Room to Respond | 2020 | CLOSED
On Monday the UK Government advised the public to avoid theatres, cinemas, pubs and clubs in an attempt to slow the Covid19 pandemic and since then our sector has come to an abrupt halt. We have seen our theatres and institutions close, performances, tours and festivals cancelled and have all felt the very real uncertainty of if and when we might get back to work.
The sector has experienced an immediate loss of income which has pinched freelance makers, producers, facilitators, technical and production folk as well as small, independent companies like ours the most.
Unfortunately, most of our spring tour of Class has now been cancelled or postponed (we’ll be making announcements about that in the next few days) but we’ve experienced some beautiful bits of generosity from our commissioning partners, tour venues and collaborators despite that.
We’ve also been encouraged to see peers rally round to raise cash for artists struggling to pay their rent - the sector is sharing resources and dreaming of new ways to work with audiences. This coupled with Arts Council England’s announcement on relaxed grant conditions and additional support has meant that even in these difficult times there has been a bit of hope - and that hope is something we’d also like to contribute to.
In 2018 our company was awarded three years of support from Paul Hamlyn Foundation through the Breakthrough fund. As part of our award we have a small pot of cash available to us that we call Room to Respond. In previous years it has allowed us to run artist support meetings in Southend, brought 1200 people together from across the UK to respond to spike in LGBTQ+ hate crime last summer, allowed us to restage Hamburger Queen - our participatory fat fest and for us to host multiple community dinners in Dublin and Manchester.
Below we’ve come up with a few ways we think we might be useful - small activisms and responses that we hope will give a bit of support, some space for digital outputs, contribute to thinking about care for artists and provocations from working class makers who, we feel, will be disproportionately affected by covid closures.
Stay safe in these strange times.
With love,
Molly + Scottee
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APPLICATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED
Producer Mentoring Sessions
We are offering five producers a one hour skype session with Executive Producer Molly Nicholson. We hope this will be a space for you to talk through ideas, discuss where you’re at, your needs, ambitions, wellbeing and help with any questions you might have.You’ll be paid £100 for your time.
If you’d like to apply for one of these sessions please send a brief email to molly@scottee.co.uk with a few lines about why you might find a session useful. Closing date is midday on 3rd April 2020, successful artists will be notified by 10th April 2020. This opportunity is available to any producer of any age living in the UK, N.I or Rep of Ireland.
Artist Mentoring Sessions
We are offering five artists a one hour skype session with Artistic Director Scottee. We hope this will be a space for you to talk through ideas, discuss where you’re at, your needs, ambitions, wellbeing and help with any questions you might have.You’ll be paid £100 for your time.
If you’d like to apply for one of these sessions please send a brief email to scottee@scottee.co.uk with a few lines about why you might find a session useful. Closing date is midday on 3rd April 2020, successful artists will be notified by 10th April 2020. This opportunity is available to any artist of any age living in the UK, N.I or Rep of Ireland.
Home Video | Creative Response
This brief is open to performance, theatre, drag, circus or live artists. We would like to give eight artists a cultural dare - create a short film made in your bedroom about anything you like. The film must be made and edited in under 24 hours!
Each film will be showcased on our social media and YouTube channels, giving our audience a taste of your work. Each successful artist will receive £250 for their film. We ask that films are no longer than 10 minutes and encourage DIY aesthetics - using what you have to hand, shooting on your phone or tablet.
If you’d like to apply for one of these commissions please send a brief email to scottee@scottee.co.uk with a few lines about what you might make and why. Closing date is midday on 3rd April 2020 and successful artists will be notified by 10th April 2020. This opportunity is available to any artist of any age living in the UK, N.I or Rep of Ireland.
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Additionally, we’ll also be working with Fat Blokes and Class Show Parent Jen Smethurst to produce some thinking and documentation on artist support, care and wellbeing. We’ll also be sharing five provocations from five working class makers via our Working Class Artists Group platforms. Plus there will be some live streams of Working Class Dinner Party so keep an eye out for those!