Eight dance artists and companies from across Northumberland have been awarded bursaries to develop new work, create opportunities for communities and strengthen the future of dance across the county.

The bursaries have been awarded through Northumberland County Council’s Dance Development Fund, administered and managed in partnership by The Maltings (Berwick) Trust, Alnwick Playhouse and Queen’s Hall Hexham.

The eight successful recipients represent the breadth and ambition of dance taking place across Northumberland, with projects spanning youth dance, accessible community activity, artist development, touring and new creative work.

Among the recipients is contemporary dance artist Anthony Lo-Giudice, whose bursary will support a tour of his work The Guest to venues across Northumberland. Combining dance, live music and storytelling, the work explores identity, heritage and family, asking questions about who we are, where we come from and where we are going.

Berwick-upon-Tweed-based interdisciplinary artist Chloë Sayers will use her bursary to introduce audiences and artists in North Northumberland to screen dance, a hybrid artform combining choreography and moving image. Her programme will include workshops, an evening showcasing diverse screen dance works at The Maltings Cinema, and the exhibition of her new work Cow Coxon Windmill Brass, created with fellow artist Lucy Cash, at the newly renovated Gymnasium Gallery at Berwick Barracks in 2027.

The fund is also supporting the development of new opportunities for young people. Newcastle-based Eliot Smith Dance will establish the Northumberland Youth Dance Group, a new initiative for 8–17-year-olds working with schools in and around Amble. The company hopes to develop the group into a sustainable youth dance platform for Northumberland’s rural coastal communities.

For Gebremedhin Dance, the bursary will support an artistic residency connected to Seeking, a project exploring eco-feminism, environmental change and gender inequality through dance, live music and community engagement. The residency will include studio-based research, accessible community workshops and movement classes in Northumberland.

Mental health is at the heart of the project being developed by Hit the Ground Running Dance Theatre Company. Their bursary will enable the company to bring Suitcases to rural Northumberland communities through live dance theatre, workshops and community engagement. Inspired by the belongings of psychiatric patients discovered in the attic of Willard State Hospital in New York, Suitcases uses personal stories and objects to explore and humanise the experiences of people who have been forgotten.

Community dance practitioner Molly Grey will use her bursary to establish weekly inclusive dance sessions for adults with learning disabilities in Hexham. The project will focus on consistency, routine, wellbeing, confidence and social connection, while helping to create sustainable opportunities for accessible dance within the community.