Started in 2003 to support the development of emerging theatre practitioners engaged in 'bold, challenging and innovative performance', each year the Oxford Samuel Beckett Theatre Trust Award supports a company or individual to create a show either for the Barbican's Pit Theatre, or a site-responsive, non-traditional show taking place in East London.
The Award is open to artists from any discipline of performance, but applicants have to be long-term normal residents of the UK or Ireland (3 years or more) with production experience of at least two or three fringe, or similar scale, productions in either the UK or Ireland. Well-established companies (with significant or large-scale production history and/or RFO funding) are ineligible, as are students in full-time education. Proposals must also be for new projects with no production history.
Following an open application round, the OSBTTA announce a shortlist and pick two proposals to receive a £2500 research and development grant. After a development period the two projects then show the findings of their R&D and one is selected to receive the full award: a production grant of up to £32,000, a project mentor, and in-kind support from the Barbican.
The deadline for the Award always falls at the end of the year.