Dance Mapping - Arts Council England

The survey of venues received 61 responses from a mixed group of venues (see analysis in
Part Four – Economy).
Some of the comments concerning the work are set out below:
• ‘There is a need to raise the profile of dance and dance theatre for children and
family audiences, and to encourage those venues who are committed to developing
this area of work by opportunities for joint commissioning and working with leading
choreographers to inspire new dance-makers for this important area of work.’
• ‘Arts Council England should continue developing the regularly funded organisations’
portfolio to give venues and audiences the breadth of dance they want, perhaps by
reducing the number of tours and touring dates required from each company.’
• ‘Find ways to engage audiences through using the high-quality video footage that
dance companies often have available, and which sells their work more effectively
than traditional print mediums.’
• ‘Ensure companies are well-equipped to tour on the middle and large scale, without
necessarily having to fund them to have permanent marketing, education and
technical staff.’
• ‘Allow companies room to take risk and fail, without having to tour work which is less
successful.’
• ‘Focus on dance quality rather than technical innovation and spectacle, which is
making dance increasingly unaffordable outside major city venues. Learn to dance
again without talking and/or audio-visual support!.’
• ‘Embrace full range of dance styles rather than elitist focus on the most “cutting edge”
contemporary work.’
• ‘Regional companies are being funded for social/political reasons and not because
there is proven demand from venues for their work; sometimes the work we would
most like to present can't get funding.’
• ‘There is a lack of small-scale quality dance work.’
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