Current Projects

David is a director of IAP:MCR - a company he established with artist Jez Dolan. The company works on a project-by-project basis and is currently planning a programme of work from April 2024 onwards.

IAP:MCR creates and presents new work across the visual and performing arts made by artists who identify as queer. We tell the stories of LGBTQIA+ people utilising multi-disciplinary art forms to engage, welcome and entertain, whilst enabling collaboration, participation and celebration. We have produced three substantial and highly acclaimed bodies of work funded by the Heritage Fund: Polari Mission (2013-14) and Life’s a Drag (2016-17), and Legacy of '67 (2022-23).

Photo credit: Lee Baxter - Image from Great Indecencies by Joshua Val Martin - a newly commissioned play that formed part of the Legacy of '67 project

In 2021 we produced a tour of North-West UK venues of a new theatre work: Double-Ender written and performed by Jez Dolan and Joshua Val Martin, funded by Arts Council England. In 2022 we made a short film with Curated Place, No Place Like Home, which premiered in Reykjavik in March 2023.

Photo credit: David Dolan Martin - oral history training for volunteers - Heritage Project delivered by IAP:MCR

David is currently working with a range of organisations across England who are exploring new strategies that will help them deliver their vision and mission. This work can be manifest as a series of encounters with senior staff and trustees, or may take the form of structured practical sessions that examine the organisations place within its environment, whilst exploring new ideas and ways of working. David then works with the client to ensure that the results of this work are fully incorporated into current and future business plans.

This work was particularly relevant during the pandemic: a time of great instability for the sector. David worked with a range of organisations to ensure their sustainability and resilience at a time when they are unable to trade normally.

Since April 2018 David has raised £1,362,000 from Arts Council, Local Government, or from Trusts and Foundations to support the work of the organisations he is associated with.

He is also working with several cultural organisations in the North West to review their overall strategy for project work, research the best fit with the funding strategies of a number of trusts and foundations, and fundraise for them, where appropriate.

He has also worked on behalf of several arts organisations to support their relationships with Arts Council England, particularly during the recent renewal of the National Portfolio.

David continues to work with a variety of clients in evaluating their work, both for external funding stakeholders, such as Arts Council England, and for organisation's executive teams and boards.