On a black background, round-edged squares in varying sizes display icons and images in a collage. Arranged around the image in a neat grid, there are four photos of dance artists from the UK and from Italy. The photos sit alongside smaller graphic icons showing the maps of Italy and the UK, outlines of disabled people and dancers, and a megaphone, these graphics are coloured white, blue and black.
Open Dialogo 3
The England-Italy cultural exchange programme Open Dialogo has been confirmed for a third round of residencies in 2025, following its success in 2023 and 2024.
Managed by Stopgap Dance Company and commissioned by Arts Council England, the Italian Ministry of Culture (The Performing Arts department) and the British Council, Open Dialogo facilitates a bilateral cultural exchange through the sharing of knowledge and experience between Disabled and non-disabled artists, producers, and venues working in England and Italy.
This edition will focus on supporting four more residencies for dance artists to explore inclusive approaches to Disability, dance and creativity and one online-only collaboration between dance artists based in the two countries.
The residencies can take place between February and June 2026.
As in the first edition, the partners will select two England-based dance artists to travel to host organisations in Italy, and two Italy-based dance artists to travel to hosts in England.
Artist applications are now closed
The successful host/artist partnerships will be announced in January 2026.
This callout is available in Easy Read
Guidelines for residencies
The kind of projects we were looking to support
The residency programme will enable dance artists, companies and venues in England and Italy to explore Disability, dance, and inclusive creativity.
A residency could give opportunities to:
- Disabled dance artists wanting to research new or existing work in the context of the opposite country
- Non-disabled dance artists wanting to research new or existing work with disabled dance artists in the context of the opposite country
- Disabled or non-disabled dance artists wanting to spend time observing or participating in the activities of disabled or inclusive group(s) to deepen their knowledge
As this is a cultural exchange programme, the artist or company from England must propose to spend time at a host organisation in Italy in-person and vice versa. There must be a strong rationale and commitment for all parties to explore dance, Disability and inclusion.
For more insight into this opportunity, please explore the successful Open Dialogo residencies from 2023 and 2024.
Available commissioning funds
In-person residency:
- The project partners will commission two England-based residences and two Italian-based residencies.
- The artist residencies can apply for up to £10,000. This must cover all costs such as artist fees, travel, accommodation, subsistence, language interpretation, studio hire and other costs incurred by the host organisation.
- Applicants can also propose an access budget in addition to the £10,000 commissioning fund should this be necessary.
Online exchange:
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Open Dialogo is offering one £2000/€2200 commission grant for Disabled artists and inclusive organisations in England and Italy to collaborate remotely (online) with an artist from the other country.
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The aim of the online residency is to enable bilateral creative exchange, create learning opportunities and expand networks.
The project partners strongly recommend that the scale of ambition for your proposal reflect the commissioning funds available. Open Dialogo is designed for one to three people spending up to a week in the opposite country to explore creative ideas and expand their international network.
Projects with bigger ambitions can apply if additional funding has already been secured from elsewhere. It is, however, not a requirement for a project to have match funding from other sources.
Application process overview
Stage 1 - Host Venues: Expression of Interest
(13 June – 11 July)
Venues, companies and organisations can submit an application to host a residency.
The panel, consisting of the project partners, will assess the submissions after the deadline and invite selected venues to be shortlisted for Stage 2.
Stage 2 - Artists: Expression of Interest
(11 August – 13 October)
Artists can submit an application to take part in a residency; they will select their preferred host venues from those shortlisted in Stage 1.
The panel of project partners will assess their applications and match selected artists with a host venue.
Stage 3 - Full Joint Application
(31 October – 1 December)
Matched venues and artists will be invited to work together on a joint application.
The application form and guidelines for Stage 3 will be provided to confirmed residency partnerships.
Selected Residency Announcement
(15 December)
The results of the selection process will be communicated to all stage 3 candidates.
White text on black, a title reads 'Open Dialogo', and the two 'o' letters of the second word form speech bubbles. Below a subtitle reads 'A bilateral cultural exchange project for dance and disability in Italy and England'. Below that are five logos: Stopgap Dance Company, Arts Council England, Italian Ministry of Culture, Italian Cultural Institute of London and the British Council.