All The Things We Couldn't Say | call for artists from Australia & Singapore

All The Things We Couldn’t Say is a three-year collaboration between Salamanca Arts Centre in Australia, and Checkpoint Theatre in Singapore. For the first year of the project (2022), they are seeking four participants from Australia (two from Tasmania and two from anywhere else in Australia) and two participants from Singapore to begin a process of contact, investigation, and digital collaboration. 

This opportunity is aimed at artists with a demonstrated prior involvement with live theatre or performance, creative and/or technical.

Since the pandemic began, artists everywhere have experienced the mental, physical, and emotional consequences of having human contact withdrawn. Some of the questions this residency explores include:  

• How do we create moments of encounter and exchange between artists who are used to collaborating face-to-face? 
• How do we amend our artistic practice to create meaningful moments of contact between artists and audiences when physical gatherings are not possible, or are severely restricted?  
• How can we hold space for one another, hear each other’s stories, and be present for one another, with empathy, compassion, and kindness?  

Eight participant artists (including two artists nominated from the Checkpoint Theatre ensemble) will meet digitally to begin exploring these questions. The process will be facilitated by Checkpoint Theatre’s Joint Artistic Directors Claire Wong and Huzir Sulaiman, and Salamanca Arts Centre’s Head of Performing Arts, Lucien Simon.  

This program is designed for creative practitioners who are: 

• early or mid-career artists in Singapore or Australia. Applicants must be citizens or permanent residents of either country. 
• interested in meaningful Asia Pacific engagement, devising methodologies, and interdisciplinary work, with a demonstrated prior involvement with live theatre or performance. We invite applications from artists who work in creative and technical capacities including writing, directing, making, devising, performing, designing, staging, production, lighting, sound, digital and all their intersections.  
• open to committing to a long-term engagement including work on a new ensemble collaboration after the first year. The first year is focused on research and capability building. 

Activities: 

• Workshop 1 (all participants): 11 April - 14 April 2022, afternoons. Total 16 hours. 
• Small group meetings and independent work will be scheduled according to availability between 15 April - 23 May 2022. Total 24 hours. 
• Workshop 2 (all participants): 24 May - 27 May 2022, afternoons. Total 16 hours. 

All participants will receive an honorarium of AUD $2,000 payable by the Australia Council for their participation in year one of the development programme. 

Deadline: 9 November 2021