Commission for co-production City-tour/Stadsparade –performance

Dear  Dutch Based Circus Professionals,

Circusstad Festival  is looking for proposals for a commissioned co-produced piece for the next festival that will beheld from 5 till 9 May 2021.

Circusstad Festival  supports the emerging Dutch Circus field and emerging circus talent in various ways. Firstly, by programming Dutch companies with their shows and  work in progresses during Circusstad Festival And furthermore we co-produce and commission  to challenge Dutch circus companies/makers to take an exciting step in their development. Former co-productions (e.g. Trio Satchok, Teatime Company, Tall Tales Company, Duo No-nonsense) are now touring national and international festivals and stages with these works. We’re looking forward to your propositions.

1st Commission:  New outdoor circus show school-tour

Every Circusstad Festival we’ve experimented with ‘pop-up’ tours. This is our version of the ‘Classic Circus Parade’ to tell the city that: “the circus is coming to town”. It is our way to show a broad Rotterdam audience the taste and feel of the contemporary circus and promote the festival.

Last edition it was  the fourth time we’ve commissioned a (short) outdoor circus piece to tour many primary schools and other public spaces in Rotterdam as an introduction to circus and Circusstad Festival in some weeks before the festival. We’ve learned that this approach works very well and that the performances where highly appreciated by it’s (young) audience. It’s a fun introduction to the circus we represent.  And for the performers also it’s a great way to develop and test new (street) circus work to a broad and highly responsive audience. Annually we reach about 10.000 people with this tour all over Rotterdam.

What we ask:

· Is a special (new) creation a 10/15 minutes (street)show of ‘fresh, fun, quirky, spectacular, personal’ contemporary circus which is a good introduction to Circusstad Festival.
· Suitable for outdoors (no rigging, or self-supporting easy rig)
· Suitable for a young audience (So only Dutch text or no text)
· Suitable to be performed 20+ times at school squares at primary schools around Rotterdam at 14h/15h when school is out. And at other squares in and around Rotterdam. Accessible to an audience between 40 and 400 children and adults.
· You live/work in the Netherlands, preferably in or around Rotterdam
· You’ve graduated from Codarts  or  Acapa or have professional circus experience.
· You speak (enough) Dutch to address an audience and tell them about our festival
· Availability in March/April/early May 2021

What we offer:

· Budget for about 1 to 3 artists for creation (approx 3 to 4 weeks) and performances + artistic advice (e.g. director) and a small budget for costumes/props/set.
· A contract for about 2 months
· Lots of time to test out new material
· A new way of discovering Rotterdam
· Possibly more performing options before, during and after the festival
· Your creation will also be part of the Dutch Circus Showcase during Circusstad Festival 2021
· You get a great deal of accompaniment/mentoring by the Circusstad team for all the different aspects of creating, producing, promoting, networking and touring a new production.

Does this sound like the  perfect challenge for you? Please fill  out  this google-form for the commission CITY TOUR
here > https://forms.gle/JuAhARzoD2vkhGxJ6

DEADLINE – Wednesday 8th of July 23:59u!

I’m very much looking forward reading your proposals. For further questions, please don’t hesitate to  give me a call at +31-641508864 or to mail me at  maaike@circusstad.nl.

Best,

Maaike van Langen
Artistic Director Circusstad Festival