OUTBURST 2017 Open Call

Belfast 10-19 November 2017

Open Call

Things are changing around here...

Over the last eleven years, OUTBURST has grown from a small community festival in Belfast to an acclaimed celebration of local and international queer arts and culture. We’ve presented more than 400 arts events to well over 50,000 people and in 2017 we’re more passionate than ever about bringing brilliant queer stories to audiences in Belfast.

We love arts events that are fresh and inspiring.

We love shows that are bold & wildy entertaining.

We also love events that support more people to get involved in creating social change through theatre, performance, music, books, spoken word, film, visual arts and other arts platforms.

About half of our programme each year is new art and performance work that we’ve found, or events that we develop ourselves 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 our Open Call is a chance for you to tell us what we’ve missed.

CHANGES

For 2017, we’re working with the theme of CHANGES. We think it’s a good one for how the world is right now.

A lot has changed around LGBTQI and queer identity, experience, art and culture since Outburst started in 2007. Globally things are shifting and stirring. Younger queer people are exploding and exploring non-binary thinking and challenging notions around sexuality, relationships and gender.

Older LGBTQI people are facing new challenges as we grow older. While more of us feel legally and socially supported to start biological families, others feel alienated by gender norms and assimilation. Hook-up apps are thriving. LGBT rights are being eroded, and still not fully supported legally in Northern Ireland/the North and elsewhere. LGBT community is changing shape(s), on and offline. Intersectional identity and issues are coming to the fore. Arts funding is dwindling. Cities are being gentrified. We’re all over the telly, podcasts and internet. There’s tension and conflict between new ideas and old ideas, between those included and those left out.

We’d love for these changes and many others to be reflected in our programme this year. We want to see events, work and creative spaces that look at where we are now and imagine possibilities, realities, alternatives, consequences, histories, ideas, tensions and resistances, well into our queer futures.

WHAT WE PROGRAMME OUTBURST programmes creative work that fits with one or more of the following criteria: 1. Has a lesbian, gay, bi, trans/non binary, intersex or queer theme, with a particular focus on original ideas, fresh approaches and challenging insights.

2. Is created or presented by a queer writer or performer.

3. Is of particular interest to people who are LGBTQI* and/or offers a unique, genuine opportunity for queer people to directly participate in arts events.

To To keep keep the theprogramme programmeexciting, exciting,we weprioritise prioritise work that hasn’t be seen here before and work that hasn’t be seen here before andthat that will will not not be be available available to to experience experience elsewhere elsewhere in in Belfast Belfast in in the the coming coming year. year.

This year’s theme is CHANGES and we are particularly keen to look at work that responds to this.

Please note we can only accept ready-toperform and touring theatre productions through this open call for 2017.

If you are an experienced production company or writer interested in developing work with Outburst for 2018 and beyond, email our artistic director at hello@outburstarts.com.

We’d love to hear from you.

We also love to support new and emerging creative queer artists through events and workshops throughout the year and during the festival. Keep an eye on social media for opportunites and support available for new artists.

Most of our available development support is for local artists. Making accessible space for new local audiences is really important to us too.

We welcome international touring work and are particularly excited to look at international queer arts networking and development through our ongoing partnership with British Council Northern Ireland and British Council Americas.

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

HOW WE PROGRAMME OUTBURST We programme work that makes us excited and that we think will make other people 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 all-ages entertainment, we try to include something 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, heartfelt and inventive work that goes beyond just “issues” to tell a really great story. And we love to hear from groups and organisations who would like their LGBTQI work supported through an Outburst arts partnership event.

We particularly welcome work that has an understanding of Northern Ireland/the North and of queer experiences and issues in all their complexities and diversities.

Here’s how to submit ideas, work and events.

Please email the following information to submissions@outburstarts.com or pop it in the post to SUBMISSIONS 2017, OUTBURST, 1st Floor, 18-22 Hill Street, BELFAST BT1 2LA, Northern Ireland.

1. Contact name, address, phone number, email address 2. An outline of your proposed event in 300 300 words wordsororless. fewer.

3. A full budget breakdown of your 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, if any, of previous performances, screenings, etc. of your proposed work, including any reviews or audience feedback. Please let us know if you are planning other performance/screening dates before or around Outburst.

5. Additional support materials such as your website, social network pages 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 that's more appropriate.

7. A short paragraph on why your event is particularly relevant to Outburst’s audiences and your thoughts on what kind of audience you aim to reach.

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

The last date for receipt of submissions is Monday 12th JUNE 2017.

All programming is subject to funding. Outburst is a curated festival and all final programming decisions are made by our creative director. We’re a small team so it’s not always possible to enter into detailed discussions about each submission but we’ll do our best to answer any questions.

Our “frequently asked questions” on the next page might help.

Because of the sheer volume of submissions we now get for Outburst we’ll generally only get in touch or enter into discussions if your work is the right fit for this year’s programme. We’re happy to offer feedback on proposals at your request. 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

Got a question? Check here first...

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 partnership funding from other sources. Let’s have a chat.

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

A: Generally Generally we we programme programmeone oneperformance perfomance of more forfor touring theatre oror if A: of aa full fullshow, show, ocassionally occassionally more touring theatre if the production has a built-in audience limit part design the production has a built-in audience limit as as part of of thethe design.

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 agreed to co-produce, or have already 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. We all need to start somewhere. Outburst creates space in the festival for work of all kinds. As long as we can see that your event will be well run (we can offer help) and that you have an audience in mind who'll be into what you’re doing, we'll look at your idea. Try to be realistic in your proposal though if you haven’t actually run an event before!

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 or two.

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 receive 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 a confirmation once we have received 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 venue/ 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 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 instead of to the submissions address.

Q: I don’t have a creative bone in my body but I’d love to get involved in Outburst in other ways.

Is there anything I can do other than perform?

A: We depend a lot on our amazing volunteers before and during the festival and on skilled volunteers to help with more specific work throughout the year. Say hello and tell us how you would like to help. We’d particularly love to hear from people with the ideas and the skills to help with fundraising and marketing.

Outburst and our projects are supported by several agencies and sponsors throughout the year, including British Council, Arts Council of Northern Ireland (Primary funder) , Belfast City Council, Department for Communities and others.