Calling all performance artists for a one day festival in Manchester.

A project in collaboration with Scaffold Gallery and Tape Modern.

We want to hold a one day performance festival where performances will ripple across Manchester city centre. We invite the use of architecture, history, the cityscape and relation with the social landscape of activity. This project was born out of need to be within life, to not be exclusive. 

We are inviting you to send a proposal if you feel that your work needs a public forum; 

What is space and how do we occupy it? Is the white box tired? How does performance art operate in public space? Your largest pool of witnesses will be the people passing by or stopping to share the space with you and to wonder, what it is that they are seeing. 

For an application, we invite you to include pictures, poems, monologues, videos or any-thing else that shows us your thoughts. Show us your practice, your insights on the human condition, self-awareness or perhaps your interpretation of our zeitgeist. We want to know how the work will sit in the public space; is it for the sake of disruption, engagement, com-munication, synergy, aesthetics and reciprocity or maybe something completely different. 

We are looking for work that has not yet been performed, but if you do have a work that you have done and wish to do it again, tell us why and it will be considered.

If you have a specific place in mind for where you wish to perform, let us know in your application. You can also write some key aspects of the surroundings you need and we will suggest locations for your work based on its needs. Please bear in mind any logistics with this being an outdoor event. The deadline for this submission is 15th of May.

We do not currently have a budget for the festival to cover an artist fee. However, on the festival day you will be accompanied with a videographer to document your work. We will share all the footage with you after the festival and to promote your work on social media. We can offer support in form of studio visits/crits whether this be in person or on Skype. We are also happy to meet you in the city center to have a look at your performance space with you. 

The festival will take place on Thursday 11th July so you will need to be avaliable all day. 

Once the performances have finished, we will gather for a shindig to have a few drinks and share the experiences of the day. We will provide a bit of something to eat as well. 

We will make a risk assessment on every selected work and will negotiate health and safety with the Greater Manchester Police to guarantee your right and safety to perform.