DIY: 2019 – Call for Proposals

Professional development projects BY artists FOR artists.

LADA invites artist proposals for DIY workshops as part of DIY16: 2019.

Selected projects will take place between June and November 2019.

We plan to support 24 DIYs in 2019 with project awards of £1,600 each.

We have increased the DIY budget to £1,600 to include a £100 minimum allocation for participant expenses.

More information on this year’s DIY programme.

Please read the DIY guidelines/FAQs carefully before submitting your proposal.

Deadline for applications: 12noon, Tuesday 19 March. Applications are now closed for this oppurtunity.

I can’t quite describe how profound this experience was.– Nwando Ebizi (DIY lead artist, 2018)

Please keep running DIY, it is essential that artists get this kind of time and space outside usual contexts to share and make work together. It is a rare and original programme, we need these spaces to keep breathing! – Helena Hunter (DIY lead artist, 2018)

We continue to find that conceiving and running DIY projects creates a space unlike any other in our year for creative investigation, making meaningful connections with other artists, experimentation and celebration outside of the structures of larger project. DIY’s allow us to pick up on ongoing and underlying concerns around our practice that might not otherwise be addressed…..these opportunities are even more critical for those of us who live in “NotLondon”. – Etherige and Persighetti (DIY lead artists 2018)

DIY workshops have been incredibly important in my career. I say this from the perspective of a workshop leader as well as a workshop participant. As well as an amazing source of support and growth, these workshops are also fantastic ways of meeting new artists and collaborators. – Nando Messias (DIY lead artist, 2018)

About DIY

DIY is an opportunity for artists working in Live Art to conceive and run unusual research, training and professional development projects for themselves and other artists.

DIY understands that the development of a Live Art practice is as much about the exploration of ideas, methodologies and experiences as training in skills and techniques, and past DIY projects have proved to be invaluable experiences for project leaders, participants and partner organisers alike.

DIY is all about creating spaces to explore new ideas and test new methodologies. We want to hear from you if have an idea for an exciting, innovative and idiosyncratic Live Art professional development project that offers something different and is geared to the eclectic and often unusual needs of artists whose practices are grounded in challenging and unconventional approaches, forms and concepts.

We particularly welcome proposals led by or addressing underrepresented artists, practices, and territories.

DIY projects may take any form and can be based anywhere in the UK. Each DIY project is placed with a partner organisation and this year’s partners are detailed below. If a partner organisation has a regional remit your DIY project will happen in that region, if it has a national remit it can happen anywhere. Please make clear in your application your preferred location(s), although we do encourage you to be flexible (once we have selected the final projects we may ask some proposals to be relocated to ensure a good spread of projects across the country.)

DIYs can be about anything you want, but some DIY partners have written specific briefs for artists to respond to, which cover an exciting and diverse range of themes with opportunities for Trans, non-binary and intersex artists, D/deaf and disabled artists and many others – see below for full details.

DIY16 will also include three DIYs supported by Live Art UK’s Diverse Actions initiative, specifically supporting artists of colour.

DIY awards

Wherever possible, artists’ participation in DIY projects should be free. Lead artists are encouraged to think about the needs of their participants when drawing up a budget, and many lead artists allocate some of their award budget to help with participant expenses. However, with projects taking place all over the country, and transport costs going up all the time, we are some way off being able to completely cover all the costs of taking part in a DIY.

In recognition of this, and as a gesture of our commitment to making DIYs as accessible as possible, in 2019 we have increased each DIY award to £1,600. We expect that £100 of this increased award will go directly towards helping participants cover travel, accommodation or other access costs where possible and appropriate.

We realise that this is unlikely to cover every expense – some participants may still have to pay something, and lead artists are still encouraged to further consider participant expenses within their main budget where appropriate – but we hope this extra money will help open up the DIY programme to a greater number of artists.

Further Information for Applicants

LADA’s Frequently Asked DIY Questions page has been updated for 2019. Please read these notes carefully before applying.

If you have questions which are not answered by the FAQ, if you would like to discuss an idea before applying, or if you have any specific access requirements please contact Finn.

