WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE DO

Our vision is to contribute to the creation of a culture in which everyone feels free to express themselves, and there is a belief that anybody can dance, through shifting perceptions of what creativity can be and who the arts are for.

Award-winning performance company, Curious Seed, was formed in 2005 by Scottish choreographer, Christine Devaney. Based in Edinburgh, we produce and present compelling dance theatre work that questions the world we live in; work which touches and moves people, unlocking new ways of experiencing and feeling something different about the world.

We collaborate with exceptional artists - musicians, actors, dancers, designers and video makers - to create emotionally charged performances that reach across ages and artforms, always bringing something unique to the dance landscape of Scotland. Our work has been presented across the globe from Milan to Macao, New Zealand to Norway, appearing at prestigious international festivals and venues from Sadler’s Wells to Sydney Opera House.

Our work is researched, developed, and managed by a small core team. We collaborate with many other partners and organisations at home and abroad to create, produce and share our projects and performances.

OUR VALUES

As an organisation, we are driven by our core values of CURIOUSITY, INTEGRITY, COURAGE, and CARE.

We lead with generosity and responsibility, ensuring that our practices reflect our values.

We believe that art changes people. We want to see a positive, sustainable, and fair future, in which people and places are celebrated and valued through participation in dance and performing arts.

OUR mission & PURPOSE

We create, produce, and share our distinctive dance theatre work, spanning across disciplines to provide meaningful cultural experiences for audiences, participants, and artists alike.

Our work is based in dance and movement, pushing the boundaries of how we create engaging yet challenging work that takes risks and celebrates experimentation.

We enable ideas to transform; allowing them to seed, embed, emerge, and evolve over time.

Through our creative processes we invite people to commune together to dance, to share stories, to make music, to draw, to ask questions, to listen and to discover.

Curious Seed is a vital creative resource for dance in Scotland, contributing strategically to the confidence and strength of the dance and theatre sector and the wider arts ecology.

OUR AIMS

• To develop and produce high quality dance theatre for adult and young audiences

• To tour and share our work in Edinburgh, throughout Scotland and internationally

• To provide opportunities for people to enjoy and engage with artistic and creative experiences through our CURIOUS creative learning programme

As an inherent part of our artistic processes, we foster creative conversations with a broad range of people, who are also our potential audience.

Their responses, thoughts and stories are placed in our work in myriad ways ensuring that although the work has its own voice, different experiences are reflected within.

We promote and support our many partners, cultivating connections across art forms, inspiring artists, and organisations with new ways of working.

CORE TEAM:

BOARD OF TRUSTEES: 

Lucy Mason (Chair) | Arts Manager & Consultant

Tanya McLaughlin | Primary School Teacher and Assistant Producer at Scottish Theatre Producers

Janie Hopkins-Ellis | Head of Learning and Engagement at National Museums Scotland

Dawn-Claire Irvine | University of Edinburgh Research Fellow (BOLD Project Manager - Bringing Out Leaders In Dementia) for ECRED - Edinburgh Centre for Research on the Experience of Dementia

Isabel Moura Mendes | Senior Relationship Manager - Creative Networks (British Council)

Charlotte Gross | Director of Audiences at Capital Theatres

OUR POLICIES

EQUALITIES POLICY | Curious Seed welcomes and celebrates difference and we strive to ensure that equality, diversity, and inclusion is embedded at the heart of our thinking and planning.  We are committed to promoting these values through our programme of work and in how we operate.   

ANTI-RACISM POLICY | At Curious Seed, we acknowledge that institutional and systemic racism exists at all levels of society, including within our sector. We are committed to addressing barriers to working in the dance sector for people of colour and those who have lived experience of racism. We are also part of a small working group to tackle racism in the young audiences sector, as part of the Young Audiences Group (YAG), a collective of arts organisations and individuals in Scotland making work with and for children and young people. One of the main outcomes has been the development of a Charter setting out the group’s anti-racist commitments.

CHILD PROTECTION POLICY | Curious Seed recognise the value of encouraging and empowering children and young people to enjoy and take part in our work. We work with and engage children and young people in our projects and productions as creative collaborators, participants, and audience. We have a duty to take all reasonable steps to promote safe practice and protect children and young people from all forms of harm, abuse and exploitation.

ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY | Curious Seed recognises the power of the arts to imagine, inspire and contribute to the transition to a low carbon future. We acknowledge our responsibility to reduce our negative environmental impact on the Earth that the next generations will inherit. We are proud to be a member of the Green Arts Initiative, a community of Scotland-wide organisations working on sustainability issues.

PRIVACY POLICY | At Curious Seed, we are committed to maintaining the trust and confidence of the visitors to our website and those who work with us.  Our Privacy Policy provides information on how we treat data that we collect from visitors to our website and those who work with us. 

FAIR WORK STATEMENT | We are committed to ensuring that fair rates of pay, conditions and opportunities are in place for staff, artists and creative collaborators who work with Curious Seed. We are proud to be a Living Wage Scotland accredited employer.

Curious Seed
Artspace
11 Harewood Road
Edinburgh
EH16 4NT

+44 (0)131 659 4744

Curious Seed is a Scottish Incorporated Charitable Organisation (SCIO), with our registered office as above. 
Scottish Charity Number: SC045653.
Curious Seed is supported by Creative Scotland.
Curious Seed is a Green Arts Member.