Go back Beta Circus: Open call for artists
17.01.2022.
Baltic performance artists! For new magic, illusionism and other circus disciplines, including dance, theatre, scenography artists and other artistic professionals – you have an amazing opportunity to participate in new magic (magie nuevo) workshops. The workshops will take place in Riga from 2th – 9th of March, as the international new magic projects final stage. For six local artists, who are motivated and ready for a new experience there is a chance to join these workshops.
You can apply from 17th January until 6th of February 2022.
Competitions regulations and application rules you can find below.
BETA CIRCUS. Baltic open call
Application until 6 February 2022
Selection of 6 participants from the Baltic states (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia) for the BETA CIRCUS activities in Riga, the international capacity building european programme dedicated to new trends in the circus arts, with a focus on new magic.
1. What is BETA CIRCUS?
BETA CIRCUS aims to address new trends in contemporary circus and to offset the lack of opportunities for artists to get trained at a high professional level. The project also proposes moments for the audience to experience those new languages and concepts with live performances, especially in the partner countries. Is a cooperation project that expects to develop a new European vision dedicated to the capacity building process for emerging contemporary circus artists looking for innovative works, trends and languages in Europe, with special focus on countries with a lack of high level circus education and reduced recognition of the circus domain in the field of contemporary arts.
BETA CIRCUS opens up an international programme to support the training of emerging professionals, based on transnational mobility for learning, and give them the opportunity to take a step forward, internationalizing their careers and introducing them to new aesthetics and techniques. During 2 years, the project highlights a specific new trend in contemporary circus aesthetics: illusionism and new magic, among the most currently interesting tendencies. Moreover, audiences, programmers and institutions will discover new trends in circus, illusionism and magic. With the sum of the activities, BETA CIRCUS aims to promote an international supporting circuit for the dissemination of these new tendencies in contemporary circus languages, promoting new artistic and research projects throughout a capacity building process, pushing up the activities of a transnational cooperation, based on the mobility of artists, professionals and partners teams, to discover different realities, artists and audiences.
BETA CIRCUS is co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union, being promoted by Bússola (PT), Teatro Necessario (IT), Ludifico (RS) and Rigas cirks (LV).
2. What are the goals of the whole project?
BETA CIRCUS aims to promote new trends and circus arts, providing a differentiated group of participants opportunities to upgrade their knowledge and practice in the specific field of new magic. The activities include 4 main axes during the project timetable:
#1 TRAIN: Training weeks, including workshops, mentoring sessions and talks;
#2 FEEL: Performances open to all audiences;
#3 TALK: Conferences and seminars targeting a professional audience;
#4 TRY: Final public exercise presented by the group of international participants.
3. What is the aim of the Baltic open call?
The current open call expects to select the 6 participants from the Baltic states to attend the training week in Riga.
4. When and where will the programme take place?
BETA CIRCUS activities in Riga (Latvia) are scheduled from the 3rd to the 9th March 2022, including:
Training Week #4
3 days theoretical workshop with Valentine Losseau [FR]. 4-6 March 2022.
2 days practical workshop with Valentine Losseau, only for 12 international participants. 7-8 March 2022.
Performance #4
A VUE, Magie performative, by Cie 32 Novembre [FR]. 3 March 2022.
Final exercise
Public output of the 12 international participants. 9 March 2022.
More info about the programme and biographies of trainers and mentors are available on the BETA CIRCUS website.
The language of the project activities and all training and mentoring sessions is English.
5. Which activities the selected participants should attend?
The selected participants should commit to the full agenda for Latvian activities (except 2 days practical workshop on 7-8 March).
Selected participants will sign a commitment agreement with the project before the final confirmation of their participation. Only participants with full availability for the identified dates will be accepted.
6. What are the responsibilities of the participants?
Participants have to be fully available for the project activities and dates, identified in point 4, and their responsibilities in the project are:
i) the commitment and participation in the workshops realized during the training week;
ii) attend one of the scheduled performances (2nd or 3rd March);
iii) take part in all the talks with the audience and project participants;
iv) attend the final exercise of the international participants.
In addition, they should demonstrate a strong sense of collaborative work and ability for international projects.
7. What benefits will participants have?
Selected participants will attend without costs the full capacity building programme of BETA CIRCUS, as indicated in point 4. In addition, participants will benefit from an international visibility and network provided by the project partners and communication, creating opportunities for their careers.
The project will not cover any travel expenses.
8. Who can apply for the open call?
BETA CIRCUS training is open for participants with a broad background in the artistic fields [magic, illusionism, circus, dance, theatre, visual arts, scenography, and others]. No age limit is defined, however the participants should demonstrate a strong motivation to develop something new or innovative in their artistic careers. Applications will be accepted from citizens of the Baltic States (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia) and official residents in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
9. How to apply?
The application can only be done through the BETA CIRCUS website filling the specific form. Applicants should keep in mind that all fields requested on the online form are mandatory. Applications with missing information will not be taken into consideration. Only applications in English will be considered.
10. What is the application deadline?
Until 6th of February 2021 [23h59].
Applications after the deadline will not be included for evaluation.
11. What are the selection criteria?
BETA CIRCUS expects to select a distinguished group with 6 differentiated profiles responding to the criteria of emerging in the field of arts, including turning-points and motivations to change careers in the definition of “emerging”. The participants will be selected based on their education and professional background, balanced with the motivations to participate in the project and learn new skills.
The selection will focus on diversity of backgrounds and the motivations of the applicants, looking also for the specificities of an international project based on mobility, where the ability to work in big international teams should be a mandatory requirement.
12. How will the selection process be done?
17 JAN – 6 FEB 2022
Application for the Baltic Open Call.
Online registration
7 – 13 FEB 2022
Selection Process.
Selected participants will be informed by 15th of February 2022.
FEB 2022
Signed Commitment Agreements with the selected participants.
13. Who will make the selection?
A committee with a representative of each project partner (Bússola, Teatro Necessario, Ludifico and Rigas cirks) will be responsible for the selection of participants. The committee reserves the right not to select participants, or reduce the number of selected participants, if the quality standards are not achieved in the received applications. The decisions of the selection committee are final and are not subjected to appeal.
14. Other questions
Missing points or unexpected questions will be solved by the coordination of BETA CIRCUS.
Additional information requests may be submitted by email.
15. COVID-19 Latvian Regulation
Selected participants must be able to cover any sanitary expenses and provide any sanitary documentation in case, by the time the project is concluded, those will be requested by the Latvian Law.