Partner Organisations

DIYs this year are supported by: Artsadmin (London), Artshouse (Jersey), BUZZCUT (Glasgow), Cambridge Junction (Cambridge), Colchester Arts Centre (Colchester), DaDa Fest (Liverpool), Dance4, International Centre for Choreography (Nottingham), Heart of Glass (St Helens), Home Live Art (Hastings), HOME (Manchester) LADA (London), Live Art Bistro (Leeds), Folkestone Fringe (Folkestone), Lancaster Arts (Lancaster), Live Art UK (national), Marlborough Pub & Theatre (Brighton), National Theatre (London), ]performance s p a c e[ (Folkestone), Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), Scottish Sculpture Workshop (Aberdeenshire), Snape Maltings (Suffolk), Tate Liverpool (Liverpool), Whitstable Biennale (inviting proposals for Swale and Medway).

Specific briefs

DIYs can be about anything, but we also have a number of specific briefs to respond to:
1. Live Art and Bethnal Green (LADA)

In Bethnal Green, in the East End of London, enormous wealth co-exists with great poverty, traditional cultures and ideas sit shoulder-to-shoulder with tech start-ups, while hyper-diversity and waves of migration continue to bring new communities to the borough.  For DIY16 LADA will support a DIY that explores this vibrant, challenging and changing part of London.

While we are open to DIY proposals which interpret Bethnal Green in multiple ways, we encourage proposals which focus on one or more elements of:

• the history and community of The Garrett Centre, LADA’s home on Mansford Street, an ex-Unitarian church managed with a socially engaged mission and ethos.
• the rapidly shifting social and economic dynamics of the area – subjects such as migration, gentrification, homelessness, commerce – and the people who live and work here.

For further information about this brief, please contact Finn.
2. Live Art and Collaborative and Socially Engaged Practice (Tate Liverpool)

Tate Liverpool invites proposals for a DIY workshop that investigates socially engaged and collaborative practice.

Tate Liverpool has been developing projects in partnership with artists, local groups and communities across the North West since it opened in 1988. In the last three years Tate Liverpool has embedded collaborative practice in its programme as part of the Collaborate Arts Partnership Programme (CAPP). For this DIY the lead artist will have the opportunity to develop a workshop that manifests both in and outside of the building, including its Tate Exchange space and Clore Studio. We are particularly interested in proposals that develop collaborative strategies and encourage artists in the region to expand their skills.

For more information please contact Michael.
3. Live Art and DaDaFest

DaDaFest aims to produce and promote the work of D/deaf and disabled artists, widen audiences for this work and change people’s understanding of disability as a social issue.

DaDafest invites DIY proposals from artists identifying as disabled or D/deaf or living with a long-term condition or illness.

We are keen to work with artists at the start of their career or established artists who are interested in supporting the development needs of those at the start of their career.

We are particularly interested in proposals which investigate or consider approaches to creative access for audiences.

For more information or if you have any questions please contact Rachel.
4. Live Art and Diverse Actions (Live Art UK) – three DIY projects

Diverse Actions is a Live Art UK initiative which champions culturally diverse ambition, excellence and talent in Live Art. Diverse Actions builds on Live Art’s vital role as a practice of artistic innovation and a space to express complex ideas of cultural identity. Running for three years, and supported by Arts Council England’s Ambition for Excellence programme, Diverse Actions will support three DIYs in 2019.

We invite proposals for these projects led by artists of colour, and while no limitations are placed on subject matter, activity, or approach, proposals which explore complex ideas of cultural identity, or which have been specifically designed for participants of colour, are encouraged.

Partner organisations for the three Diverse Actions DIYs are:

• BUZZCUT: a collective based in Glasgow, hosting events and festivals which encourage formal experimentation in an accessible, community-focused environment.
• Live Art Bistro: an artist-led “engine room” for Live Art practices in Leeds and the wider region of Yorkshire.
• ]performance s p a c e[: an artist-led organisation based in Folkestone, cultivating performance work which pushes the boundaries of body, time and space.

For more information about these opportunities, please contact Finn.
5. Live Art and the Library of Performing Rights (LADA)

The Library of Performing Rights (LPR) was originally created in 2006 (by Lois Weaver of Queen Mary University London in collaboration with LADA) as a unique resource containing materials that examined the intersection between performance and human rights and were submitted by artists, activists and academics from around the world.

