Deadline: 4-Jun-25
Applications are now open for the fourth year of the International Touring and Environmental Responsibility (ITER) programme, initiated and financed by Arts Council England, the Danish Arts Foundation, and Arts Council Norway, delivered and designed by Julie’s Bicycle in collaboration with in futurum.
Structured as two free to attend interactive seminar series followed by an opportunity to apply for project funding, ITER fosters relationships between artists and companies based in England, Denmark, and Norway, supporting them to develop new, environmentally responsible, inclusive and equitable approaches to international touring and collaboration.
Programme Structure
- Phase 1 – Seminar Programmes
- Beginners Programme
- Designed for those new to environmentally and socially conscious touring
- These sessions will be introductory sessions designed to introduce participants to the core aspects of sustainable touring and sustainable international collaboration. The sessions will blend presentations with interactive activities, discussions and inspiration from guest speakers to provide a holistic and comprehensive foundation for understanding and reducing the environmental impacts of collaboration and touring whilst considering the imperative areas of inclusivity, equity and environmental justice.
- Over seven sessions, participants will have plenty of opportunity to network, share insights and explore different touring topics such as:
- International touring and the role of arts and culture in a climate, nature and justice crisis. How does touring relate to the urgent issues of climate change, biodiversity loss and social justice? They will delve into the unique role of and culture in creating positive change.
- Understanding touring impacts An introduction to tools and approaches to help understand touring impacts and how to track progress
- Tour routing strategies an opportunity to consider different models for tour routing, and balancing environmental concerns with wellbeing, equity and inclusion.
- The circular economy in the arts An introduction to the principles of the circular economy and its purpose in cultural production.
- Value chains and collective efforts Looking at the role of collaboration and value chains in addressing systemic challenges.
- Guest Speaker Inspiration Sessions: exploring emerging models for sustainable touring
- Advanced Programme
- A new seminar programme for those who have already taken steps toward sustainable touring (e.g. through trial projects, partnerships, or new models).
- You may be a previous ITER participant, someone who is looking to take their sustainable touring work to the next level, or someone who has an understanding of sustainable touring concepts and can evidence having trialled these in practice. The programme will delve into leadership in the context of sustainable touring. What are effective strategies to advocate for scaling solutions and driving transformative change across the sector? What partnerships and collaborations are needed to advance this agenda?
- Over six core sessions they will explore themes such as:
- Creating a vision for the future: How might they rethink international touring?
- The power of collaboration: tools to map and activate your network
- Turning ideas into action: strategies to test and scale solutions
- Communication to power collective action
- Beginners Programme
- Phase 2 – Project Phase
- Upon completing the seminar programme, participants from both cohorts will be invited to apply for funding in partnership to seed fund concepts originating from the programme. Concepts could include, for example: creating artistic content, exploring new models of presentation or distribution, or research and development.
- Relationship building between the UK, Danish and Norwegian participants is an integral part of the interactive online programme and trilateral partnerships with participants from each of the participating countries will be encouraged. To apply for funding the lead applicant must have participated in one of the 2025 seminar programmes and have formed an international partnership with at least one of the other participating countries. Only the lead applicant needs to have participated in the ITER programme giving applicants the option to collaborate with organisations and individuals from outside the seminar cohorts. For example, participants may want to consider partnering with ‘alumni’ from previous ITER programmes, a new creative/cultural partner and/or representatives from different sectors, such as academia or a relevant industry body.
- The successful partnerships will be awarded up to £40,000. Funded projects will be announced in December 2025, with projects commencing January 2026. Projects that receive funding must submit a project report and accounts documenting the use of the funding at the end of the project period. The selected applicants will also be provided with one-to-one support and mentoring from Julie’s Bicycle to help them to develop and deliver the concepts.
- If accepted onto the programme, they will invite collaborating participants to submit proposals for funding between 26/09/25 and 28/11/25. Applicants will be informed of project funding decisions in December 2025. Applicants will be required to submit a budget, project plan and timeline. You will also need to state how your proposed concept responds to the purpose of the programme.
Eligibility Criteria
- They welcome applications from venues, touring companies and individuals from the performing arts sectors, including dance, music and theatre. You may, for example, be a music or theatre venue that receives touring organisations, a festival, an orchestra, a theatre company, a solo artist/musician, a performing arts producer, or a multidisciplinary arts organisation.
- They are looking for participants who:
- Have a creative vision and a willingness to advance sustainable touring practices
- Are committed to developing innovative approaches to environmental responsibility in touring.
- Are eager to collaborate internationally and centre environmentally-focused partnerships
For more information, visit Julie’s Bicycle.