THE FESTIVAL

Live Arts is a 16-day, curated festival that focuses on cutting-edge work in all performance genres. The Live Arts Festival presents contemporary, edgy, challenging, alternative, and provocative work.

THE ARTISTS

The majority of the work that we present is completed work by professional artists who have been presenting this type of work for over five years. They are the premiere artists in their region creating innovative work within their discipline or across genres. We look for boundary-crossing work that is innovative in form and/or content.

A major strength of our organization is our on-going relationships with artists built through years of working together towards common ends. We have developed strong relationships built on trust and mutual respect. Please use the below information as a guideline to help you understand our process.

THE PROCESS

The Live Arts Festival does not have a formal application process. We program the festival through an ongoing process of dialogue with artists. The majority of the 2005 festival will be programmed by the end of February. If you are interested in being considered for 2005, we encourage you to contact us immediately.

If you would like to be considered, please send us a one-page description of the work that you are proposing. Please include a brief history of the work, and a brief bio of yourself or your organization. You can email this proposal to Maria Moller, Assistant Program Director, at maria@livearts-fringe.org. You do not need to send additional support materials at this time; we will contact you if we require them.

We also encourage you to look through our past festival guide online. That will give you a sense of the scope and scheduling of the Live Arts Festival.

THE SELECTION

Though the majority of next year's Live Arts Festival will be programmed by the end of February 2005, we consider artists on a year round basis. We may consider your proposal for a future year if we are interested in your work, but not able to program it for the current year.

SPECIAL PERFORMANCE PLATFORMS

We program two performance platforms with specific focuses. These platforms usually consist of shorter works performed on a shared bill. If you feel your work is appropriate for one for these platforms, please mention that in your proposal.

Emerging Artists: Artists from the Philadelphia region who have begun their professional careers within approximately the last five years perform on shared bills separated by genre. This platform gives opportunities to new artists who are pushing the boundaries of their artistic expression.

In Progress Series: Established artists from the Philadelphia region who are developing new work are given the opportunity to show this work in its formative stage. This can be a small segment of a larger work, or just a new idea that needs audience feedback in order to go to the next stage of development. We are especially looking for people who are creating a piece that will stretch their boundaries as an artist. You will be given the opportunity to speak with the audience after every performance.

THE VENUES

Multi-use Venues: Most shows will be presented in a multi-use venue and many will be on multiple bills. More often than not, more than one artists' bill will be presented in a venue per evening. These multi-use venues have a standard light and sound package. Each of these venues has a venue manager who can help with their technical needs.

Site-Specific: Some shows with site-dependent are given their own venue. The technical support with these venues is sparer. Our technical support is geared towards the individual show. Our expenses and energies are usually put towards finding the right venue.

Outdoor: We can also make accommodations for outdoor performances. We have a rich history of presenting this type of work. We also encourage participating artists to "busk" or hawk their shows outdoors. Special arrangements with the local police have been made.

Late Night Cabaret: One of our most exciting venues is our Late Night Cabaret (LNC). It's the place where artists and audiences gather at the end of the regular Live Arts and Fringe day. We present events here that warrant a late night drinking crowd. These shows are usually presented once during the festival as a special event. They are usually part of a cabaret lineup and behave as the headline act. Artists performing in this capacity are programmed at the same time as other Live Arts artists.

Each Late Night Cabaret also features an MC and many other artists presenting shorter works. The Late Night Cabaret is our main venue for bands. We program bands, MCs, and artists performing shorter sets beginning in May.

THE PAYMENT

There are no fees associated with participating in the Live Arts Festival. In most cases, artists are paid through a percentage of their box office, and are also given a guarantee.

Late Night Cabaret shows, most outdoor shows, and some other shows are free. Artists are paid a set fee for these shows.

In most cases, artists' checks are mailed 15 business days after the last day of the Live Arts Festival.

posted by Deborah Block
11/23/2004 04:10:42 PM

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