The Fresh Milk Art Platform and the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) are pleased to share an open call for their first collaborative Emerging Directors Residency 2016. This exciting new partnership is a paid artist residency for early career theatre directors, which will provide them with an opportunity to conduct much needed research into Caribbean theatre heritage and to explore and create through theatre form and style.

Two residencies will be offered, for two emerging Barbadian directors who will receive a stipend of $1,000.00 BBD each. Each residency, which will be based at the Fresh Milk studio in Walkers, St. George, will run for a 50 hour period which the resident must complete over two weeks. There are two fortnightly time-frames scheduled between May 23 – June 3 or June 6 – June 17, and each candidate may choose which time-frame is suitable for them. The deadline for applications is April 29, 2016.

Residents will be mentored over the course of the programme by a noted Barbadian/Caribbean Director and, at the close of the period, each will present, by way of a small showcase with actors, aspects of the work they have been exploring.

Rationale:

Residency programmes afford professionals time and space away from the demands of daily work life to carry out much needed professional development. Outside of traditional longer term training, a paid residency allows artists time, however short, for contemplative study and exploration. In the Barbadian context, there is much focus on the training of performers, however there are considerably fewer opportunities for those theatre artists with a special interest in directing to hone and develop their skills. Highly skilled, culturally aware and visionary directors are needed, as we move nationally to advance our cultural industries sector, and to enrich the quality of small and large scale staged events, whether drama, music, dance, or indeed multimedia events.

Greater awareness of Barbadian/Caribbean theatre form and style will serve to enhance the ideological and interpretive output of those up and coming directors on the local theatre scene, and equip them to create work that consciously and profoundly engages with Barbadian tradition. ‘Emerging Directors Residency’ offers an opportunity to design and apply staging concepts for ‘alternative spaces’, i.e. the “site-specific”, and otherwise environmental concept. It offers mentorship, access to archival material, and affords time for creativity.

Objectives:

– Partner with local and regional arts platforms to offer developmental opportunities for artists;

– Provide a forum for emerging directors to research their craft through mentorship, and through access to documented and archived material;

– Provide emerging directors with a secure and rigorous environment for practice, and the resources with which he or she may develop emerging work, and/or experiment with new ideas;

– Provide opportunities for actors to work with emerging directors in a developmental and experimental workshop setting.

Eligibility:

The ideal candidate should be a trained Barbadian theatre artist, who has directed between 1 and 4 plays.

Duration of Programme:

1 Session per Resident: 50 hours to be undertaken over EITHER May 23 – June 3, 2016, OR June 6 – 17, 2016.

Application process:

Prospective candidates can apply with the completed application form (which includes a bio/artist statement and project proposal, and can be downloaded here), full CV and portfolio, writing samples from your director’s notebook and 2-3 critical (newspaper, peer or academic) reviews of recent work to the National Cultural Foundation, Theatre Arts Office at the email address ncftheatrearts@gmail.com or lisa-cumberbatch@ncf.bb before midnight on Friday, April 29, 2016. They will be interviewed by a panel comprising NCF and Fresh Milk officials.

Successful candidates for the residency will be offered a stipend of $1,000.00. The resident is required to spend 50 hours at Fresh Milk in Walkers, St. George and should indicate a potential schedule of days and times they might be available during the interview process. The mentor will spend 10 hours in total with each resident over each 50 hour session. Each resident will have access to two actors for 15 hours to experiment and/or create work. At the end of each period, there will be a short showcase where the residents share aspects of the work they have been contemplating.

Expectations:

In addition to the 50 hours spent at Fresh Milk, each resident will be required to keep a weekly blog of text and images documenting their thoughts and processes which will be shared on the Fresh Milk website. At the close of the residency, each resident will also be required to submit a report according to Fresh Milk and the NCF’s guidelines.