OPEN CALL – residential lab PUSH – gender and sexual identity

In the sector of theatre and dance for children and young people, there is a desire to create work that is excellent and relevant. This requires us to tell a more diverse range of stories, to reflect the experiences and lives of more of the human beings who live in this world. PUSH will therefore focus on three topics – gender and sexual identity, migration and (over)protection – that are currently underexplored in work for young audiences, creating space to talk about, investigate and initiate new artistic ideas.

In order to explore this material in a meaningful way and enhance our learning beyond the current thinking in the participating countries, PUSH will bring artists and organisations together as European peers to work alongside young people and non-arts professionals in Scotland, Belgium, Ireland, Norway and Denmark.  Focussing on these three topics – gender identity, migration and (over)protection – will allow the participating organisations and artists to take risks, to experiment and to explore subjects that are complex in times of financial restrictions. Societal change is taking place across the EU and it is essential that the work presented to young audiences reflects these changes.

PUSH will do this through:

• Three artistic laboratories (8-day long facilitated artistic residencies): Imaginate, Krokus Festival and The Ark will host a Lab each focussing on one of the PUSH topics. Each Lab will have 14 places for artists from the partner countries and will be lead by a team of artists and non-arts experts.
• Five festival visits: some of the artists selected to take part in the Labs will be invited to attend one of the partner festivals (Imaginate Festival, Krokus Festival, Dublin Theatre Festival, Showbox and SWOP) to reconnect with the PUSH network, see work for young audiences and continue to explore the three topics.

The first of the PUSH international residential Labs which will take place at Lyra, Edinburgh. This Lab will be led by Eilidh MacAskill and will explore how we can use performance to talk about gender and sexual identity with children. There will be 4 places for artists from Belgium, alongside artists from Scotland, Ireland, Norway and Denmark to come together for an 8-day intensive workshop from Monday 30th of January to Monday 6th of February 2017. The 4 Belgian artists will be selected by Krokusfestival. They will be reimbursed and transport, accommodation and catering are provided for by the organisation.