Raze recently received funding from Arts Council England and a donation from East Creative to deliver Raze Up – a professional development programme for queer performers. This involves the award of four Raze Collective Commissions for new and emerging queer performers.

Each commission is worth £1,500 to develop a 20 minute work for performance in Theatres. Raze will provide high levels of support, including access to directors, producers, technical crew, marketing and other expertise from within the Collective, alongside support for production costs. Each work will be presented as part of a showcase in at least 3 of their partner Theatres, which include Contact (Manchester), The Pleasance (London), Cambridge Junction, The Old Fire Station (Oxford) and Derby Theatre, alongside other performance opportunities such as their summer festival event at the Southbank Centre (London).

The Raze Up programme will also involve the provision of professional development workshops and networking events for queer performers at each of the partner theatres

Entry Criteria 

• Raze welcome applications from any discipline that is suitable for live performance in a Theatre; and from individuals or small groups of performers.
• The commissions will be awarded to artists who identify as LGBTQI+.
• At least one commission will be awarded to an artist who identifies as transgender, non-binary or gender non-conforming.
• At least one commission will be awarded to an artist with a disability.
• Two commissions will be awarded to performers who primarily live and work outside of London.
• They particularly encourage applications from queer and trans performers of colour.
• Applicants will be expected to demonstrate commitment to pursuing performance as a career and be able to show some previous performance experience.
• There is no age limit on the commissioned artists, however they will focus on artists who currently do not make a full-time living from their performance, but would like to develop a professional career.
• It is unlikely that they will award commissions to artists who have already had their own solo show in a theatre, or who have received independent Arts Council funding.

Deadline

5pm GMT on Friday 28th December 2018.

Candidates will be notified during the week of 14th January 2019 (this may be subject to change).

Successful applicants will be expected to have developed their performance by mid-March 2019.

Performance dates range from April to July 2019.

http://www.razecollective.com/razeup/