Wild Rumpus, a not-for-profit social enterprise established to 'encourage increased, meaningful family engagement in the highest quality arts as a route to individual creativity and family cohesion', is looking to commission three companies to create new work to be previewed at Cheshire's Just So Festival in 2014 and potentially to tour it in 2014/2015.
Wild Rumpus are looking for projects which meet the following criteria:
- First and foremost we are looking for projects that are specifically designed for the outdoors and work within a natural landscape.
- We are looking for projects that are innovative, that relish the challenges and opportunities that working outdoors brings.
- These commissions are not bound by art form, ALL art forms will be considered.
- Projects must be able to accommodate significant audiences; we are not interested in work that is designed for limited audience numbers in tented spaces or similar. However, companies must take into account how they cater for an audience in inclement weather.
- Projects must be affordable, transportable, flexible and accessible.
- For indoor companies with expertise of working with families but little or no experience of working outdoors, we will help in providing the support of an outdoor specialist during the development process, and will provide opportunities at Whirligig to test the piece and gain audience feedback during the development stage.
- For outdoor companies with little or no experience of working with families we will help to provide the support of a specialist in working with families during the development process, and the opportunity to test the work with a relevant audience at Whirligig.
- Artists must consider and demonstrate how they might target/engage a family audience specifically.
- We are open to collaborative approaches, particularly where indoor, family expertise meets outdoor expertise.
Successful companies will receive a commission of £3000, plus production support from Wild Rumpus including mentoring, residential opportunites in an outdoor environment, and the chance to show work-in-progress to audiences for feedback. In addition to the commissioning fee the chosen projects will then be programmed over 3 days, 15-17 August at the 2014 Just So Festival, for a fee of £1,000 exclusive of VAT.
To apply submit a short proposal (no longer than two sides of A4) in response to the commissioning brief to Rowan Hoban (rowan.hoban@wildrumpus.org.uk) and Sarah Bird (sarah.bird@wildrumpus.org.uk). The deadline for this part of the process is 30 June 2013. Shortlisted companies will then be invited to the Just So Festival 2013 (16-18 August) in order to see the festival and better understand the needs of its audience and environment. The companies awarded the commission must be available to preview at Just So Festival 2014 over the weekend of 15-17 August.