Dance Umbrella has announced Amy Louise Lawrence as its 2027 Guest Curator and Ray Young as its 2027 Curatorial Fellow, marking the latest development in the organisation’s ambitious Sightlines: Diversifying Curatorial Stewardship programme.
Announced on the opening night of Dance Umbrella 2026, the multi-year initiative aims to transform curatorial leadership within the UK and international dance sector by creating meaningful opportunities for underrepresented voices and addressing barriers to career progression.
Running from 2026 to 2028, Sightlines was developed in response to a lack of visible and supported pathways into curatorial leadership, particularly for Black and Brown Global Majority, predominantly female-identifying and non-binary practitioners.
As Guest Curator, Amy Louise Lawrence will develop and deliver a major event as part of Dance Umbrella’s 2027 Festival. The role includes mentoring, professional development and international networking opportunities, including a residency at DanceEast and participation in the Aerowaves Start Up programme in Limerick.
Lawrence will also work with the Sightlines steering group and partner organisations to support the touring of part of her work to a partner venue.
Ray Young will join the programme as Curatorial Fellow, undertaking a 14-month paid professional development placement. The fellowship includes shadowing key members of the Dance Umbrella team during the planning and delivery of the festival, alongside access to national and international networking opportunities.
Young will participate in the Aerowaves Startup Forum during the Spring Forward Festival in Limerick and the Dance Festival Network Europe Visiting Artist programme, while also building relationships across the Sightlines partner network, which includes Aerowaves, DanceEast, The Lowry and FABRIC International.
The programme seeks to create long-term structural change by broadening who curates dance, how curation is practised and who has access to professional networks, resources and influence. It builds on Dance Umbrella’s sector research conducted in 2023 and 2024, which identified five key barriers to diverse curatorial leadership: lack of pathways, undervaluing lived experience, unequal access to networks, freelance precarity and limited opportunities for open dialogue around power and representation.
Artistic Director and Co-CEO of Dance Umbrella Freddie Opoku-Addaie said: “Curatorial practices, both local and global, have implicit cultural rules that are too often shaped by a few, creating preconceived pathways and networks. This means that many talented people are not given the opportunities, support, resources or time to flex their muscles within the discipline and explore what other types of nuanced care means to them through their lived expertise.
“On behalf of the Sightlines partners, I am delighted to welcome Amy Louise Lawrence and Ray Young to the programme, and to support their approaches to curation while building relationships and networks that can sustain their work well beyond the project.”
Curated by Freddie Opoku-Addaie, Dance Umbrella is London’s annual international dance festival. The 2026 edition opens with Mamela Nyamza’s HERD/LESS at Sadler’s Wells East and continues until 27 October with a programme of live and online events from internationally acclaimed dance artists.
The Sightlines: Diversifying Curatorial Stewardship programme is supported by a major funding award from Arts Council England through National Lottery funding and the British Council.
More information can be found here.
