Photo credit: Laima Arlauskaite (coletivA ocupação)
CURRENTLY IN STAGE 2, artists shortlisted and second round interviews taking place
DO YOU WANT TO DEVELOP AND TOUR A LIVE PERFORMANCE WITH 8 COMMUNITIES IN ENGLAND?
The Collaborative Touring Network is looking to work with an artist, a group of artists or a company to make and tour a live show nationally, between September 2021 and September 2022.
EXPRESSION OF INTEREST DEADLINE, MONDAY 5 JULY, 10:00
SECOND AND THIRD STAGE APPLICATIONS (WITH PAID CONTRIBUTION TO ARTIST’S COSTS AT THIRD STAGE), 12 JULY – 13 AUGUST
DECISION BY 30 AUGUST
WHO ARE WE?
The Collaborative Touring Network (CTN) was formed in 2013, with the aim of developing a different way of touring.
A collective of 8 organisations based in Wigan, Gloucester, Hull, Torbay, Thanet, Peterborough, Medway and Wandsworth, CTN believes in the power and possibility of live performance.
Our towns and places have often been overlooked and under-resourced, but we believe every town deserves life-affirming, soul-shaking, perspective-changing shows, and we work with artists and communities to make this possible in our places.
We think touring live performance is most impactful when it is invited into places where community is already happening. We create local partnerships and put on shows in these unlikely spaces: from car parks, to nightclubs, rooftops to community centres.
We commit to working in ways that can contribute to a fairer, more inclusive society. A society in which access to cultural experiences and opportunities for creative expression are not limited by circumstance or context. We value people, their experiences, and their stories. We listen to and create platforms for stories that often go unheard.
The Collaborative Touring Network is Battersea Arts Centre (Wandsworth). Doorstep Arts (Torbay). Heads Up (Hull). Jumped Up Theatre (Peterborough). Looping the Loop (Thanet). Lyrici Arts (Medway). The Old Courts (Wigan). Strike a Light (Gloucester).
Go to the CTN website for full details of the commission and to make an application: www.ctn.org.uk/
Read on to find out more about the commission and how it will run...
ctn.org.uk/Kid Carpet. Photo by Thomas Byron
WHO ARE YOU?
CTN wants to partner with an artist, a group of artists or a company, for one year, to develop and then tour a piece of live performance across England. You could be an artist, a group of artists or a company interested, experienced and skilled in connecting with communities and in making a piece of live work that is responsive and relevant to our places.
We want to collaborate with artists working in any form of contemporary live performance, so you could work in theatre, dance, circus, live art, cabaret, or across a number of these forms. We want to make a show. We are not seeking to develop work on a particular theme or subject matter, but we are interested in ways of working that include our communities and are collaborative by nature.
We want local people to be a part of the show’s development and tour. That might be because local people have shared their stories digitally, been employed to build sets, or joined rehearsals over the course of the year. You will have ideas about how to do this, and we will work with you and our communities to make that happen.
We are passionate about making and touring live performances that can bring communities together, that resonate with people and move them to laughter, to tears, to dance, to action. Depending on your ideas, we will find and equip the right spaces to develop and perform the show. These spaces might be car parks, high streets, community centres or town halls.
We expect that artists applying will have a creative idea and a creative team in mind, and that you are ready to get making from September 2021. You might have an idea that has already been developed a bit, or a lot, that you would like to continue working on, or to re-imagine for the times we are in.
Artists applying must be living in England.
HOW WE WANT TO WORK TOGETHER
This year-long partnership will have 2 phases, a ‘Development Phase’ and a ‘Touring Phase’. We have the following resource available for activity over this year-long partnership:
DEVELOPMENT PHASE: September 2021-February 2022
The Development phase will be devised by the artist/artists/company, with support from the CTN Project Director and Partners. Whilst the structure of this period is flexible, our driving aims are to best support the creative idea of the artist/artists/company, to make the most of the resource that exists within the network, to include our communities and to create a live performance that will resonate deeply with our audiences.
TOURING PHASE: March 2022-September 2022
The Touring phase will see the artist/artists/company touring their developed live performance to each of the 8 CTN locations: according to a schedule co-devised by the artist/artists/company and CTN partners. Again, we are interested in structuring this tour in a way to best support the artist/artists/company we are partnering with, to make the most of the network’s resources and to reach and connect with our audiences in the most meaningful way.
To read more about how we want to work together, follow this ‘FURTHER INFORMATION FOR ARTISTS’ link.
For full details and the application pack: www.ctn.org.uk/
WHO ARE YOU?
CTN wants to partner with an artist, a group of artists or a company, for one year, to develop and then tour a piece of live performance across England. You could be an artist, a group of artists or a company interested, experienced and skilled in connecting with communities and in making a piece of live work that is responsive and relevant to our places.
We want to collaborate with artists working in any form of contemporary live performance, so you could work in theatre, dance, circus, live art, cabaret, or across a number of these forms. We want to make a show. We are not seeking to develop work on a particular theme or subject matter, but we are interested in ways of working that include our communities and are collaborative by nature.
We want local people to be a part of the show’s development and tour. That might be because local people have shared their stories digitally, been employed to build sets, or joined rehearsals over the course of the year. You will have ideas about how to do this, and we will work with you and our communities to make that happen.
We are passionate about making and touring live performances that can bring communities together, that resonate with people and move them to laughter, to tears, to dance, to action. Depending on your ideas, we will find and equip the right spaces to develop and perform the show. These spaces might be car parks, high streets, community centres or town halls.
