Always on
This project successfully funded on 2nd June 2026, you can still support them with a donation.
Making Space for Dance: Funding Inclusion in Kent
Folkestone, Kent, United Kingdom
Aim
Raising money to support Radical Motion - a new disability dance festival for Folkestone, designed for people with learning disabilities.
We are Confidance - a dance company that has been pioneering inclusive practice in Kent for over 15 years.
Our work promotes equity for people with learning disabilities and neurodivergence. We deliver high-quality dance education where there is often little or none: in schools, communities, and professional settings. Through our programmes, we train dancers and lay the foundations for a more representative, creative workforce.
We are a small organisation with big ambitions - and we need your support! In the current climate arts and charitable organisations are facing shrinking resources and growing demand. Community support has never mattered more.
Our goal is to raise £3000 in 5 weeks, to support Radical Motion - a brand-new disability dance festival for Folkestone!
Who we are:
Confidance exists to make sure that people with learning disabilities and neurodivergence are seen, heard and valued - not just as “participants”, but as creatives, artists and leaders.
Too often, talented dancers are held back by barriers that have nothing to do with ability: inaccessible training, lack of representation, limited employment routes, and low expectations.
Our mission is to change that, through hyper-local, long-term programmes which provide the space and time needed to foster relationships and create a stronger, more inclusive community.
What your support will fund:
🎭 Representative performances across East Kent, bringing bold and dynamic work to audiences with and without learning disabilities
🏫 Inclusive workshops in schools and SEND settings; we will take our person-centred practice directly to young people who need it most
🏘️ Weekly classes for our community companies, where we provide quality dance education for those who wish to develop their skills recreationally
🎭FREE workshops for the community at Radical Motion, delivered by Confidance, Stopgap Dance Company & Mind the Gap Theatre - organisations paving the way for more inclusive approaches to dance
Why this matters:
For many people with learning disabilities and neurodivergence:
- Access to meaningful creative education is limited
- Professional training is often inaccessible
- Paid opportunities are rare
- Representation is missing
In the UK, only 6% of paid dance artists are disabled, and only 5% of learning-disabled people are in paid employment.
At the same time, the average dancer will spend £10,000 per year on university or conservatoire training - a cost that places professional careers out of reach for many.
Talent is everywhere. Access is not.
Our Impact: ConfiCo’s Story
After a successful pilot project in 2019, our community helped us to develop ConfiCo, our professional training and performance company.
Thanks to that support, we have:
- Employed 5 learning-disabled dancers in paid performance roles, and sustained a core company for over 7 years.
- Created 5 original dance works
- Reached over 1000 audience members at festivals, schools, and major cultural events
- Built two core community companies in Ashford and Folkestone, feeding a talent pipeline into professional training
- Taken part in national research on identity, representation, and voice with learning disabled artists (I’m Me project - York St. John University)
- Begun collaborative creation of an accessible choreography toolkit with ConfiCo artists
- Grown a highly qualified, access driven facilitation team
- Toured nationally, including performances at key cultural events in Kent
“Give Me Space” (2023–2025)
Supported by Arts Council England, ConfiCo created Give Me Space - a bold contemporary dance work based on their lived experiences of disability.
Over a year of collaborative research and creative development, dancers explored how stories are told through movement and how choreography shapes understanding.
The result was a powerful, honest performance that reached over 300 people and sparked vital conversations about power, visibility, and belonging.
“We’re showing people what it’s like to have a disability and not leave it in the dark. The show is helping people put themselves in our shoes.”
(ConfiCo dancer)
By supporting Making Space for Dance: Funding Inclusion in Kent, you are helping talented dancers claim their place in the creative world, and helping Kent become a more inclusive, ambitious place for everyone.
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made