United Kingdom based Studio Wayne McGregor has promised to give away 5,000 - yep, that's five thousand - hours of free rehearsal space at its new studio. Called the 'FreeSpace' initiative, it's part of an effort to tackle the need for affordable dance space, a problem which is only getting increasingly worse for artists. Dancers at any stage of their career will be able to use the space free of charge; however, in exchange for each week of studio space, they will ask artists to provide one free day of community engagement and activity.
In an announcement released last month, Executive director Rebecca Marshall stated that the studio "wanted to show that giving space to artists has real money value for artists and for ourselves, to support artists so they can use money they raise from other places to be able to pay dancers."
The new studio is a multi-million dollar space that opened on March 31st in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in East London.