Art in Festivals initiative calling for artists

The Australia Council has announced that the SITUATE Art in Festivals initiative, which supports early career artists to develop experimental work within a festival environment, is now calling for artists to participate.
The $250,000 Art in Festivals initiative is part of a suite of residencies and mentorships supported through the Australia Council's Early Career Artists and Producers Program and is part of the more than $7 milion invested by the Australia Council in Tasmanian arts in the past year.
The initiative is delivered by Salamanca Arts Centre, who were awarded the project in December through a competitive application process.
Salamanca Arts Centre will partner with festivals to provide early career artists with an opportunity to present work at a range of major music and arts festivals across Australia and internationally.
Australia Council acting Chief Executive Libby Christie explained "we're pleased to work with Tasmania's dynamic Salamanca Arts Centre on SITUATE.
"Salamanca have developed a strong and diverse national even international - network of festival partners offering participating artists high profile, exciting opportunities to engage with a vast range of audiences."
Partner festivals include Dark Mofo and MONA FOMA, Darwin Festival, Harvest Music and Arts, Fringe World, WOMAdelade as well as the international festival Vry Fees in South Africa. More partner festivals will be added throughout the initiative.
Artists participating in the initiative will have opportunities to test new ideas; collaborate with artists and technicians from different disciplines; work small and/or large scale in a site-specific context; and receive wide exposure and access to significant networks in the industry.
Christie added "SITUATE provides a chance for audiences from a diverse range of festivals to experience first-hand the best of Australian emerging and experimental practice.
"For the artists, it's an extraordinary opportunity to create new work, explore new ideas, discover different way of working and create challenging experimental art works for festival audiences."
Fifteen early career artists, working across artforms and disciplines, will be selected through a national call by a Curatorium comprising of practicing artists, industry professionals and curators.

These outstanding artists will then attend an intensive 16 day residential Artist Laboratory in Tasmania, which includes time at the closing weekend of the new winter Dark MOFO festival.

They will be mentored by established artists and producers as they develop their ideas and concepts and will then go through a commissioning process by partner festivals leading to the production and presentation of their work in 2014 and 2015.

Salamanca Arts Centre Chief Executive and Artistic Director Rosemary Miller added "this is a very exciting project that provides Early Career Artists with opportunities to create new works for multiple festivals, in Tasmania, across Australia and internationally." Applications open on Monday 25th March 2013 for two weeks, closing on Monday 8th April 2013 via the SITUATE: Art in Festivals website.

http://www.situtate.org.au