A PROJECT to find new plays for small professional companies to tour rural areas has been launched in the South West by Artsreach, Dorset’s rural touring arts charity.

The aim is to discover a new piece of touring theatre from a South West based company or artist as part of a national arts scheme called Create Tour Connect.

Applicants much be based in the region and available to develop a new show relevant to rural adult audiences. The chosen piece will be toured across the country in autumn 2026. Three other new shows will be touring between 2025-2027 as part of the project.

Create Tour Connect is led by South East arts charity Applause Rural Touring and is supported by Arts Council England. It aims to address the growing lack of multi-hander touring drama and theatre, relevant to contemporary rural audiences, that has been seen over recent years.

The project involves 17 arts organisations from across the country, all working together to share local knowledge, resources and expertise on rural touring and developing new work. Create Tour Connect is expected to reach more than 12,000 people in rural communities by touring to community venues such as village halls, libraries and pubs.

It will be the first time that four new theatre shows have been toured to rural areas on this scale nationwide, with 140 touring dates scheduled over two years. Rural and under-served communities will have access to this high-quality professional theatre, enabling them to experience cultural events they may otherwise have difficulty reaching, due to social and economic barriers.

Artsreach is leading on the selection process for the South West, in partnership with Carn to Cove (Cornwall), Beaford (North Devon), Villages in Action (Devon), Take Art (Somerset) and Air in G (Gloucestershire). The deadline for applications is 29th August.

The first tours will be Wild. from Black Country Touring which will visit venues this autumn, and Eyes Down, from Just Some Theatre, will tour nationally in Spring 2026. The final callout for a company or artist from the South East will be announced later this year.

Kerry Bartlett, the Artsreach executive director, says: “The South West has a rich history of innovative touring theatre and we are excited to be able to present this opportunity to artists in the region. Create Tour Connect also gives us the chance to share some of the wealth of South West talent, of which we are incredibly proud, with rural touring colleagues across the UK.”

For more information, visit https://artsreach.co.uk/