Let’s Do This
Artist Development and Making Opportunities
PLEASE NOTE: THESE OPPORTUNITIES ARE NO LONGER ACTIVE
These opportunities feature on our website for archival purposes only.
New Earth Theatre x The Lowry Workshops for BESEA* Creatives and Artists
A 5-month programme of workshops for BESEA artists based in the North West of England and across the UK looking to improve and diversify their creative skills
Workshops for BESEA Creatives and Artists is an artist development programme curated in partnership between New Earth Theatre and The Lowry.
This programme of workshops will run from October 2021 - March 2022 for BESEA artists based in the North West of England and across the UK looking to improve and diversify their creative skills. Each workshop will cover a specific area of theatre making and it will be run by a BESEA theatre practitioner.
The aim of the programme is to grow and develop a network of BESEA artists based in the North West of England, and to offer a programme that gives committed support to BESEA artists making the next step in their professional career, especially those who just finished their New Earth Academy courses.
The participants will attend in-person workshops aimed at BESEA artists based in the North West of England at The Lowry, followed by in-person networking events, or hybrid workshops where some participants will join in person and some will attend remotely online.
As part of the programme, participants will have the opportunity to network with industry professionals, develop relationships with artists based in the North West of England and build a support network within the BESEA community.
Who is it for?
The workshops are for BESEA artists based in the North West of England and across the country who want to upskill themselves, diversity their artistic practice and make the next step in their professional career.
The workshops will be free and participants for in-person workshops will be able to apply for travel bursaries if you’re based in the North West of England. There will also be in-person networking opportunities at the Lowry after each workshop.
The workshop schedule and facilitators will be announced every month with signup details.
MARCH WORKSHOP 2022
Workshop Title: Playing Together: Finding the play in play with Jen Tan
Date and time: Monday 14 March, 6-8pm
Place: in person at The Lowry, James Dunn Classroom^
This workshop will explore the importance of play as a pathway to openness as a performer. We’ll play games together as an ensemble, finding truthful and honest connections and having some fun along the way.
About Jen Tan
Jen is a theatre director from the North-West. She trained at The Oxford School of Drama and on the StoneCrabs Young Directors Programme. Jen works closely with writers and mainly directs new plays.
Her work includes: Fix by Julie Tsang (New Earth/Unbroken Theatre/Pleasance, A.I.D.A.N by Matilda Ibini and Of Being Alone in a Forest by Tom Morton-Smith (Miniaturists), Romeo & Juliet (Papergang Theatre), Peace Code by Mediah Ahmed and The Plot by Asif Khan (Tamasha/Soho Theatre), Being Norwegian by David Greig (StoneCrabs/Albany Theatre), Fulfilment by Jeremy Tiang and Belonging by Francis Turnly (Yellow Earth Theatre). She was Assistant Director to Phelim McDermott and Kirsty Housley on Tao of Glass for MIF 2019.
Due to the in-person nature of this workshop, it is aimed at BESEA* artists based in the North West of England. If you are based in the North West of England and would like to apply for a travel bursary to get to the venue, please give relevant information in the sign-up form. Unfortunately we are not able to offer travel bursaries for participants based outside of the North West of England.
You can register to attend the free workshop at https://forms.gle/HC57KGVbCj9dKBD97
Please only register if you are available and committed to attend the workshop.
The deadline for registration is 10am Friday 11 March and we will send you workshop details on Friday 11 March.
After the workshop, there will be a social event with free drinks to get to know each other better. Hub!
* We use the term BESEA to mean those who identify as East Asian or South East Asian living and working in the UK.
^ Please see the COVID-19 safety measures The Lowry currently has in place https://thelowry.com/coronavirus/
New Earth Theatre x The Lowry Workshops for BESEA* Creatives and Artists
A 5-month programme of workshops for BESEA artists based in the North West of England and across the UK looking to improve and diversify their creative skills
FEBRUARY’S WORKSHOP 2022
Workshop Title: It Starts with Text with Fumi Gomez
Date and time: Friday 4 February, 5-7pm
Place: in person at The Lowry, James Dunn Classroom^
Film and theatre director Fumi Gomez will be exploring theatre and screen through text. Demonstrating different ways of lifting the words off the page, showcasing who you are as an actor.
Fumi Gomez is a freelance film and theatre director. Her work is focused on ground-breaking storytelling, seeking new expressive ways and blending influences from all around the world. She is heavily invested in filmmaking that speaks from a feminist, intersectional, culturally diverse perspective, in a way that is unique, political and entertaining. Creator of Making Films; a guerrilla filmmaking group with over 1700 members. She has curated and screened in London a total of 57 short films. She is a freelance associate artist at the National Youth Theatre. Co-founder of Horatio Productions and the Science Fiction Theatre Festival in London, UK.
