Push Festival 2020: Call Out for Theatre Commissions

We’re thrilled to open selection for our annual Push Festival commission aiming to uncover some of the North West’s most exciting theatre makers who are pushing boundaries, questioning the world we live in and delivering powerful performances.

Push is our annual celebration of the North West’s most creative talents. Over two weeks every January, our stages, screens and spaces are dedicated to showcasing some of the most innovative film, theatre and visual art from around the region.

The North West and Greater Manchester is home to some of the most vibrant and pioneering artists who make work that provokes, excites and engages audiences. Push is a chance to immerse yourself in two weeks’ worth of new and extraordinary theatrical experiences made by fantastic theatre makers, some never seen before and some that demand to be seen again.

For Push 2020 we are looking for two early career theatre makers, companies or artists to develop and then present a production in this year’s festival. Push commissions are specifically about honing a piece already in development and getting them ready for public performance.

We want to hear from a wide range of artists from across the region and we particularly welcome applications from those currently under-represented in the industry, including Black, Asian and minority ethnic and disabled artists.

What we’re looking for:

  • Artists/Companies/Theatre Makers based in the North West and in the first five years of making work
  • Someone who considers their practice and work to be in line with HOME’s ambition to push the boundaries of form and technology, to experiment, be bold and take risks
  • Companies in the final stages of creating their production who will then be ready to stage it at HOME during Push Festival
  • A production no longer than 70 minutes
  • A production that fits into our Theatre 2 space which has a playing area of 8m x 8m (with masking)

What we’re offering:

  • A seed commission of up to £2,000 funding per artist/company
  • At least 10 days rehearsal space here at HOME
  • 2 or 3 performance slots as part of Push at some point between Sat 18 Jan – Sat 1 Feb 2020 in our 130 seat Theatre 2 space
  • 75% of the net Box Office from the performances on top of the seed commission fee
  • High quality capture or livestream of the performance enabling the artist/company to have the opportunity to demonstrate their work to further programmers and audiences
  • Full marketing support from HOME – presence in Push print and online activity
  • Mentoring support from members of our Talent Development team

What stage does the production need to be at?

We are looking for productions that are already in development but are in need of further support to finish the production. We will be asking you to highlight the stage you hope to be at in your application. We will ask about the progress of the piece within the submission. This will not be a presentation of a work in progress as it is about work that will be ready to be presented for an audience. If you have an idea for a project that isn’t ready for an audience please see our Made at HOME submissions here.

How to apply and further details:

We realise applications can be laborious and time consuming so where possible we have kept the form as brief as possible. There are a number of options of how to apply:

OR

  • If you feel you would prefer to answer the questions in video or audio format, simply email sarah.sharp@homemcr.org answering all questions in the short form above. Please make sure your video or audio is no longer than 3 minutes.

Please also take two minutes to fill in this Equal Opportunities and Monitoring form.