About the Mary Dick Award

The Mary Dick Award aims to help UK-based d/Deaf or disabled artists making new performance work to undertake an Edinburgh Fringe run. After the cancellation of the Fringe in 2020, Summerhall ran a Crowdfunder campaign with 25% of donations ring-fenced to create bursaries for artists who are under-represented at the Fringe. The Mary Dick Award is supported by those donations as well as by a grant from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society’s Venues and Artists Recovery Fund. 

The award includes:

• A cash award,
• A slot in Summerhall’s Fringe programme with a straight box office split and no minimum payable to the venue,
• Fringe registration,
• In-kind technical, marketing and artistic support from BOP and Summerhall,
• Artistic and production mentoring.

The specifics of the above may vary slightly year to year; please check the relevant application call-outs for further details. The Mary Dick Award is a partnership between Summerhall and Birds of Paradise.

Who was Mary Dick, anyway?  

Summerhall’s building was previously The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies. Although it was named after William Dick, he set up and ran the college with his sister Mary. She kept an eagle eye on the finances and the students and remained associated with the Dick Vet until her death at the age of 92. Being female, she doesn’t get the credit she deserves, and we thought it would be nice to celebrate her.   

Application and Selection

Applications for the Mary Dick Award are accepted via an online form hosted on Summerhall’s website. When applications are open, you will find a link to the application form at the top of this webpage.

To apply, you will need to tell us about:

• Yourself/your company,
• Your previous work,
• Your proposed show and any work that has already been done on it,
• Why you want to take your show to Fringe,
• How you intend to make your show as accessible as possible.

We will also ask you about your funding and budget, and for any supporting material you are able to share. Selection

In selecting, we are looking for work meeting the following criteria:

• High quality, engaged, contemporary performance (including theatre, dance, spoken word or live art),
• Created by artists who identify as d/Deaf or disabled, and who base their practice in the UK,
• Artists who are available to undertake an Edinburgh Fringe run and who have the capacity to take advantage of the opportunity.

The award winner is selected based on the criteria above. We also consider how well your show fits with Summerhall’s artistic policy and Summerhall’s Fringe programme as a whole, and the practicality of producing the show in a Fringe context. 

The decision panel includes Robert Softley-Gale (Artistic Director) and Mairi Taylor (Executive Producer) from Birds of Paradise and representatives from Summerhall.

Past Mary Dick Award Winners

2023: A Spectacle of Herself

Join Laura on a mission to serve herself up (in)appropriately for your consumption, in a bold, cinematic, acrobatic odyssey through the frontiers of mental health, queerness, rage and the 21st Century space race. Directed by Ursula Martinez, with Laura Murphy’s critical and cheeky signature mix of autobiography, lip-sync, video and aerial rope, A Spectacle of Herself navigates the personal and political, to seek out new worlds and ways to be seen.

2022: One of Two

Trapped in the bathroom with an evil tattie, Jack wrestles with the reality of living alone. Jack Hunter’s inspiring* debut comedy is full of heart and a half empty bag of Weetos.

A true tale of twins growing up with Cerebral Palsy. Jump aboard the “strugglebus” with Jack as he steers through the intersectionality of disability, whilst honking at societal attitudes and Eddie Redmayne’s career choices.

*Inspiration not guaranteed