NEUROSTAGES festival today announced four paid mentorship opportunities for neurodivergent artists based in Scotland.

NEUROSTAGES is a new two-day festival of workshops, provocations, discussions, and performances curated by the Scottish Neurodiversity Performance Network (SNPN) and presented by National Theatre of Scotland and SNPN, in partnership with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and National Autistic Society Scotland. NEUROSTAGES will take place from 15 - 16 October 2021 online and at the CCA, Glasgow with full programme details to be announced in August.

The festival will offer a neurodivergent-led platform and space for artists, creatives, communities and industry professionals to nurture and celebrate neurodivergent-made theatre and performance work in Scotland and to share ideas, concerns and strategies for making and staging work in a neurotypical world. Attenders will be able to find out more about neurodiversity and performance and identify communities to engage with. It is an opportunity for theatre and performance industry allies to experience the work of neurodivergent artists in Scotland and to better understand some of the barriers. The festival will also offer a welcoming space for those who are in the very early stages of creating work and developing ideas.

As part of the festival, NEUROSTAGES is offering four paid mentorship opportunities to neurodivergent artists based in Scotland to start a new performance idea, develop an existing idea or their skills and practice with the support of a professional mentor, and to then share outcomes from their mentorship as part of the NEUROSTAGES festival programme.

Artists will receive a budget of £1,000 and will be supported through three mentorship sessions with a professional mentor, matched to their specific needs. NEUROSTAGES will endeavour to meet all access requirements of the artists selected.

Each mentorship will be selected by a panel made up of National Theatre of Scotland staff, Limitless project members and members of SNPN. NEUROSTAGES aims to reflect Scotland’s neurodiversity through selection of artists and welcomes applicants who self-identify as neurodivergent.

More details on the mentorships, criteria and how to apply are here.