"Untitled" Artist Development Program
“Untitled” focuses on giving artists time, space, resources, support, and £1000 of funding to develop a new idea over the course of a 3-month program culminating in a public facing sharing. They will be supported by an assigned mentor from our global pool of mentors, and with workshops to help develop their practice and grow their networks. The final sharing is an open-ended opportunity for the artists to share the progress made in their thinking over the course of the project, in whatever format they deem best suits the work that they’ve done.If you're having any issues accessing the application form, or are unable to use Google, please email us at [email protected]If you want more information on the application, please view a recording of the information session below
Selection
A 6-person cohort will be selected every quarter via an open call. We do not care what stage of career or life the artists are in; however we would like to see at least 1 piece, ideally public facing but not required, that demonstrates their practice and process when thinking through a concept or idea. With a jury made up of our team, 1-2 members of our advisory board, and several of our mentors and commissioned artists, we will make a shortlist selection of applicants. Applicants will then have a short conversation with our Artistic Director, Dr. Shabina Aslam. The final selection of up to 6 artists will be made following that conversation. Any artist who is rejected upon entering the interview phase will receive feedback on why they were not selected.
Provocation
Every cohort will be asked to respond to a provocation. Below is the City of Wonder application by Theatre in the Mill's Artistic Director, Dr. Shabina AslamMy mum walked from India to Pakistan in 1947 during Partition, her father was working for the British in Kenya, building railways, so the family migrated and built a life, until 1970, when circumstances again forced their hand and she came to Bradford. My mum was a refugee twice in her life who felt Bradford was her sanctuary, her home. Looking out into Manningham from her house, I see a close-knit Bradford-Pakistani community who hang clothes on my washing line, tell me my garden needs weeding and bring plates of food to my house. It’s like she’s still here, doling out love and criticism in the same breath. There is a cherry blossom on the street amongst the triple parked cars and when the sun is shining, and you hear the azaan, count the cats; you know for sure this is only one small part of a strange city. Like the many cities of wonder described by Marco Polo to the ailing Kubla Khan; who eventually realises they are all but one city: Venice, shown through its multitudes.
The city, however, does not tell its past, but contains it like the lines of a hand, written in the corners of the streets, the gratings of the windows, the banisters of the steps, the antennae of the lightening rods, the poles of the flags, every segment marked in turn with scratches, indentations, scrolls (Invisible cities, by Italo Calvino p11).
This provocation invites you explore Bradford District through its unique singularities. Bradford is like Venice, we too have our multitudes , small villages and estates stitched together with roads, canals and secret walking paths that we share with horses and sheep. There’s a strangeness and a wonder to the landscape itself, how it moves from rural to urban, neither one thing or the other. We want to hear about Bradford through this prism, through your senses, tell us about how its unique, or ordinary, mundane or prosaic, in the present or the future.
Cities, like dreams are made of desires and fears, even if the thread of their discourse is secret, their rules are absurd, their perspectives deceitful, and everything conceals something else (p44).
We welcome collaborations, as well as ideas that span artforms and genres. All are welcome.
Key Dates
Open Call Opens: October 1
Information Session: October 8th, 5-6PM
Information Session 2: October 17, 5-6PM
October 31st: Open Call Closes
September 1 – 30th: Jurying, Shortlisting and Interviews
December 1st: Finalists Selected
December 11: Finalist announcement at Untitled 1 sharing
January 13: Untitled 2 Kickoff
Confirmed Workshop Dates: January 23rd, February 5th
W/C April 7th: Public Sharings at Theatre in the Mill
Application Guidleines
Please submit your application to us via [email protected]In the subject line include: Untitled 2 applicationDownload the application guidelines below