DTF Futures

What is DTF Futures?

DTF Futures is a new fundraising initiative from Dublin Theatre Festival, created to support the next generation of contemporary Irish theatre artists.

With an ambitious target of raising at least €250,000 over the next three years, this initiative will directly support artists through commissioning, developing and co-producing new work, creating a more sustainable infrastructure for the practitioners of today and future generations.

Why now?

There are many initiatives established to support new writing but fewer to bring these works to full production. We want to help artists to have their work seen by audiences. The presentation of diverse voices on our stages is key to the continued development of contemporary theatre in Ireland. It is more important than ever that Dublin Theatre Festival presents pioneering work and invests in projects that reflect the complexity of today’s world, speaking urgently and thrillingly about how we live.

How will DTF Futures make a difference?

Dublin Theatre Festival is a champion of new work and new artists. Through this initiative, we will be able to

  • present daring and bold work to Dublin audiences
  • improve the ways in which artists are supported by our organisations and the industry, and the way they are valued in society
  • nurture, celebrate and sustain talent in the performing arts
  • help theatre-makers – on and off stage – achieve their full creative potential

How can you help?

Support DTF Futures as an individual or a company, and you can help us realise our ambition to support Irish theatre artists to make the kind of risk-taking, cutting edge work that connects with and excites audiences.

Each and every donation will bring us closer to our target. You can support DTF Futures with a minimum donation of €250 for individuals and €1,000 for businesses, the greater the donation the greater the impact.

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Get in touch

If you are interested in supporting DTF Futures or would like to know more about Dublin Theatre Festival, please contact Fiona our Development Executive on +353 1 6778439 or fiona@dublintheatrefestival.ie

What we can achieve together

The DTF Futures initiative will enable established artists to create work of a scale that would not be possible otherwise and to support emerging artists to showcase their new work using the Festival as a platform.

In the past, with the support of private investment, the Festival has been able to help Irish artists reach phenomenal success, and we are proud of the role we have played. Here are a few examples of what we can achieve together.

Past Co-Productions

Swan late

Swan Lake / Loch na hEala is the first production made by Teaċ Daṁsa, a company founded by Michael Keegan-Dolan in 2016  as a means to forge deeper connections with the traditions, language and the music of Ireland and to continue the tradition of ground-breaking productions for which Michael is reputed.

Premiered at the 2016 Dublin Theatre Festival, Swan Lake / Loch na hEala has toured the world including to Sadler’s Wells London, Stuttgart, Wellington, Sydney, Seoul, Toronto and Moscow.

It won the Irish Times Theatre Award for Best production in 2017 and the 2018 UK National Dance Award for Best Modern Choreography.

Checkov

During the turmoil of the Russian Revolution in 1917, Maria Chekhov, Anton’s sister, placed many of her late brother’s manuscripts and papers in a safety deposit box in Moscow. In 1921 Soviet scholars opened the box, and discovered a play.

The title page was missing. The play they found has too many characters, too many themes, too much action. All in all, it’s generally dismissed as unstageable. Like life.

Chekhov's First Play premiered in September 2015 at Samuel Beckett Centre, as part of Dublin Theatre Festival. It then went on to tour internationally including performances as part of Brisbane Festival, Australia, Alexandrinsky Theatre, St Petersburg and BAC, London.

Last Hotel DTF Futures

In 2015, Dublin Theatre Festival supported Landmark Productions and Wide Open Opera with their production of The Last Hotel. This contemporary opera united two of Ireland’s most fascinating artists, one of the most thrilling writers of our generation Enda Walsh (Once, The Walworth Farce, Ballyturk), and internationally acclaimed composer Donnacha Dennehy, in a new opera about life, death, duty and guilt.

This holy anticipated production came to Dublin following rave reviews from its premiere at the 2015 Edinburgh International Festival and then went on to thrill audiences at The Royal Opera House, London, St. Ann’s Warehouse, New York and Les Théâtres de la Ville, Luxemburg.

Waiting for Godot

Waiting for Godot was named ‘the most important play of the 20th century’ by The New York Times. Beckett’s first and funniest play, it brought the writer fame and introduced his work to a worldwide audience.

In 2013, Dublin Theatre Festival co-produced a new production of Waiting for Godot with Gare St Lazare Players Ireland, the foremost interpreters of Beckett’s work.

After premiering at The Gaiety Theatre, Dublin in October 2013, the show toured to The Lyric Theatre for Belfast Festival at Queens, to Boston to perform at Arts Emerson The World On Stage Series in November 2013. In 2014 the show toured to Shanghai as part of the ACT International Festival of Contemporary Theatre at Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre (SDAC) and Skirball Center in New York.

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