Having travelled the world for over a decade, in August 2017, the LPR was reimagined and reactivated by LADA, Lois Weaver, Elena Marchevska and the Study Room In Exile, as a concept or approach to research and practice, rather than a distinct collection. It is available as a place of action, a place of knowledge exchange, and a repository of experience, and with that in mind, we now invite proposals for the second in an annual series of LPR DIYs. These might respond to or utilise the LPR collection in multiple ways, but we are equally interested in projects which advance approaches to, understandings of, and practices related to issues of human rights, social and environmental justice.

If you have any questions about this brief please contact Finn.
6. Live Art and Managing the Radical (LADA) – two DIY projects

Managing the Radical (MtR) is a collaborative research project which aims to rethink, reposition and reimagine how art that operates and thinks ‘differently’ is created, produced, peopled, funded, represented and contextualised.

We invite proposals for two DIYs from artists who want to explore how experimental performance-based practices might be managed and organised differently, how power and ethics impact on an artistic practice and how the people involved might be cared for better. This could involve drawing on ways of doing things developed by artists past and present, by activists or organisations in other areas (such as housing, environmental activism, critical care), or experimenting in as yet unimagined ways.

Managing the Radical is the focus of LADA’s fifth Restock, Reflect, Rethink programme, an ongoing series since 2006 mapping underrepresented artists, practices and histories. MtR (2019-2021) is a collaborative research project between LADA; Amit Rai of the School of Business and Management and Nick Ridout of the Drama Department at Queen Mary University of London; producers Orlagh Woods and Gini Simpson; and Cecilia Wee of Artsadmin.

The two MtR DIYs are supported through the Collaborations Fund of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Queen Mary University of London.

If you have any questions about this brief please contact Finn.
7. Live Art and the National Theatre New Work Department

At the National (https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/about-the-national-theatre/new-work) we make world class theatre that is entertaining, challenging and inspiring, and we make it for everyone. We invite DIY proposals which take advantage of our resources in order to reimagine histories and design new futures. Based at the National Theatre Studio in Waterloo, London, the New Work Department has access to a range of costumes, props and period furniture from past NT productions, as well as three workshop spaces equipped with lighting rigs, sound equipment, video projectors and other technical resources.

For more information about this brief, including resources/spaces available, please contact Stewart.
8. Live Art and Scottish Sculpture Workshop

As artists’ labour and practice is increasingly harnessed for wider society’s wellbeing, we look to focus DIY proposals on artists’ wellbeing.  We call out for playful and poignant DIY proposals which foreground your #wellness and #bliss.

In addition to the budget SSW can offer self-catered accommodation on site at SSW between:

Tuesday 16 July — Friday 26 July 2019

Friday 11 October — Monday 14 October 2019

SSW are seeking proposals from artists based throughout the UK but advise that the call for participants should be open to Scotland-based artists only in order to support participant travel.

Scottish Sculpture Workshop (SSW) is a unique site of collective learning and making in rural Aberdeenshire, Scotland set up to enable artists in the research and realisation of their ideas through residency, projects and a public programme.

2019 marks SSW’s 40th anniversary.

For more information or if you have access or childcare needs, please contact Jenny.
9. Live Art Took the Money and Ran (Artsadmin)

This year Artsadmin and LADA are hosting a series of events exploring the ethics of fundraising, corporate sponsorship and cultural values following the Take the Money And Run symposium they convened in 2015, with Home Live Art and Platform London.

As part of Artsadmin’s continued research and commitment to this area, we invite proposals for DIY project by artists (and possibly artists working in collaboration with activists, researchers and organisers)  that respond to issues of ethical funding, alternative economics, the Commons and cooperative resource allocation. What could Live Art create if it “Took the Money and Ran”? Could learning from Live Art offer new forms of independence and resistance?

We welcome critical, imaginative and irreverent interrogations of these themes. We particularly encourage applications that aim to centre underrepresented perspectives, positions or groups.

For more information please contact Ceclia.
10. Live Art and Trans Pride (The Marlborough Pub & Theatre)

The Marlborough is a performance space, artists’ residence and also a buzzing pub for Brighton’s LGBTQ+ community. Every year we collaborate with Trans Pride Brighton to present a programme of trans, non-binary and intersex artists throughout Trans Pride at the end of July. This year also marks 50 years since the Stonewall riots and feels like an opportunity to reflect on and celebrate the trans, non-binary and intersex activists that have come before us and continue to fight for our equality and liberation. We want to hear from trans, non-binary and intersex (live) artists who are interested in responding to our community’s past, present and future activism.

For more information please contact Lee.