Happy Opportunity Tuesday!
22 November 2022
Just a little note from me this week - and it’s about kindness.
We all know that people working in the arts underpay and are underpaid. We compete with our peers for jobs, funding and opportunities that feel like they are becoming scarcer and scarcer by the week. Our theatres, galleries, libraries, cinemas, museums and music venues are often built on unkind models, with unkind policies and systemic unkindness woven into their very fabric. This all sits within unkind political and financial systems, ruled over by an unkind government constantly threatening to cut the main sources of funding that (barely) keep us all going in the first place. It’s no wonder we’re all burnt out!
So…we must be pretty amazing and resilient human beings to still find time and space for kindness. I know so many wonderful people that give it in spades. There are people in our sector who radiate kindness, live their lives by it, even in times of personal or professional crisis, or when they feel just as burnt out and under just as much pressure as everyone else. I’d like to celebrate those people. If you’d like to give somebody a shout-out for their kindness, respond to this email with their name and a couple of sentences and I’ll feature them in a future newsletter. Just check they’re OK with it first!
I have been bowled over by recent kindness and generosity from people both inside and outside the cultural sector. I put out a tweet last week asking for help with replacing our old broken computers at my little company RivelinCo and an incredibly kind anonymous donor gave us half the cash to pay for new ones. I put this little newsletter out into the world thinking a couple of hundred people might be interested, and over 1600 of you have now signed up - and some of you are even contributing £1 a week which genuinely supports me to keep this going, thank you.
All is not lost. I truly believe that. At our core we all have the compassion, heart and humanity to want to make a difference and change things for the better. At a time when it’s getting harder to put food on the table, let alone stay in the arts, we have to remember that radical, creative ideas can change hearts and minds. What we do is important, and we deserve to be valued for it. Freelancers can support each other too, and it doesn’t have to be with money - compliment somebody’s work, make the effort to go to their sharing even if it’s a little out of town, donate old equipment, have a coffee with somebody new to the arts. Or perhaps share an opportunity from this list with somebody who’d be perfect for it? A little kindness goes a very long way.
Some other cool culture stuff happening at the mo:
Check out this amazing 5 star review for Zoo Co’s A Perfect Show for Rachel, and get your tickets! It’s on at the Barbican in London until Saturday.
Young people turning 18 in Germany are getting offered a €200 culture pass as a birthday present from the government. IMAGINE.
Touretteshero’s brilliant Biscuitland is now a telly comedy!
Check out Liminal Stage’s GREY MAN, a free digital show with accompanying intro to mindfulness.
Now, on with the show…
Happy Opportunity Tuesday!
Every Tuesday I share 10 #artsopps, commissions, residencies, open calls and applications closing soon.
Always PAID (or free/cheap for training) and for a range of artists: emerging to mid-career, from 16 to 80+.
Here are this week’s…
For early career directors:
Apply for the Victoria Wood Assistant Director Bursary with JMK Trust and Leeds Playhouse to undertake a full time 15-week paid placement assisting on Lord of the Flies (directed by Amy Leach) and A Passionate Woman (directed by Sameena Hussain).
DEADLINE: MON 12 DEC
For Black composers:
Apply for one of three £750 grants for new sonic works, from Sound and Music. The brief for this project is intentionally open and isn’t tied to any specific themes. Works can be solo or collaborative, and should be 1 to 5-minute creative, sonic responses.
DEADLINE: THU 24 NOV
For writers:
Submit your script for the BBC’s 28th International Radio Playwriting Competition! Tell stories for an international audience using the medium of audio drama. There are two categories: English as a First Language and English as a Second Language. Win £2,500 plus an all expenses paid trip to London to see your play recorded and broadcast!
DEADLINE: SUN 12 FEB
For theatre-makers in the West Midlands:
Sign up for a FREE Filming Performance 6-week bootcamp with The Space, Screenskills and the WMCA and get a £2,500 bursary to take part! Find out how live performances are captured for screen (including music videos, poetry, theatre, dance and more) and develop your own digital skills including multi-camera filming and video content creation.
DEADLINE: THU 8 DEC
For new and early career arts and culture writers:
Apply for VAULT Festival’s FREE New Critics Programme to develop your writing and critical voice. Get 1:1 mentoring and feedback, and practice by reviewing different types of performances at VAULT Festival.
DEADLINE: THU 8 DEC
For young musicians in Hammersmith & Fulham:
Get £1,000 grant and take part in a FREE 10 month artist development scheme with SLHF! Take part in talks and workshops, meet industry professionals, attend screenings and be part of conversations at the cutting edge of sound and art.
DEADLINE: WED 30 NOV
For Deaf, disabled, and neurodiverse writers in the North:
Enter the Lancaster Playwriting Prize to win a cash prize of £1,500, a staged public reading or your play, and bespoke mentoring. The Lancaster Playwriting Prize is run by the Dukes and in partnership with Lancaster University.
DEADLINE: WED 30 NOV
For artists with UK and African/African Diasporic heritage:
Take part in an 8-week residency with other artists at Ebhudlweni Art Centre in rural Mpumalanga, South Africa, exploring climate breakdown through a social justice lens. Work together to create an interactive performance, youth focused workshop series and game. Paid £3,400 plus all travel and accommodation costs will be covered.
DEADLINE: WED 7 DEC
For participatory artists:
The University of Sunderland, SeaScapes and South Tyneside Council have announced a £10,000 participatory artist commission called Renewable Blue, which will explore our relationship to the world's largest renewable natural resource: water. Work with pioneering innovators leading the green energy revolution in South Tyneside, and the local communities who will benefit.
DEADLINE: WED 7 DEC
For young people in Rotherham:
Enter the Children’s Capital of Culture Young Artist in Residence competition to win £1,500 and professional mentoring! Ideal for 16-25 year olds interested in graphic design, writing, or journalism.
DEADLINE: MON 28 NOV
That’s it for this week!
Really hope it’s useful. It’s a tough time for artists (and, well, everyone) at the mo so please look after each other out there. Please let me know if you’re successful with your applications, and as always if you enjoy Opportunity Tuesday please share to help us reach the folks who need it most. I started it to try to level the playing field a bit, and every little helps.
Opportunity Tuesday will always be free to access, but if you can afford to chip in a little something to support me to keep it going, that would be hugely appreciated - just click the button below to support with £1 per week. I’m freelance too, you see!
Thank you for your support, and I have my fingers and toes crossed for you. Good luck!
P.S. The part you’ve all been waiting for. Mabel says hi…
Please note: Inclusion in #OpportunityTuesday is not endorsement. I look far and wide for the most interesting and exciting paid opportunities I can find, and though I do my best to make sure they’re legit, I don’t always know the organisations well. If you have an issue with something on the list, please get in touch with the relevant organisation. You are very welcome to send me opportunities to include, but please note I will not be able to respond to every request, and I do not guarantee inclusion in the list - each week is curated to be varied and relevant. Thanks!
Wonderful Linda, thank you so much for this joy filled newsletter.