We are committed to supporting the development of the next generation of comedy performers. Our professional training workshops are delivered by the artistic directors and associate artists in the UK and across the world. Participants develop techniques of clowning, comedy, devising and music theatre in a way which is transferable to their own practice. We also offer practical sessions on the business of making and touring a show as part of some of our workshops.
Having worked with performers and theatre makers in our shows, through our collaborations with other organisations, and our education and training work, we are aware of the lack of diversity in theatre, and within comedy performance in particular. Alongside this, the financial barrier to accessing professional development is a real obstruction for many people. We are therefore keen to play our part in addressing this, by offering bursary places to people who are underrepresented on our stages, on all of our courses.
We recognise the lack of access and options into the industry for people from racialised backgrounds and for our workshop bursary places we specifically welcome people who have faced barriers to access as a result of either systemic or interpersonal racism such as:
Black people – those of African heritage, Caribbean heritage, and those who are part of the African diaspora.
South, East, South East Asian and those who are part of the Asian diaspora.
Mixed heritage people and other racially or ethnically marginalised people.
Please note that we welcome applications from everyone but will prioritise UK based artists.
Upcoming Bursary Courses
The details for our next in person courses and the bursaries available are as follows:
Spymonkey Theatre of The Funny Clown, London, 6-10 November 2023 – 2 bursary places (includes a discretionary travel allowance where needed). Application deadline Sunday 24th September 2023 at midnight (UK). Decision outcome will be announced in the following few days.
How to apply for a Bursary
Please complete an application form here. Please note that the decision of the panel is based on the details in your application.
If you’d prefer not to write answers you can submit a video or audio recording of your responses to the questions in the online form. Please keep the recording to no longer than 3 minutes and email it to education@spymonkey.co.uk.