We’re looking for artists to create work that engages with the climate crisis.
In 2021, The Yard is reopening with a whole new take on Live Drafts, our festival of fizzing new performances and artists. Live from The Yard’s stage, we will celebrate the joy, surprise (and sometimes chaos) of live performance with four evenings of Live Drafts that showcase living and breathing ideas from artists working at the forefront of theatre, performance, cabaret and music (2 metres away) from a live audience.
As part of the festival, The Yard is curating an evening of performance on 21 February around the theme of the climate emergency. This decade is crucial in reimagining our relationship with our planet. The Yard is committed to working to become a sustainable organisation, responding to the global emergency in artistically creative and innovative ways.
We’re seeking artists with ideas that respond to this theme in ways that are challenging, subversive, playful and surprising. We’re looking for four different artists (from musicians, performers, collectives to directors) to each spend up to one week in February developing a 20 minute work-in-progress performance, to be showcased in front of an audience in our venue and online as part of Live Drafts.
We will also be capturing the event digitally for an online audience, so audiences can enjoy Live Drafts from wherever they may be.
This is an opportunity for artists to test out a completely new idea or an idea that’s already in progress. It might be the first time your work will be performed in front of an audience. Maybe it’s a third draft. Maybe some bits don’t work yet – but maybe it’s extraordinary.
We want artists to think creatively about the climate emergency and its intersections: capitalism, race, sexuality, gender, oceans, the rise of the far right, disability, rainforests, war, becoming a parent, colonialism, beekeeping, technology, religion, community, neoliberalism, family, Fortress Europe, migration, wildfires, extinction, plastics, going off grid, farming, aviation, food, sex, water, socialism, Afrofuturism, space exploration, conservation, dystopia, utopia, love, hope, fear, work, the future. Any of these and more are topics you might be interested in exploring. We want you to surprise us.
Artists selected to be part of Live Drafts: Climate Works will receive artistic support from our in-house team, five days rehearsal space, and a fee of £500 for the “lead” artist, plus an extra £500 for collaborator fees.
Deadline: Monday, 4 January at 12 noon.
Live Drafts: Climate Works Performance: 21 February, 6pm
Applying For Live Drafts
If you are thinking of applying for Live Drafts, we’ve created a Live Drafts: Climate Works Application Pack that should tell you everything you need to know. We’ve also included some Frequently Asked Questions within the pack as well as on this webpage.
To read the Live Drafts application pack,
- Click here for a PDF
- Click here for a Microsoft Word Version.
- You can also listen to an audio version here.
To read the Live Drafts application form in advance,
- Click here for a PDF.
- Click here for a Microsoft Word version.
- You can also listen to an audio version here.
The form will allow you to submit your application in a number of ways:
- Video application (no more than 3 and a half mins)
- Audio application (no more than 3 and a half mins)
- Written application (no more than 500 words)
If you’d like to apply in a different format that hasn’t been stated above, email Anjali at anjali@theyardtheatre.co.uk
Complete the online application form here.
Application deadline: 4 January, Monday at 12 noon
Fee:
- £500 fee for the lead artist
- £500 total for collaborator fees. You can spend this how you want so long as everyone is paid at least £100 per day they work on the project
Other support:
- Up to 5 days free rehearsal space in East London
- Support and advice from The Yard’s Associate Directors, Producers, and Technical teams, especially around developing a sustainable practice
- The use of the theatre and our in-house lighting/sound equipment, and an operator to run it
- Marketing support to promote your work
Rehearsal Dates:
- Up to 5 days rehearsal space scheduled between the 1st & 20th February 2021
- There is flexibility around which days these are
Performance Date & Time:
- 21 February 2021
- A technical rehearsal on the day between 9am & 5pm
- Performances beginning at 6pm with a maximum 20 minutes for each performance
Live Drafts: Climate Works is for artists who are interested in developing & performing live work that creatively engages with the climate emergency. You do not have to have made this sort of work before. Your artistic practice can span, but is not limited to music, theatre, live art, spoken word, dance, choreography, or video. Whatever your practice, your work should be designed to be performed live, to an audience in our venue. Solo artists, or artists working together can apply. For example, you could be a director who wants to work with a performer and sound designer, or two musicians who want to collaborate on a piece of work, or simply members of a collective. However, each artist must be paid £100/day for their time. The application form will ask you to specify a lead applicant for admin purposes.
Four sets of artists will be selected by members of The Yard’s programming team including Associate Directors Cheryl Gallacher & Anthony Simpson-Pike, Senior Producer Ashleigh Wheeler, Music & Events Producer Anjali Prashar-Savoie and Theatre Producer Lara Tyselling.
