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Image: Landscape in Bodø, Norway

Call for Artists: Performing Arts Relay Lab 2024 – Language//Landscape  

Bodø, Norway

November 12-15, 2024

Nightswimming (Toronto) &

The School of Creative and Performing Arts (University of Calgary)

Apply by MAY 3, 2024

The Performing Arts Relay is a collaboration between organizations based in Canada, Denmark and Norway, each committed to studio-based performance research in theatre, music and dance. We call it the “Relay” because the Lab sessions at the heart of this initiative move from one country to the next, enhancing the intersection of working practices and building a community of artists dedicated to examining how they create and collaborate.

Relay #1 concluded in 2018 in Calgary, and we are pleased to announce that Relay #2 will begin in 2024 in Bodø, Norway. Subsequent labs will be hosted by Relay partners in Canada and Denmark in 2025. Each Relay lab will include two artists (either individuals or teams of collaborators) selected from each country to explore together in a 3-day artistic laboratory, followed by a 1-day concluding seminar. The purpose of each Lab is to examine, discover and exchange methods of creation and practice among the participants.

Call for Artists: Language//Landscape  –  Bodø, November 12-15, 2024

We invite artists to propose an idea for an experiment or a set of questions on the broad theme of Language//Landscape. This theme is open to a wide range of interpretations. The framing of this theme is meant as an invitation to consider the wide range of possible relationships between these two terms and concepts. Artists will be invited to map their creative routes as they explore their own and each other’s work practice through the lens of languages and landscapes. The thematic focus may include the 3 countries’ spoken, written and otherwise articulated languages, as well as their physical and cultural geographies, including the Arctic regions, as reflected in the work of the participating artists.

The Lab will be designed by the host partner based on the proposals from the selected artists and will be facilitated by the organizing partners. The partners will facilitate and frame the Lab work with questions, themes, and individual and collaborative tasks, to promote the artists’ awareness of their methods and artistic practices. The Lab will be preceded by a short online process for participants to introduce ideas, experiments and questions to be examined in Bodø.

Key Details

Apply by: 11:59 PM (EDT) Friday May 3, 2024

Pre-Lab meetings: October – November 2024 (virtual)

Lab & Seminar: November 12-15, 2024 (in-person in Bodø, Norway)

Resources Provided: 

  • $2,000 CAD artist fee
  • Round trip travel from Canada to Bodø, Norway*
  • Accommodation and per diems*
  • Studio space with basic technical facilities

*Note: Canadian partners will be applying for travel funding; details are subject to change.

Partner Organizations / Facilitators

Relay Bodø 2024 – Timeline

  • Spring 2024: 2 artists from each partner country are selected for Relay Bodø.
  • Oct 28-Nov 8: Pre-lab process (online). From their current landscape, artists share ideas, audio works, videos, texts, and questions of method and practice. Approx. 10 flexible work hours.
  • Nov 11: Travel day
  • Nov 12-14: 3-day lab in Bodø, hosted by Davvi. The selected artists create, research and exchange methods and questions in a framework facilitated and documented by the Relay partners.
  • Nov 15: Concluding seminar and knowledge-sharing with local artistic and academic communities.
  • Nov 16: Travel day

How to Apply

Please email your application to applications@nightswimmingtheatre.com by FRIDAY MAY 3, 2024 at 11:59 PM EDT with “Performing Arts Relay Application” as the subject line.

Attach a single PDF containing the following, in this order:

  • a cover letter introducing yourself (maximum 1 page)
  • a project description articulating your question or idea for investigation, your curiosity regarding the theme of Language//Landscape, and how you intend to use the studio time (maximum 1 page)*
  • bio or c.v. of principal artist-researcher and a list of collaborators, if known (maximum 2 pages)
  • do not send videos, press clippings, photos, programs, press kits or folders

*Note: the Relay is not designed to develop or produce a specific artistic project

Applicants must be available to be in Bodø, Norway during the lab dates (November 12-15, 2024). The adjudication team will be present to observe, participate and offer dramaturgical support and assistance.

If you have any questions about the application process or the application itself, or have any specific accessibility concerns regarding applications, including applying in a non-written format (i.e. as an audio or video file), please feel free to contact Gloria Mok at: gloria@nightswimmingtheatre.com.

NOTE: Applications will be accepted by email only. Short-listed applicants may be asked for further information before the final decisions are made. We thank everyone who applies for their interest. All applicants will be informed of results by May 31, 2024.

We look forward to reading your application!

Performing Arts Relay partners share a passion for artistic research and lab work for performing arts professionals. We believe that artistic research is a necessity and essential for artists to continue to grow and develop throughout their career. As project partners we are dedicated to providing a solid framework for lab work to take place, and we feel that the labs we create together, combining practice and reflection in a professionally facilitated and structured frame, are an important contribution to expanding the horizons, knowledge and skills of the participating artists as well as our own.

Performing Arts Relay Bodø is supported by Nordic Culture Fund, Flerspråklighetspuljen and Aarhus Municipality.

A PDF copy of this Call for Performing Arts Relay Lab 2024 can be downloaded here.