National Theatre Scotland are inviting expressions of interest from South Asian Artists for ideas for new theatrical productions for Scotland’s largest theatre stages (i.e. King’s Theatre Glasgow, His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen etc), that will speak directly to Scotland’s diverse South Asian communities and appeal to multi-cultural Scottish theatre audiences. Selected ideas will be developed with a view to being produced in the next 3-5 years.

Any artist, company or collective in Scotland can pitch an idea for commission/development/production support for any scale, at any time, through their new ideas portal

They are looking for a brief description of an idea. Ideas can be text, music or dance led, be comedies, musicals, political etc, but they must talk to Scotland’s South Asian communities. Artists will retain all rights to their idea/s and can submit multiple expressions of interest for different ideas.

All submissions will be read by a panel made up of four members of the company’s artistic team including Artistic Director Jackie Wylie, Director of Artistic Development Caroline Newall and Director of Creative Engagement Paul Fitzpatrick, and three paid external advisors; Iqbal Bedi, Lisa Kapur and Harris Albar. All expressions of interest will be acknowledged with feedback from the panel

They are looking for up to 10 ideas to take forward to Stage Two.

STAGE TWO

Shortlisted artists will be offered a small fee to provide more detailed information about their idea, ambition, and development needs. At this stage, artists will retain all rights to their idea, but National Theatre of Scotland will be given right of first refusal to develop/commission the idea with the artist.

FINAL STAGE

If an idea is selected from Stage Two, it will be offered a bespoke, funded commission and artistic development plan, including mentoring and dramaturgical support, built around the specific needs of the artist/idea. While selected projects develop, they will also create further opportunities for South Asian artists, creatives, technicians, and others to join the development stages, through a series of open calls and responsive invitations, to ensure a Scottish South Asian team are ready to deliver the resulting production(s).

ELIGIBILITY

• Identify as being part of a South Asian community
• Be over 18 years old
• Have the right to live and work in the UK
• Be part of/have a good understanding of Scotland’s diverse South Asian communities and be able to speak to that in your submission
• Have made at least 1 professional performance work (which can be theatre, music, dance etc)
• Ideas can be text, music or dance led, be comedies, musicals, political etc, but they must talk to Scotland’s South Asian communities.

Stage One Deadline:

12 noon on Monday 18 September 2023

Artists will be notified if they are being invited to Stage Two by Monday 16th October. If you are not invited to the next stage, they will offer feedback by email.

Open Call | South Asian led Commission for large scale stage productions | National Theatre of Scotland (nationaltheatrescotland.com)