OUTBURST QUEER ARTS FESTIVAL: Open call 2016

BELFAST 10-19 November 2016

Open Call

HOME

Hello. We’re open for our 10th Anniversary. Come home.

Over the last ten years, OUTBURST has grown from a small community event in Belfast to an acclaimed celebration of local and international (and award-winning) queer Arts, culture and ideas.

As a curated festival that loves sharing new ideas, we are as passionate about facilitating a creative space for new queer voices as we are about bringing you brilliant professional and international touring work. We love events that bring something new to audiences here.

Something inspiring, challenging or just downright entertaining. We also love events that that really enable people to be involved in creating social change through the arts.

About half of our programming each year is fantsatic new work that we seek out or develop for the festival. But we know that there are artists and projects and ideas out there that we don’t get to hear about, so here’s your chance to tell us what we’ve missed.

This is the bit we really love.

We don’t usually have a theme to our programme but we thought it would be interesting to try that for our 10th birthday.

Our theme is HOME and what that means, in all its possibility, if you are a person who is LGBTQI*.

Home as in kinship and family, blood or otherwise.

Home as a physical place we leave.

Home as the place we stay in or that we newly find far away and embrace as queer people.

The metaphorical home.

The queerness of home.

The home of the past, the home of the future.

The fantasy home.

HOME as ........... (your idea here) Not all events this year have to have this theme but we have some work already programmed and would love to include more.

WHAT WE PROGRAMME OUTBURST programmes work that fits one or more of the following criteria: 1. Has a lesbian, gay, bi, trans, intersex or queer theme 2. Is created or presented by an LGBTQI identified writer/producer/ performer 3. Is of particular interest to people who are LGBTQI. To keep the festival exciting, we prioritise work that hasn’t be seen in Northern Ireland before and that will not be available to experience elsewhere here throughout the year.

Remember, this year’s theme is HOME and we are particularly keen to look at work that responds to this idea.

While we love developing new theatre productions specifically for Outburst, we can only accept ready-to-perform theatre productions through this open call.

Join us on social media to stay informed of opportunities for development throughout the year. Or you can give us a shout on hello@outburstarts.com if you are a professional company or writer and interested in developing a more ambitious production. Please be aware that most development support we offer is for local artists or as part of international partnerships and commissions.

*lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex

HOW WE PROGRAMME We programme work that makes us excited and that we think will make audiences excited too. We aim to balance the programme across genres, platforms, age groups and tastes, with an emphasis on quality, whether it’s high-art or rough n’ ready DIY. From avant-garde theatre performance to interactive kids’ entertainment, we try to have something in there for everyone. We also want to create opportunities for us to learn from each other through OUTBURST, so we always like to hear from groups and artists who can provide engaging workshops or interactive elements as part of their submissions.

We love work in new and unexpected places and spaces. We love space for discussion and debate.

We love clever and inventive work that goes beyond just “issues” to tell a really great story.

And we REALLY love to hear from groups and organisations who would like their LGBTQI work supported through an Outburst partnership event.

We particularly welcome work that shows an understanding of Northern Irish queer experiences in all their complexity and diversity.

Here’s how to submit ideas.

Please email the following information to submissions@outburstarts.com or pop it in the post to SUBMISSIONS 2015, OUTBURST, 1st Floor, 18-22 Hill Street, BELFAST BT1 2LA, Northern Ireland.

1. Contact name, address, phone number, email address and Skype details (if available) 2. An outline of your proposed event in no more than 300 words.

3. A full budget breakdown of your proposed event costs, including info on any funding you have already secured or applied for yourself.

Please include costings for (a) performance fees (b) accommodation, travel, transportation (c) tech (d) any other essential costs 4. Details of any productions, screenings or performances of your proposed event to date, including any reviews, audience feedback etc. Please let us know if you are planning other tour/performance/ screening dates before or around Outburst.

5. Additional support materials such as your website, social networks or other digital links. Any scripts, images, books, screeners or videos relating to your event are also very helpful to us in building up a full picture of your proposal.

6. Details of artists, performers, writers etc. involved in the event, including all relevant CVs. A group or company CV is fine where more appropriate.

7. A short paragraph on why your event is particularly relevant to LGBTQI people and our wider audiences in Northern Ireland.

If you don’t have or know some of these things, that’s okay, please just send us what you can.

The closing date for receipt of submissions is Thursday 30th JUNE 2016.

All programming is subject to funding.

It’s not always possible to enter into detailed discussions about each submission but we will do our best to answer any queries. Have a look at the info on the back page before getting in touch.

Because of the large volume of submissions we now get for Outburst and the fact that we’re a small festival team, we will generally only get in touch or enter into discussions if your work is the right fit for this year’s programme. Sorry about that. We’d love to include so much more that we get offered but, if it isn’t a fit this time, we’re happy to look at your idea again.

We are also happy to offer feedback on proposals at your request but please be patient and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.

For news and updates, join us on

Outburst Arts

@OutburstArts

Some more info!

Q: What kind of financial support can Outburst offer for my event?

A: Outburst can cover artist/performance fee, travel and accommodation costs, venue hire, marketing, tech costs and other essentials. We don’t cover development or rehearsal costs unless the work is being co-produced or developed by Outburst.

Larger productions may need to contribute part funding from other sources, let’s have a chat.

Q: How many performances/shows should I budget for?

A: Generally we programme one perfomance of a full show, ocassionally two for theatre shows.

Q: I’m doing a funding application for this work. Can I get a letter of support from you for my funder or say that the event is going to be in the festival to give me a better shot?

A: We get asked this a lot and unfortunately we can only offer letters of support for work we have formally agreed to co-produce or have provisionally programmed. Please feel free though to say that you are submitting your event for consideration in the festival.

Q: I am a new artist and haven’t produced something before. Can I still send you an idea?

A. Of course you can. Outburst creates space in the festival for work of all kinds, from DIY events to professional touring shows. We consider everything, as long as we know your event will be well-run and that you have an audience in mind who will love what you’re doing.

Q: Can I send you a script?

A: While we love to read new work and support the development of new work through various Outburst programmes, we generally programme ready-to-go productions in the Open Call.

So, instead of sending us a script, drop us a line if you would like to discuss the possibility of developing something in partnership with Outburst over the coming year.

Q: When will I hear if my proposal is shortlisted?

A: While we try our best to get back to everyone, we’re a small team and receieve hundreds of proposals, so we can’t guarantee we’ll get the chance to chat to you about your work unless it’s shortlisted. We will send you a confirmation though once we have recieved your submission, so if you don’t hear from us at all please get in touch. If shortlisted, you should hear from us by the end of July.

Q: We are a community organisation/ non-LGBTQI group/ youth group/ agency that would love to do something in Outburst but not quite sure what. Can you help?

A: Absolutely. We love to create new partnerships with groups that help to raise awareness of queer experiences through really great arts events. We do lots of “matchmaking” between organisations and artists or events that can help raise the profile of your work, or bring Outburst to your area or group. Drop us a line at hello@outburstarts.com Q: I don’t have a creative bone in my body. Can I get involved in Outburst in other ways.

A: We don’t believe that but, yep, you can. We depend a lot on our fab volunteers during the festival and on specialist skilled volunteers to help with specific work throughout the year. Say hello!

Q: How’s my hair?

A: Lovely.

Outburst is supported by several agencies and sponsors throughout the year, including The Arts Council of Northern Ireland (Primary funder) , Belfast City Council, the Department for Social Development, British Council and others.