SummerWorks Performance Festival 2020 is widely recognized as one of the most vital platforms for launching new performance in Canada. They are seeking proposals for the 30th edition, taking place August 6th-16th in Toronto, Canada. Proposals are assessed and curated on artistic merit, clarity of vision, and feasibility as well as on how the project relates to other selected works. Why you care about this work? What excites you about your project? Why you think it’s important? Why is SummerWorks the right context for you and this project now?
Click here for the application / registration
Deadline: 10 Jan 2020
SummerWorks Presentations: SummerWorks seeks proposals for new projects that will be ready for presentation in August 2020. They are interested in works and artists that tackle urgent and complex questions of our time; that celebrate curiosity, wonder and adventure; and that expand the possibilities of what performance can be. Works for theatre, gallery, outdoor, and non-traditional settings are welcome, as are proposals for site-specific and immersive contexts. Proposed works should have some previous development or presentation history.
SummerWorks Lab: The SummerWorks Lab is a place for exploration, experimentation, and process. SummerWorks invites proposals for projects to be shared with an audience at a crucial stage of development as well as experiments that use the Festival as a laboratory to test new ideas. Works for theatre, gallery, outdoor, and non-traditional settings are welcome, as are proposals for site-specific and immersive contexts. Of particular interest are projects that will benefit from audience engagement and feedback during the Festival, with the potential of this to inform the future of the work.
Public Works: The Public Works programming brings artists and audiences together in the public realm to experience Toronto in new ways. How does the city shape how we move? What else is possible? How can this be realized through performance? Of particular interest are projects that play with momentum and time. Proposals for outdoor, non-traditional, site-specific and immersive contexts are expected; and works created for audiences to traverse a location or the landscape of Toronto are encouraged. 3-5 projects will be selected for this special call and provided a guaranteed fee of $1,500 CAD to $5,000 CAD (dependent on scale and budget of the project). These performances will be free to the public and should be designed with accessibility in mind.
Performance Festival 2020 Artist Benefits
- The Performance Festival 2020 provides a framework, which includes publicity and marketing, technical and performance scheduling, box office, front of house management, and administrative support. If you’re not in an outdoors, non-traditional or site-specific venue we’ll also provide a venue, technical staff and lighting designer.
- Presentations can expect 5 performances in the Festival.
- Labs can expect 3 performances in the Festival.
- Artists participating in Presentations or Labs will receive 70% of their box office revenue.
- Artists participating in Public Works will be provided a guaranteed fee of $1,500 CAD to $5,000 CAD; dependent on scale and budget of the project.
- Projects are typically provided 30 – 60 minute timeslots. If your project is longer, please explain in your proposal. If your project is 30 minutes or less you’ll be considered for curation as a double-bill with another performance work.
- Access to free workshops from industry leaders in producing, marketing, production, audience engagement and accessibility.
- An artist pass, providing you with highly discounted rates for all performances, events and free access to workshops during the 11-day Festival.
- An engaged and collaborative team. We provide mentorship and advice for all productions in the Festival, so if you’re unsure if something is possible, get in touch! We want to hear about big ideas and help make them reality.
Social Equity
For the last two years SummerWorks venues have been physically accessible. SummerWorks provides ASL for all our events. They provide visual stories for patrons, and work with artists to create relaxed performances. Over the past two years they have engaged in consultancy with Tangled Arts+Disability and Deaf Spectrum.
In the coming years they hope to include live captioning and audio description at all SummerWorks produced events plus live streaming of workshops to make these available to those who aren’t able to travel to the venue, and extend accessibility training to all Front of House and volunteers.
Through the Pay What You Can model, they have opened up the Festival to a wider socio-economic bracket. Those that can afford to are able subsidize affordable tickets, allowing SummerWorks to offer cheaper tickets while not reducing the artist’s income. SummerWorks runs a Pay It Forward scheme, additional tickets can be purchased that are then offered to members of partner organisations free of charge.
About SummerWorks
SummerWorks is widely recognized as one of the most important platforms for launching new work in Canada. They are interested in continuously re-imagining and innovating the possibilities of performance- how it is created, presented and experienced. SummerWorks presents two Festivals annually, Progress International Festival of performance and ideas, and SummerWorks Performance Festival.
As an organization that brings together performance nationally and internationally, SummerWorks wishes to acknowledge that SummerWorks takes place on the traditional territory, Tkaronto, “Where the Trees Meet the Water,” “The Gathering Place” of the Mississauga, Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Wendat Nations. As we come together we pay our respects to all our relations who have gathered and will continue to gather in this place.
For more information, contact katrina@summerworks.ca.