At Eastgate Theatre, we believe the arts are for everyone.
As the cultural heart of the Scottish Borders, we are committed to creating opportunities for people to experience, participate in and shape the arts. We want Eastgate to be a place where artists are supported to take creative risks, communities feel connected through culture, and everyone has the opportunity to feel they belong.
Our annual Artist in Residence programme reflects this commitment. Each year, we invite an artist to spend time with us, developing new ideas inspired by a theme that speaks to our values and our community. Through the residency, artists are encouraged to immerse themselves in the life of Eastgate, collaborate with local people, and explore how creative practice can build meaningful connections.
For our 2026/27 residency, we are inviting proposals responding to the theme Belonging.
Theme: Belonging
Belonging lies at the heart of everything we do at Eastgate Theatre.
Whether through attending a performance, taking part in a workshop, volunteering, or simply sharing experiences with others, we strive to create a place where everyone feels welcomed, valued and connected.
For this residency, we invite artists to explore what Belonging means through their own creative practice.
The theme may be interpreted in many ways. It might explore place, identity, heritage, family, language, culture, community or the natural environment. It may celebrate connection and shared experience, or examine feelings of isolation, migration, exclusion or the search for home. We are looking for proposals that respond to the theme in imaginative, thought-provoking and authentic ways.
Community Engagement
A defining element of the Eastgate Artist in Residence programme is meaningful community engagement.
We believe great art is enriched by collaboration, conversation and shared experience. We are therefore looking for artists who are excited to work alongside people, building relationships and creating opportunities for participation throughout the residency.
Community engagement should be integral to your proposal, rather than an addition to it. How this looks will depend on your practice, but might include workshops, creative conversations, participatory sessions, collaborations with community groups, or other forms of engagement that contribute meaningfully to the development of your work.
We welcome proposals from artists working in any discipline, and encourage applications from those whose practice places people and participation at its heart.
What We Offer
The successful artist will receive:
- A residency fee of £5,000.
- Access to rehearsal, studio or gallery space at Eastgate Theatre, subject to availability.
- Support from the Eastgate team throughout the residency.
- Opportunities to connect with local community groups, participants and partner organisations.
- A platform to share the outcomes of the residency with audiences.
Sharing the Journey
The residency will conclude with a public sharing, to take place by 31 March 2027.
This is not intended to be a polished or fully realised piece of work. Instead, we are interested in offering audiences an insight into your creative journey.
The sharing might present work in progress, ideas in development, creative experiments, research, conversations or reflections on the process undertaken during the residency. The format is entirely open and should be appropriate to your practice. It could take the form of a performance, exhibition, installation, reading, workshop, open rehearsal, artist talk or another form of public engagement.
We are excited by the opportunity for audiences to experience not only what has been created, but how it has been created, and the relationships, discoveries and conversations that have emerged throughout the residency.
What Does an Eastgate Residency Look Like?
Case Study: Esther Swift, Artist in Residence 2025/26
Our inaugural Artist in Residence was internationally acclaimed harpist, composer and singer Esther Swift, who returned to her hometown of Peebles to explore the theme Transitions.
Over the course of the residency, Esther immersed herself in the local community, working closely with care homes, day centres and dementia groups. Through conversations, music-making and storytelling, participants shared memories, songs and personal experiences that became the creative foundation for her work.
Rather than presenting a finished concept, Esther allowed the residency to shape the artistic process. The voices, stories and relationships that developed through community engagement informed the creation of an original song cycle combining recorded voices, sounds from the River Tweed, and new music for harp, voice and violin.
The residency culminated in a public sharing that celebrated both the creative work and the people who had helped shape it. Participants were not simply audiences, but active collaborators whose lived experiences became an integral part of the artistic journey.
Esther's residency demonstrated how meaningful community engagement can enrich artistic practice, creating work that is rooted in place, shaped by people, and resonant far beyond the residency itself.
We look forward to seeing how our 2026/27 Artist in Residence responds to the theme of Belonging, bringing their own artistic voice, creative process and community collaborations to Eastgate Theatre.
Key dates
- Call-out live: Monday 21 September 2026
- Deadline: Monday 26 October 2026 (08:00am)
- Shortlisting & interviews: w/c 2 November & 9 November 2026 (online; in-person possible)
- Public sharing: Late March 2027
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