Website: fumigomez.com
Due to the in-person nature of this workshop, it is aimed at BESEA artists based in the North West of England. If you are based in the North West of England and would like to apply for a travel bursary to get to the venue, please give relevant information in the sign-up form. Unfortunately we are not able to offer travel bursaries for participants based outside of the North West of England.
You can register to attend for the free workshop at https://forms.gle/iWTNVhGqZmv5bDKy5.
The deadline for registration is 5pm, Tuesday 1st February and we will send you workshop details by Thursday 3rd February.
After the workshop, there will be a social event with free drinks and Lunar New Year sweets and treats while you network with other local artists, meet the New Earth Theatre team, The Lowry team, and our friends from Greater Manchester Artist Hub!
And most importantly, we’re so excited for:
Horizons New Year 2022 - Shoots Scratch Night at The Lowry
Friday 4th February, 8pm
The Lowry Aldridge Studio
To celebrate the Lunar New Year, The Lowry have teamed up with us to feature our very own Horizons Collective and New Earth Academy North-West Alumni: Samuel Rossiter, Lesa Dang, Mei Yuk Wong and Matthew Koon who will be showing new ideas.
SHOOTS is an evening dedicated to the development of ideas; it’s a chance for artists to put early work in front of an audience, to see if it has legs. It’s about throwing an idea at the wall and seeing if it sticks; it’s about now rather than never; it’s about the spit, without the polish.
Come celebrate the Lunar New Year and brilliant new work by BESEA artists!
Book your £5 ticket here
See you for the workshop/social/show or all of the above on Friday 4 Feb at The Lowry!
* We use the term BESEA to mean those who identify as East Asian or South East Asian living and working in the UK.
^ Please see the COVID-19 safety measures The Lowry currently has in place https://thelowry.com/coronavirus/
New Earth Theatre x The Lowry Workshops for BESEA* Creatives and Artists
A 5-month programme of workshops for BESEA artists based in the North West of England and across the UK looking to improve and diversify their creative skills
DECEMBER 2021
Script Reading Service and Dramaturgical Support by Naomi Sumner Chan
Deadline to register interest: Wed 15 Dec 2021
We are excited to offer a script reading service and dramaturgical support to writers from the New Earth Academy and Horizons Collective as part of Workshops for BESEA Creatives and Artists, an artist development programme curated in partnership between New Earth Theatre and The Lowry. The script reading service will be provided by Naomi Sumner Chan, who will also offer a one-on-one session to give personalised dramaturgical feedback.
The aim of the programme is to grow and develop a network of BESEA* artists based in the North West of England, and to offer a programme that gives committed support to BESEA artists making the next step in their professional career, especially those who just finished their New Earth Academy courses.
For this opportunity, we are looking for two writers in the early stage of their writing career who have a full-length script ready but haven't had any plays professionally produced. We are not looking for any particular types or themes. We are not looking for plays to programme or produce at this stage. We want to support two writers who have a script that excites us and help them navigate the further stages of their script development.
If you are interested in receiving dramaturgical feedback for a full-length play** you’ve been working on, please fill in the form below and give relevant information about your writing experience, a synopsis of the full-length play, 5 pages of writing sample and your ambition for the play: https://forms.gle/EjP6kdPuUcHdDPAN6
The deadline for registering your interest is Wednesday 15 December 2021. If you have any questions, please email Yuyu at yuyu@newearththeatre.org.uk
* We use the term BESEA to mean those who identify as East Asian or South East Asian living and working in the UK.
**A full length play is normally an hour or more in playing time. No exact measure can be made of the length of a piece of writing for theatre, but it can be useful to consider that 10,000 words is approximately one hour of playing time. The best way to judge the length of your play is to read your script out loud.
Naomi Sumner Chan is a Manchester based playwright and dramaturg fuelled by salt and vinegar crisps and cups of tea. She leads new writing company Brush Stroke Order working with artists to develop text based work for live performance.
Her work has been performed at theatres across the North of England and in London including York Theatre Royal, CAST, Oldham Coliseum, Arcola Theatre and Theatre 503. Her play SAME SAME DIFFERENT was commissioned by Eclipse Theatre and toured to venues across the North of England in 2019.
Recent projects include Wait I’m From Wuhan, a digital commission for Chinese Arts Now and HOME, and developing a TV drama script with BBC Writersroom. Currently she is working with Tamasha on a digital theatre project about Liverpool Chinatown and writing a piece for BBC Radio 4 about her hometown Barnard Castle, made infamous by politician Dominic Cummings. Naomi was recently chosen to be one of this year’s Melbourne City of Literature’s Virtual Writers in Residence and will be working with playwrights associated with Melbourne Writers Theatre.
New Earth Theatre x The Lowry Workshops for BESEA* Creatives and Artists
A 5-month programme of workshops for BESEA artists based in the North West of England and across the UK looking to improve and diversify their creative skills
NOVEMBER’S WORKSHOP 2021
Workshop Title: Theatre Making with Jude Christian
Date and time: Friday 5 November, 3-5pm
Place: in person at The Lowry, Studio 2*
Interdisciplinary theatremaker Jude Christian will be sharing thoughts and exercises on approaches to making new work, from first ideas and collaborative process to building networks and a robust professional career.
