Not every good idea arrives fully formed.

Sometimes an artist has a new story they want to tell, a piece of music they need to hear out loud, a strange idea for a performance, a community they want to work alongside etc

Our Innovate Artists programme is about giving those ideas somewhere to go.

Each year, we work with artists, companies and collectives from Lincolnshire to develop new work. We provide a seed commission to get things moving, alongside time, space, advice, connections, audiences and practical support.

Often that means a little money of about £2500 to test an idea with a group of people. Sometimes it means a week in a rehearsal room. Sometimes it is help with a funding application, a conversation with another artist, a trip to see work somewhere else, or the chance to put something unfinished in front of an audience and find out what happens.

The point is not to arrive with all the answers.

It is to have the opportunity to ask better questions.

Our seed commissions are deliberately designed to be flexible, and they are applied for annual via an open call out process.

Artists might use them to research, write, choreograph, experiment, make, travel, collaborate or test something that doesn’t yet have a name.

Alongside the commission, Innovate Artists can access mentoring, business and fundraising support, rehearsal space, professional documentation, technical and marketing support, connections with partners and other artists, and paid opportunities to share work-in-progress through our Demo nights if its relevent.

It is a relatively small investment that can make a big difference.

And because ideas rarely develop in isolation, we connect artists to the people, places and expertise around them, including University of Lincoln students and staff, our Associate Artists, local communities and creative partners.

What can happen when an idea gets a chance?

Over the years, our Innovate Artists have worked across theatre, dance, visual art, music, spoken word, puppetry and digital performance.

The ideas have been wonderfully different. We’ve gave you just some examples below:

Tanya Akrofi developed Amna’s Story Shop, exploring storytelling for children, alongside opportunities to see and learn from international children’s arts festivals.

Under the Bed Theatre used its support to explore set and costume ideas for a new Christmas show – turning early sketches and possibilities into something that could actually be built and shared.

Ben Norris began developing The Distance, a play set around a treadmill and the world of elite sport. His research included working with the University of Lincoln’s sport science team. The work has since grown into a major touring production, including a run at Edinburgh Fringe, where it has received strong critical attention and converted Fringe First Award.

Boondog Balladeers developed new folk theatre, including Captain Godfrey and the Last Shanty, bringing together music, storytelling and family audiences. Which became part of Lincoln Arts Centre’s programme in 2025.

Emma-Louise Howell spent time with participants at Lincoln’s Mint Lane wellbeing hub while developing Lie in It, a new play exploring housing insecurity and the experience of Generation Rent. The project has since developed beyond Lincoln, with work taking place across three cities.

Hal Mayer explored the meeting point between horror, hip-hop, movement and digital technology, testing what a new choreographic language might look and feel like.

Georgie Jones experimented with bringing her spoken-word practice into the gallery, developing work alongside a new poetry piece. Her practice has since reached huge online audiences, with more than 130,000 followers and millions of views, alongside national collaborations and broadcast exposure.

Rob Green developed Folklore, a new musical exploring fairy tales, belonging and the pressure of the ‘happy ever after’. He developed and directed the work with students from the University of Lincoln, alongside development at Leeds Conservatoire, turning an idea into a fully realised production.

Rosie Hollingworth developed Fck You, Claire*, a funny, personal and ultimately hopeful new play about anxiety, self-acceptance and the things that get inside our heads. The work has continued to develop and is now touring.

Jenni Pinnock, Helen Arney and Brian Mackenwells developed The Cambridge First All-Ladies Fire Brigade, a new musical inspired by pioneering women scientists at Girton College. With support from Lincoln Arts Centre’s Innovate programme and University of Lincoln musical theatre students, the project grew from development into a full workshop production and subsequent concert performances.

Tinashe Chipawe used support to develop a first major exhibition, exploring how painting and sculpture could work together. That practice grew into Community Resilience, an exhibition at Lincoln Arts Centre celebrating the resilience of neurodivergent communities in Lincolnshire.

Jane Crawshaw worked with communities connected to Lincolnshire’s chalk streams, developing an installation and video work that brought local environmental knowledge and stories into an artistic space.

And these are just some of the stories.

Not every experiment becomes a finished production.

That’s important.

Some ideas change shape. Some get put aside. Some lead somewhere completely unexpected. Some become funding applications, new collaborations, exhibitions, touring productions or entirely different pieces of work.

That’s what development is for.

Our role is not to decide exactly what an artist should make. It is to create the conditions in which they can work out what they want to make and to help them take the next step.

The programme has grown from its first cohort into a wider community of artists. Innovate Artists remain part of that network beyond their initial year, creating opportunities for artists to share ideas, support one another and connect with the wider creative ecology around Lincolnshire.