangement

We expect Reach participants to be able to attend all of these sessions, but exceptions can be made for missing occasional dates.

Payment

Reach artists will receive a total of £1,000 for the development of their script at peer facilitated sessions, 1:1 sessions, the intro & writing residentials, and the final script delivery.

If you are performing in the work-in-progress sharing, you will receive an additional £600 for the 5-day performance residential. If you are not performing, you will receive £100, covering a half day to discuss the script with Nickie and the piece’s performers, and half a day to watch the work-in-progress sharing.

Hotel, travel and per diems for the residentials will also 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 Reach artist

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

Application form (with BSL): https://forms.gle/S1s1yb8ZKBNvRBDa9

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.