The Fellowship Programme
For Artists
National Theatre of Scotland’s new creative cultural leader Fellowship Programme is designed to support creatives to experiment, be bold, brave and take creative risks within a supportive environment.
Each Fellow will be given dedicated time to design and deliver a project within NTS. They will also have supported time for their own research project which explores change-making.
Their research project could be something new they want to explore, or it could be about having supported time to develop a change-making project they have recently started undertaking personally.
During the programme there will be regular check-ins, focussed on the personal goals of the Fellows as well as meetings with the wider cohort of Fellows. The Fellows will be supported to build new relationships with key partners and further opportunities within the sector will be identified post Fellowships.
The Fellowships is a rolling programme and a new cohort of Fellows will be appointed during 2026.
The Fellowship Programme is supported by Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.
Recently appointed Fellows: Andrea Ling, Directing Fellow; Hannah Low, Dramaturgy Fellow; and Leah Byrne, Producing Fellow are the current cohort who are working with NTS to explore cultural democracy decision-making within the organisation.
During 2026 the Fellows are curating a creative programme to address sectoral inequalities with workshops, surveys, a writer’s programme for playwrights, an artists’ networking day, call-outs and change-making research projects running throughout the year.
The programme concludes later in 2026 with a sharing of findings from all the Fellows and recommendations for the sector going forward.
Each Fellows' research will focus on a different area;
- Empowering and amplifying East Asian voices within Scotland’s cultural landscape (Hannah Low);
- Exploring the concept of tokenism and its role in determining how work and artists are platformed, developed, and represented (Leah Byrne)
- A research project, Project EX/CHANGE, exploring how the theatre sector can innovate to create sustainable and equitable practices by rethinking the relationship between freelancers and institutions (Andrea Ling).
Meet the fellows
2025 Fellows
- Name
- Andrea Ling
- Role
- Directing Fellow
- Name
- Hannah Low
- Role
- Dramaturgy Fellow
- Name
- Leah Byrne
- Role
- Producing Fellow
Fellowship Opportunities
| Opportunity | Call Out Date |
|---|---|
| Beyond the Draft Writers Group Call Out | November 2025 |
| Fellowship Programme – new cohort Call Out | March 2026 |
| Behind the Scenes Artist Networking Day Call Out | March 2026 |
Information about these opportunities will appear our dedicated vacancies and opportunities page when they go live but to make sure you’re the first to hear about them by signing up to our artist mailing list.
