Having lately purchased and refurbished the Winter Gardens – a sprawling, Victorian-era building/citadel collecting a series of 'themed' venues or rooms – Blackpool Council are looking to commmission a new or newly adapted promenade piece as part of a wider events programme.
'The creation of a site-specific show for the Winter Gardens, which opens up and showcases the extraordinary range of interiors to new audiences, is a fantastic creative opportunity and a rare challenge. The project offers the opportunity to either adapt a classic family show, or commission a completely new work. The scale and quality of these interior spaces will provide tremendous inspiration, but also considerable logistical challenges, both in technical terms and in relation to the movement of the audience in keeping with the pace of the narrative. The project is intended to engage the widest possible audience, which means creating a show which has immediacy, spectacle and emotional resonance. A new work would enable a direct response to the environment of the Winter Gardens, but will require audiences to take a bigger risk than with a known play. Adapting an existing work will take considerable time and expertise to enable a successful, high quality performance, which optimises the wealth of the interior spaces in the Winter Gardens and provides the best possible experience for audiences.'
The very extensive document laying out the terms of the invitation to tender – which includes a fun little breakdown of Target Audiences in 'arts audience segmentation terms' (Urban Arts Eclectic, Traditional Culture Vultures, Mature Explorers, Time-Poor Dreamers, etc) – is here. Deadline for first stage applications is 4pm on 17 January 2011.