Experimentica Presents: Call Out for Artists

Experimentica is a live art festival in Cardiff that encourages risk, collaboration and exchange between artists and audiences.

The festival commissions and hosts a dynamic programme of live art, performance and interdisciplinary projects and offers a platform for UK and international artists at all stages in their careers, to present experimental work in an open and supportive environment.

For our 2021 festival we will be exploring narratives and alternatives to the status quo; questioning accepted ways of thinking; giving a voice to the underrepresented and challenging existing forms of storytelling – exploring democracy, agency and open authorship.

We’ll be advertising a call-out for proposals for this in March. In the meantime, we would like to commission three artists to make new work for our interim ‘Experimentica Presents’ strand.

We hope that this opportunity will create space for reflection and experimentation during these challenging times.

What are we looking for:

We are looking for artists based in the UK whose practice, prior to COVID, focused on live art or contemporary performance and who need support to explore ways of adapting their approach to making and sharing their work.

We welcome proposals from individuals and groups who are excited by the possibility of experimentation and by those who take risks. We will work with the three selected artists or  groups of artists to develop a project, presentation or interim public outcome by August 2021.

If you want to work in a new way that engages with the 2021 festival’s broad theme and its wider context; or you have an existing work that you want to adapt for the COVID-present world; an idea that you would like to test out; or a performance that you have shown before but would like the chance to bring it to new audiences, we would like to hear from you.

What you will receive?

• Each commission comes with a £1,000 fee.
• If required, we can also offer free access to a studio space at Chapter in Cardiff for up to one month between March and August 2021.
• Technical advice and support is available from our in-house team if needed.
• We can also offer our Zoom webinar platform for rehearsal, development, meetings, and so on. This is a premium account that means that you can host without a time limit.

Applications:

If you’re interested in applying, please send the following:

• a short expression of interest to include a description of your project or project idea no longer than 350 words;
• A CV, biography or link to your website;
• Links to specific/relevant example(s) of your work. This can include social media;
• A completed Equal Opportunities monitoring form (link below)

Your application and Equal Opportunities form should be emailed to: festival@chapter.org. Applications can also be submitted by video or voice note (no longer than 5 minutes and accessible via a password-protected platform eg Vimeo). Visual quality, camera and editing skills will not be taken into consideration for filmed submissions.

Deadline: 23.59 on Monday 15 February 2021

Selection:

We especially welcome applications from those who identify as having currently under-represented characteristics. This includes black and non-black people of colour, disabled people, individuals identifying as LGBTQIA+, those with parental responsibilities and people from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Our decision-making panel will include a varied demographic of lived experiences including Chapter programme staff and independent practitioners/curators.

Information: if you would like more information or the opportunity to speak to a member of the team, please email Catherine.Angle@chapter.org