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Scottish International Storytelling Festival 2022 – Open Call for Creative Proposals

Open Call for Creative Proposals “Interpreting Scotland”

Through the struggles of recent times, storytelling has been embraced as an art form because of what it offers to communities, families and artists at a time when human contacts and relationships have been under pressure.

What now for our personal and collective narratives? Help re-shape Scotland’s sense of itself in this Year of Stories.

SISF 2022 invites creatives within and beyond the storytelling community to join the Festival’s creative process by submitting a proposal on the theme of “Interpreting Scotland”, debating and shaping the stories that matter most for Scotland – past, present and future.

What:

Submit a creative proposal for a storytelling performance on the theme of “Interpreting Scotland” to be showcased at the SISF in October 2022.

  • Creative proposals must have a lead artist/producer who will be responsible for delivering the project
  • SISF Festival commissions typically involve one to three performers, and last between one hour and one hour 15 minutes. At least one performer must be a storyteller, either in a traditional or contemporary style.
  • Creative proposals should have a clear indication of whether the work can be presented live, or online, or both, as well as a clear sense of its audience.
  • The project’s description should be accompanied by an indicative budget, covering artists’ fees (highlighting any research, rehearsal and performance costs), production costs and other relevant expenses. If the proposal is successful SISF will work with you to establish an accurate and viable agreed budget.
  • We welcome proposals which celebrate and showcase artistic and thematic diversity and proposals from creatives not previously engaged with SISF.
  • We welcome proposals featuring a creative approach to Gaelic, Scots, BSL, or other minority languages in Scotland.

Ten performances will be commissioned, five of which may also be filmed. Five further projects will be supported as ‘emergent’, and presented as ‘works in progress’.

Who:

The lead applicant must be an artist living and working in Scotland.

Selection process:

Submissions will be assessed by a panel comprising the SISF creative team and two guest curators to ensure openness and diversity. All proposals will be given careful consideration and will be assessed on the basis of the following criteria:

  • Artistic excellence
  • Celebration of oral storytelling
  • Consideration of diversity and inclusiveness
  • Viability and Cost-effectiveness
  • Achievable within the timeframe

The panel assessment will result in the selection of up to ten creative projects.

Five further projects will be supported as ‘emergent’, and presented as ‘works in progress’.

How to apply:

We have tried to keep this application process as simple as possible, please follow these steps:

1 – Fully complete the separate application form, with a particular attention to the budget

2 – Email the form to [email protected] titling the document as ‘SISF 2022 Creative Proposal *Your Name*’. Please also put the same title in the subject line of the email.

The deadline is 5pm on Monday 23 May 2022.

Open Call Application Information

Application Form