Stomping Ground Commission Call Out 2022

Stomping Ground, a commissioning group of leading UK arts organisations Creative Crawley, FABRIC (Dance4 and DanceXchange together), FESTIVAL.ORG, The Place and Tramway is seeking proposals for compelling, original and bold dance works that are made for outdoor spaces. The chosen project will receive a £25k commission – Stomping Ground’s largest commission to date – towards an original work that is expected to be presented from summer 2023.

The Stomping Ground commission is an opportunity for artists to embark on the creation of new outdoor dance work that captures the attention and imaginations of audiences in urban, rural, festival or high street spaces. Previous Stomping Ground recipients include Robby Graham, Requardt & Rosenberg, Joseph Toonga, Pagrav Dance and AndroidX + MHz.

This year, the partners welcome Creative Crawley, a new arts charity in Crawley, West Sussex, to the Stomping Ground partnership. Commenting on what it means to join this partnership, Louise Blackwell from Creative Crawley says:

Stomping Ground is seeking proposals that:

• Are originally conceived as outdoor works (rather than work which has previously been made for indoor spaces)
• Are adaptable to their locations, have the potential to be scaled to different contexts and are conceived with touring potential in mind
• Respond to, or engage with, the world we’re living in now
• Consider how outdoor work can engage a mix of committed attendees & passersby.

The commissioners are interested in hearing from dance makers who:

• Are UK based
• Have a track record of making and presenting work in a range of professional contexts – this may or may not have already involved working outdoors
• Are interested in how outdoor work can inspire audiences from the broadest range of backgrounds
• Are seeking to engage with inspiring artists as part of their creative team (e.g. music, design, theatre, circus) and/or other disciplines (e.g. architecture, town planning)
• Are from other disciplines who use movement in their practice
• That the commissioning partners haven’t worked with before
• That the commissioning partners have existing relationships with

Applications from those who are currently underrepresented in the dance sector, including but not limited to: disabled artists, artists from financially disadvantaged backgrounds, artists who are from the Global Majority, artists with care responsibilities and artists who are LGBTQIA+ are strongly encouraged.

COMMISSIONING OFFER

The commissioned artist will be supported on their journey from the beginnings of the idea, right through to production. Alongside the £25k commission, the partners can also offer R&D space, marketing guidance, some producing support, and other guidance.

ELIGIBILITY

UK based artists, who define themselves as having an established practice, and track record of making and presenting high quality work.

Applications from students (unless at PhD level), or artists based outside of the UK will not be eligible.

APPLICATION

Applicants are invited to respond with an expression of interest form available via this link.

• 7 September: deadline
• 21 September: shortlisting meeting online
• 4 October: interviews online

All applicants can request feedback, and all applicants will be told the outcome of their application by Friday 30 October.

The selection is carried out by a panel of producers and programmers from the commissioning organisations, as well as an external artist.

The commissioning group will be hosting a BSL-interpreted information session on Tuesday 23 August at 6pm online, where applicants will have time to ask questions.