Deafinitely: A New Fund Supporting Deaf Artists and Theatre Makers During the Pandemic

Deafinitely Theatre, a deaf-led theatre company in the United Kingdom, recently established a fund to provide £1,000 bursaries to deaf and hard-of-hearing people involved in the theatre industry. The bursaries were available to writers, directors, designers, choreographers, actors, dancers, stage managers, technicians, make-up artists, community practitioners, producers – or people with any other role in the theatre industry.

Applicants were eligible to apply for one of 20 awards so long as they were at least 18 years old, self-employed and working in the United Kingdom.

Paula Garfield, Artistic Director at Deafinitely Theatre, said “The Covid-19 pandemic continues to be an incredibly difficult period for the arts and we are determined to come out of it with brilliant work for audiences across the country to return to, with deaf and disabled theatre makers front and centre.”

OUR TAKE: Support for the inclusion of disabled people in the arts is important, in both good times and bad. Deafinitely Theatre’s commitment to support 20 deaf and hard-of-hearing members of the industry during the pandemic is welcome, and we look forward to seeing what these artists develop.

To read more about Deafinitely Theatre’s program to offer financial support to artists, click here.

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