The commission is open to everyone and we are interested to hear from individual artists, new collaborators, established companies and those new to making work for this age group.

Our ambition is for the finished work to be toured in autumn 2012 or spring 2013, possibly through the Children’s Centre network, with the opportunity to present the work at the KinderGardens Early Year’s Festival in 2013.

Gina Westbrook, Co-Director of Early Years at Take Art said, “Take Art passionately supports the right of very small children to have great work made for them. This partnership is a fabulous opportunity for both theatre makers and Somerset audiences. We hope that the chosen commission will appear in the KinderGardens Festival and our rural touring programme in Somerset.”

Gavin Stride from Farnham Maltings said, “Here is an opportunity to make something happen. We are excited about the commissioning model as a way of better connecting the ambitions of artists with programmers and are pleased that the first of these is for young people.”

Katie Potter from Tandridge Leisure said, “This was an easy partnership to work with. We all want the same thing -to invest in and support a company of artists to make something delightful for our audiences. That’s exciting.”

The SPROUT commission will cover all the associated costs of development, producing and the initial three week ‘tour’ of Surrey and Somerset. Our hope is that the company will then tour the piece regionally or nationally. In addition to the commission we will offer, where possible, contacts, advice, specialist intelligence, equipment, producing expertise, rehearsal space, etc. Applications of interest are requested by the 24 Feb 2012, with full proposals due in 23 March 2012.

You can download the application information below.