CALLOUT TO ARTISTS

Cumbernauld Theatre and Visible Fictions are looking to support a daring theatrical idea to be created and presented this festive season on the main stage of Lanternhouse in Cumbernauld.

artist callout
WINTER 2022
Main stage production

Cumbernauld Theatre Trust and Visible Fictions are looking to support a daring theatrical idea to be created and presented this festive season on the main stage of Lanternhouse in Cumbernauld. The chosen idea will be produced and presented for this coming December, and Visible Fictions will artistically help and support you to deliver it.

We love a great story and so telling a good story should be at the heart of the experience you want to create for our audiences. Is there a story that you and your team are yearning to tell this Christmas? What story do you think audiences will be excited to hear this festive season?

ABOUT CUMBERNAULD THEATRE & VISIBLE FICTIONS

About Cumbernauld Theatre at Lanternhouse – Mission Statement

Cumbernauld Theatre is a performing arts charity that produces and presents theatre, music, dance and comedy for the community of Cumbernauld and North Lanarkshire.

From our new arts centre, Lanternhouse, based on the Cumbernauld Academy Campus, we deliver an all engaging and professional programme for the entertainment, enjoyment, and enrichment of our diverse community.

Cumbernauld’s new cultural home is a friendly and welcoming centre for inclusive community creativity, for performance practice innovation and experimentation in production. The venue is a platform for Cumbernauld Theatre’s in-house productions and co-productions, for leading visiting theatre, dance, music and comedy performers and multi-disciplinary creatives.

Working at the heart of our community we are building creativity, broadening perspectives, supporting community cohesion, enhancing life experiences and investing in performance arts skills development for a creative, innovative, fairer Scotland.

For more details visit our About Us pages here.

About Visible Fictions – Mission Statement

Our Mission – Visible Fictions exists to thrill, delight and inspire children, young people and adults with our head-turning, heart-flipping, diversely-accessible artistic projects, productions and activities.

Visible Fictions continues to be recognised nationally and internationally as a key creator of excellence through our high quality, artistically driven work. We create opportunities for artists to explore, investigate, experiment and reflect and as a result to create art that explodes in the hearts and minds of our audiences. By stretching artists creatively, we provide a place where they can have their ideas and insights played out for an audience’s delight.

We always place young people at the forefront of our work, successfully engaging with diverse communities of audiences and artists. No art form presents a barrier to us engaging with it: circus or film, new technologies or puppetry, dance or animation – we will embrace it and celebrate it. Visible Fictions recognises the need to develop and nurture audiences, making their experience the best it can be and finding ways to make them return to the theatre for more. Our work is underpinned by our values: Daring, Innovation, Professionalism, Integrity, Fairness, Accessibility and Transparency

For more details visit us here www.visiblefictions.co.uk

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

We’re looking for daring and theatrical approaches to telling that story. It might be devised or written. It might be an existing script. It will be a story you love and believe in your heart that audiences in Cumbernauld will love too. It may have puppets, it may have live musicians and dance, it may have live and recorded digital camera work, it may have no set whatsoever – it’s your idea. We just need to know what you are thinking and why you want to tell your story this way.

WHAT WE NEED TO KNOW

We’re looking for teams of creatives living and working in Scotland to articulate to us their approach to creating this Christmas production – with artistic idea development, script commissioning, and/or your devising process clearly defined. We want to hear:

  • how your idea can be accessible and artistic, how it will be Scottish at its core but international in its appeal
  • how your idea relates to the community in Cumbernauld and North Lanarkshire and at the same time embody universally/internationally recognised themes
  • how you will celebrate the cultural diversity of the audience as much as the story’s content – and we are keen to know how diverse voices will shape the work you want to make.

First and foremost, we want to support a great idea for a great show. We welcome those with lots, or a little professional theatre making experience to submit ideas. As long as you can show us you have a level of professional experience that will allow you to realise your artistic and ambitious idea.

HOW TO TELL US

Tell us on no more than three pages of A4 (or by video – no more than 7 mins in length):

  • what story you want to tell and why it might appeal to audiences during the festive season
  •  how you plan to turn it into a piece of theatre – let us know what theatrical form, shape, structure, style, your show will take. Help us understand the type of show you want it to become and why
  • a timeline for making the piece · who is in the creative team (at this stage) and what makes them the best fit for this production. If you’re whole team isn’t in place, just articulate what your next steps might be and why
  • how you will ensure that diversity is being recognised and celebrated
  • You may include any other information (eg CVs, reviews of previous work, examples of work) but do help make sure your main submission articulates all we’ve asked for.

APPLICATION GUIDELINES

Our guidelines below will help you:

  • Cast size should be between 2 to 7 performers
  • Indicative budget £65,000 to £75,000 inclusive of all fees, wages, production costs etc.
  • Audience profile: universal appeal to everyone aged 5 years and older, to young families, extended families, grandparents, community based social groups, primary school and lower secondary school students and their teachers.
  • To be in line with Visible Fictions’ and Cumbernauld Theatre’s mission statements (see above)
  • Rehearsal period – Monday, 31st October to Friday, 25th November 2022
  • Performance run dates – Saturday, 26th November to Thursday, 29 December 2022

WHAT THE SELECTED ARTISTS RECEIVE

  • A professional production on a mid-scale stage (277 seats)
  • A budget to cover all artist fees, performers, technical and production costs
  • Access to clean, comfortable rehearsal space for 3-4 weeks
  • Dressing room and Green room access
  • Technical rehearsal week in our main auditorium
  • Producer support from Cumbernauld Theatre and Visible Fictions from planning stages to production
  • Technical support from our in-house team
  • Marketing support from our in-house team
  • Artistic support and guidance from Visible Fictions Artistic Director.

HOW TO SUBMIT

Submissions should be sent to recruitment@cumbernauldtheatre.co.uk  no later than 5pm on Friday, 13th May 2022

The invitations to pitch will be issued no later than Friday, 20th May.

The pitching sessions will be scheduled during the week commencing Monday, 23rd May. Please note all creatives invited to take part in the pitch sessions will be paid £65.

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