
Joint Associate Artist announcement with Pavilion Dance and Swindon Dance
Pavilion Dance South West and Swindon Dance announce their latest joint venture, the appointment of South West dance artist Sean Moss as their Joint Associate Artist 2024-26.
“More than ever, dance artists need essential support to develop their work and their practice. We want to develop a more joined up approach in supporting artists, challenging the traditional model of associateship residing in a single organisation. We are interested in helping artists to cultivate a network of relationships that could help them develop their work and career in the long run.” Victor Fung, Artistic Director and Joint CEO, Pavilion Dance South West
“At Swindon Dance, we believe that investment in our local, regional, and national artists is vital if the country is to have a thriving and sustainable dance industry. That it is important to provide artists with a safe environment where they feel supported, where they can experiment, take creative risks, and feel empowered without performance deadlines or financial constraints to cap their creativity. We believe this initiative will enable Swindon Dance & Pavilion Dance to work in a more collaborative way to achieve this, by jointly supporting an artist connected to the South West region will give a higher and more impactful level of support that will contribute to the country’s future professional creative and artistic practitioners at the grass roots.” Viv Slayford, Artistic Director, Swindon Dance
Pavilion Dance South West and Swindon Dance are passionate about the development of careers of professional dance artists in the South West. They want to nurture their artistic practice, support their career to the next level and retain their creative talent within our region.
This joint venture brings together resources and expertise from two South West dance organisations. Through the appointment of a Joint Associate Artist, they want to offer support for artistic and career development in a tailored and holistic way. The two-year engagement is an opportunity for the artist to deepen their relationship with one dance organisation, while also broadening their network by igniting a new relationship with another.
Here are some of the ways in which Sean will be supported during his residency:
- Cash support of £2000 per year for 2 years
- Mentoring and coaching for choreographic development, business planning, fundraising, and partnership building
- In-kind studio space for R&D and creation
- Technical and production support to realise productions
- Connecting with community groups to develop place-based engagement activities in and out of the studio
- Profile on website and social media channels to feature their work
- Marketing support to amplify the work of the artist
Sean is based in Gloucestershire and was previously a company member of 2Faced Dance. Sean began to choregraph in 2020, with his first full length outdoor work ‘Last Orders’ performed around the South West region. Sean was appointed as Visiting Artist of Pavilion Dance in 2023–24 via an open call. He is an alumna of The Centre for Advanced Training at Swindon Dance.
Pavilion Dance is a registered charity (1111641) dedicated to transforming communities through dance. We offer dance experiences that are relevant, diverse, inclusive, and captivating. Their seaside creative hub in Bournemouth is home to their dancing community, with a historic seafront building home to two modern dance studios and a 197-seat theatre.
Through theatre and outdoor performances, weekly dance classes, in-school workshops, social dance events, screenings, and many other activities, they welcome people of all backgrounds to experience the embodied joy of dancing.
Pavilion Dance and Swindon Dance Joint Associate Artist Sean Moss, Image credit PDSW