Jude Christian is a theatremaker, director, writer, dramaturg and facilitator whose previous work includes Nanjing (The Yard, Shakespeare's Globe, Theatertreffen Stückemarkt 2021), Dick Whittington (Lyric Hammersmith, National Theatre), Lela & Co, Bodies, My Mum's a Twat (Royal Court), Trust, I'd rather Goya robbed me of my sleep than some other arsehole (Gate Theatre), Parliament Square (Bush Theatre, Royal Exchange), and Remget/formember, the 12th of Jalember (a manual for grieving) (Chinese Arts Now). She is an Associate Artist at the Gate Theatre and has previously worked as Resident Director at the National Theatre Studio, and Associate Director at HOME. As dramaturg/associate, Jude has worked with RashDash (The Darkest Corners, Three Sisters), the Royal Opera House and Candoco (The Lost Thing), and Lyric Hammersmith (The Seagull, Shopping and F***ing).
* Due to the in-person nature of this workshop, it is aimed at BESEA artists based in the North West of England. If you are based in the North West of England and would like to apply for a travel bursary to get to the venue, please give relevant information in the sign-up form. Unfortunately we are not able to offer travel bursaries for participants based outside of the North West of England.
To sign up as a participant for the free workshop, please fill in the form: https://forms.gle/rn8CzGFstU8NMuJVA
Deadline for registration - Tuesday 2 November, 5pm
If you have any further questions, please email Yuyu at yuyu@newearththeatre.org.uk
* We use the term BESEA to mean those who identify as East Asian or South East Asian living and working in the UK.
Theatre Maker Call Out
Z-arts are working in partnership with New Earth Theatre to offer a development opportunity for British East and South East Asian Theatre Makers * (BESEA) who are interested in making work for children and families. This project is supported by the ACE Project Grant.
We are looking for 3 artists or companies to come and try out some ideas and see how a seed idea might grow.
You do not have to have made work for this audience before you just need to have a desire to make work for this audience now and in the future.
The partnership between Z-arts and New Earth Theatre has come about because of a shared passion to increase the representation of BESEA artists for children and families.
What we are offering
- 1 week residency in a creative space within the Z-arts building.
- Dates will be either/or
W/C 29th November 2021
W/C 6th December 2021
W/C 13th December 2021.
- Days will be Monday-Friday.
- There will be an opportunity for all theatre makers selected to meet with Z-arts and New Earth at a welcome meeting on Friday 19th November 2021 at 10am at Z-arts.
- Informal sharing in front of a representative from New Earth and Z-arts.
- Up to £1250 for each residency.
- Documentation support.
- 1 to 1 advice session on Zoom following the residency to talk about funding, the future and further support after the residency has ended.
- Artist support and guidance throughout the week.
- The opportunity to watch shows in Z-arts current programme. These include ‘Family Vogue Ball’, ‘The Gift’ and our ‘The Tiger Who Came To Tea’ exhibition.
Who we want to hear from?
- British East and South East Asian Theatre Makers (BESEA) based in the North West of England.
- You must have an interest in developing work
for children (12 years and under) and families.
- If you are applying as a theatre company, the company must be led by BESEA artists, so please give details of all your collaborators.
Our Expectations
This week in residence is an opportunity for you as a theatre maker to come into the space to play and create. We do not expect or want you to spend the week working towards a sharing. At the end of the week, the sharing could be a talk through the week’s discoveries or the sharing of a moment.
Application Process
Please answer the following questions. If you would prefer you can record your answers in video or audio format.
- Name of lead artist
- Email address
- Contact Number
- Please state your professional experience
- Why do you want to make work for children and families?
- What will you do with your week in residency?
- Why do you think this opportunity is suitable for you? How will it help with your artist development?
- This residency is for up to £1250. Please advise how much you will be applying for and how that will be spent.
- Please note - Creatives need to be paid for their time in line with up to date ITC and equity rates. Information on these rates can be found via these links:
Rates of Pay – ITC (itc-arts.org)
Equity - List of Rates and Agreements
- Residency dates will be either Dates will be either W/C 29th November 2021, W/C 6th December 2021 or W/C 13th December 2021. Please give your first choice, second choice and third choice of your residency week and indicate your availability for those dates.
Deadline
Please send your application and Equal Opportunities Form to tabitha@z-arts.org by 12 noon on Monday 1st November 2021.
Any questions please contact tabitha@z-arts.org or phone 01612261912 and ask to speak to Tabitha or Zoe.
Downloads
Z-arts x New Earth Theatre Call Out Word Doc
Z-arts x New Earth Theatre Call Out Easy Read PDF
* We use the term BESEA to mean those who identify as East Asian or South East Asian living and working in the UK.