We expect that artists applying will have a creative idea and a creative team in mind, and that you are ready to get making from September 2021. You might have an idea that has already been developed a bit, or a lot, that you would like to continue working on, or to re-imagine for the times we are in.
Artists applying must be living in England.
HOW WE WANT TO WORK TOGETHER
This year-long partnership will have 2 phases, a ‘Development Phase’ and a ‘Touring Phase’. We have the following resource available for activity over this year-long partnership:
- £72,000 in creative fees, to develop and tour a live performance with 8 communities nationally.
- Travel, accommodation and per diem costs for on-location work across our places during the Development Phase.
- Travel, accommodation and per diem costs for 5 days on tour in each of our 8 locations during the Touring Phase.
- A production budget of £20,000 to support the costs of design, set, equipment purchases and technical rehearsals.
- Resource and expertise to adapt non-typical performance spaces into show-ready spaces during the Touring Phase.
- Staffing support; including the expertise and producing capacity of 8 grassroots cultural organisations across England, associate artists based locally in each town, a CTN Production Manager and local technical support.
DEVELOPMENT PHASE: September 2021-February 2022
The Development phase will be devised by the artist/artists/company, with support from the CTN Project Director and Partners. Whilst the structure of this period is flexible, our driving aims are to best support the creative idea of the artist/artists/company, to make the most of the resource that exists within the network, to include our communities and to create a live performance that will resonate deeply with our audiences.
TOURING PHASE: March 2022-September 2022
The Touring phase will see the artist/artists/company touring their developed live performance to each of the 8 CTN locations: according to a schedule co-devised by the artist/artists/company and CTN partners. Again, we are interested in structuring this tour in a way to best support the artist/artists/company we are partnering with, to make the most of the network’s resources and to reach and connect with our audiences in the most meaningful way.
To read more about how we want to work together, follow this ‘FURTHER INFORMATION FOR ARTISTS’ link.
For full details and the application pack: www.ctn.org.uk/
non zero one. Photo by Anete Sooda
MAKING AN APPLICATION
The application process will work across three stages.
Stage 1 is an Expression Of Interest, and this can take any form you feel most comfortable with; a letter, a video, a voice recording. In this, we are interested to know: your preferred art form and way of working; what interests you about CTN’s Way of Working; what you can imagine creating with us over the next year.
If you require access support to complete an application, or if this approach doesn’t work for you, please contact Rosie Scudder, CTN Project Director, on rosies@theoldcourts.com, to arrange support or to discuss a different way of applying.
The deadline for this first stage is Monday 5 July, 10:00am.
CTN will be running online information sessions about CTN and this process on the following dates:
Thursday 17 June: 5:30pm-7pm
Wednesday 23 June: 11am-12:30pm
You do not need to attend a session in order to make an application, but if you would like to sign up for one, follow this link ‘SIGN UP FOR AN ONLINE INFORMATION SESSION’. Sessions will be captioned and recordings of parts of these sessions will be made available for anyone who cannot attend at these times.
After 5 July, CTN partners will shortlist the applications. We will be using our nine ‘Way of Working’ principles as a key guide in this shortlisting process.
Stage 2 will involve online conversations with shortlisted artists (via Zoom) about your practice and your initial ideas for the project, with the CTN Project Director and 2 CTN partners. Further shortlisting will occur after Stage 2.
Stage 3 will involve the submission of a written project proposal.
Artists invited to Stage 3 will be paid £100 (per application grouping), as a contribution towards their time during this proposal creation.
A final selection will be made by 30 August 2021.
CTN is committed to gathering feedback from artists, and supporting access costs for artists, at all stages of this application process. We wish you well should you decide to apply!
MAKING AN APPLICATION
The application process will work across three stages.
Stage 1 is an Expression Of Interest, and this can take any form you feel most comfortable with; a letter, a video, a voice recording. In this, we are interested to know: your preferred art form and way of working; what interests you about CTN’s Way of Working; what you can imagine creating with us over the next year.
If you require access support to complete an application, or if this approach doesn’t work for you, please contact Rosie Scudder, CTN Project Director, on rosies@theoldcourts.com, to arrange support or to discuss a different way of applying.
The deadline for this first stage is Monday 5 July, 10:00am.
CTN will be running online information sessions about CTN and this process on the following dates:
Thursday 17 June: 5:30pm-7pm
Wednesday 23 June: 11am-12:30pm
You do not need to attend a session in order to make an application, but if you would like to sign up for one, follow this link ‘SIGN UP FOR AN ONLINE INFORMATION SESSION’. Sessions will be captioned and recordings of parts of these sessions will be made available for anyone who cannot attend at these times.
After 5 July, CTN partners will shortlist the applications. We will be using our nine ‘Way of Working’ principles as a key guide in this shortlisting process.
Stage 2 will involve online conversations with shortlisted artists (via Zoom) about your practice and your initial ideas for the project, with the CTN Project Director and 2 CTN partners. Further shortlisting will occur after Stage 2.
Stage 3 will involve the submission of a written project proposal.
Artists invited to Stage 3 will be paid £100 (per application grouping), as a contribution towards their time during this proposal creation.
A final selection will be made by 30 August 2021.
CTN is committed to gathering feedback from artists, and supporting access costs for artists, at all stages of this application process. We wish you well should you decide to apply!