When reading applications we’ll be looking for ideas that imagine new forms, processes and stories. The Yard presents plays, parties, live art, dance, and other performance genres, so we’re interested in work that sits at the intersections of theatre, live art and music. We are open to applications from practicing artists with a range of experience levels.
Black and Brown people across the globe are on the frontline of the climate crisis but have been historically marginalised in the conversation around climate justice. We are particularly interested in applications from artists of Black African, African Caribbean, South Asian, East Asian, South West Asian, North African, Arab or Latinx heritage, or those artists from communities who are marginalised for their race. At least half of the artists we select will identify as the above.
When looking at applications, the questions we will be asking ourselves are:
- Are we excited by the artists’ performance ideas and previous work?
- Does the idea approach the climate crisis in a new way?
- How will the process and form of the work be sustainable and innovative?
If you are thinking of applying for Live Drafts, we’ve created a Live Drafts: Climate Works Application Pack that should tell you everything you need to know.
To read the Live Drafts application pack,
- Click here for a PDF.
- Click here for a Microsoft Word Version.
- You can also listen to an audio version here.
To read the Live Drafts application form in advance,
- Click here for a PDF.
- Click here for a Microsoft Word version.
- You can also listen to an audio version here.
Complete the online application form here.
Application deadline: 4 January, Monday at 12 noon
Apply via the application form.
The form will ask you to:
- Tell us about your previous work and artistic practice
- Tell us about your idea, and how you will spend the 5 days developing it
- List a lead applicant and, if relevant, the name of other artists
- Share web links to documentation of your work (images, videos, websites, social media accounts)
The form will allow you to submit your application in a number of ways:
- Video application (no more than 3 and a half mins)
- Audio application (no more than 3 and a half mins)
- Written application (no more than 500 words)
If you’d like to apply in a different format that hasn’t been stated above or have any other questions about the application please get in touch with The Yard’s Music and Events producer Anjali at anjali@theyardtheatre.co.uk.
Making an application: We have support available to help remove barriers for people with access needs, so you can make an application to us:
- We can pay £120 towards the cost of an access support worker to help you write an application if you need it
If you need this or any other support, please email Anjali at anjali@theyardtheatre.co.uk
Performing in Live Drafts: We have support available to help remove barriers to performing in Live Drafts and ensure artists working with us are supported:
- If you have access needs relating to a disability, tell us what you need on the application form and we will aim to meet your needs wherever possible.
- If you have financial or practical concerns which would prevent you from taking part, such as travel costs or rehearsal timings, please let us know via the application form and we will aim to meet your needs wherever possible.
- We will provide contact details of other Yard team members should you wish to raise anything
We will be closely monitoring the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic to ensure that all of those who are a part of Live Drafts are safe. Rehearsals and performances happening across The Yard’s spaces will adhere to Covid guidelines and government advice.
In the event that we cannot stage public performances, Live Drafts will still go ahead for an online audience.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. We have a preference that at least 1 person is paid £500, and that they are our main contact. But as long as everyone you work with is paid £100/day for their time, it’s up to you. So you could be a double-act both paid £500 for 5 days rehearsal each. You could be a solo artist who wants to work with 5 other artists, each working with you for 1 day through the planning and rehearsal process. Or you could be a collective of 10 who each want to work for 1 day.
The application form will ask you to name a lead artist for contact and equality monitoring purposes.
We ask that all of this budget is spent on people, not new props, set or costumes. This is so as much as possible of our funding goes towards artists. There will be a small budget for the sourcing of non-new materials, shared between the artists, but as it’s a live draft, a work-in-progress, we don’t expect a full set, or costumes.
The Yard is working to become a more sustainable organisation; Live Drafts is an opportunity for us to work creatively in this area and we expect to learn a lot, together with the artists. We ask that you don’t buy any new non-biodegradable materials for your performance. We can support you to source materials and will share our knowledge on the idea of a circular economy which will underpin this work. We will also work with you to plan, monitor and evaluate your carbon use through the process. Our learnings from this project will inform the future workings of The Yard.
Yes. It’s up to you. There are up to 5 days rehearsal space available but you are also welcome to use that time to think, write or plan, whether in our spaces or at home.
DJs are welcome to apply with an idea that responds to the themes and encompasses live or performative elements in addition to or as part of DJing. This might be, but is certainly not limited to, a DJ working with a performer or dancer, or DJ who is also a performer or live artist.