Scratch Nights offer an evening dedicated to the development of brand-new work. A chance for artists to put early ideas in front of a live, supportive audience to see what sticks; it’s about now rather than never, it’s about the spit without the polish. Testing early ideas that may one day turn into fully formed pieces.

These informal nights bring new live work to audiences and create a supportive platform for artists to experiment, take risks, test ideas on stage, and share new work with peers and wider public.

The Lowry are now inviting contemporary *musical theatre artists, collectives or companies who are working on new ideas at the earliest stage of development to submit proposals and explore what might work onstage as part of our Scratch Nights event on Wednesday 15 November 2023.

This is an open call-out for artists based in Greater Manchester and the North West of England to apply.

Four proposals will be selected, and they are able to support performances of up to 20mins. Your proposal should be for a new idea or a work in progress piece and should not have been previously performed for a public audience.

*They believe the definition of contemporary musical theatre is broad, covering a range of styles of music and forms including gig theatre and plays with song and music. They ask that song is an integral part of the storytelling for your idea for us to consider it for this opportunity.

SELECTED ARTISTS WILL RECEIVE:

• A fee of £1000 to develop and present your idea
• Rehearsal space at The Lowry where possible
• Producer support from Lowry Staff and an online mentoring session in advance of the event with our Associate Artists Stan Hodgson and Meghan Doyle
• A set of production images and video archive footage taken by a professional photographer and videographer
• Anonymous feedback from audiences in response to the questions you want answered about your work
• If required, extra financial support will be made available as a contribution towards access costs, caring responsibilities and any costs associated with wellbeing and safe working in relation to the activity you wish to undertake.

SCRATCH NIGHTS GUIDELINES:

• The work must be a new idea or piece development (not having been shown anywhere else), with basic technical requirements.
• The work must be suitable for the Aldridge Studio space.
• This opportunity is for artists at any stage of their career.

Deadline for applications:

Thursday 7 September 2023, 1pm
All artists will be notified by: Thursday 21 September 2023
The Lowry’s Scratch Nights X Musical Theatre event: Wednesday 15 November (evening event), The Lowry, Salford

The Lowry is committed to encouraging diversity and intersectionality in the arts and we actively encourage proposals from artists from under-represented communities, including people who experience racism, identify as working class, have disabilities, are from the LGBTQ+ community, are care experienced or are discriminated against.

https://thelowry.com/about-us/artist-development/artist-network/scratch-nights-x-musical-theatre/