Open call for circus and performing art professionals and presenters – Samovar Circles

Do you want to join a think-tank about the future?

SAMOVAR CIRCLES is a short term network wishing to create a collective catalyst and boiler of ideas on how to tackle the new challenges and opportunities for the performing arts in post covid times.

We invite artists and presenters in the Nordic and Baltic contemporary circus and performing arts scene to a series of intimate and highly participative meetings, workshops and seminars on the following questions:

● What is the future of international collaboration?
● How do we develop the work for diversity?
● How do we support the new generation of artists?

SAMOVAR CIRCLES aims to become an empathy driven think-tank from which inspiration can ripple into new working models for tomorrow. The network is initiated with the objective to support artists and presenters across the field to keep going, strengthen relationships and find out together how to build new support structures for the future.

How to participate

SAMOVAR CIRCLES will take place both online and live. There will be two different ways to take part.

● Open to all: Artists, presenters and funders from the Nordic and Baltic region can take part in open brainstorming sessions, seminars and workshops on the three questions.

● For selected participants: A core group of 12 artists and 12 presenters will be invited for participation in all open activities, and additionally engage in three separate occasions to boil and refine ideas.

We are now looking for participants for the core group!

If you are
– an artist or presenter from the contemporary circus or performing arts field, or with an expressed interest in contemporary circus and non-language based performance
– interested in engaging in a process of collectively think-tanking to create future models,
– based in the Nordic and Baltic region,
….then don´t hesitate to apply for the core group!

The core group will be selected to consist of artists in different phases of their careers – emerging, mid-career, established, senior – and of presenters from organisations in different sizes and degrees of establishment.

Core group members sign up to join a collective thinking process online and live over ten months. SAMOVAR CIRCLES will organise 22 brainstorm meetings, workshops, seminars and boiling sessions – we will expect you to join at least 12 of these between December 2021 and September 2022. For core group artists there will be a symbolic fee of € 500 for your participation.

We hope to invite the core group to:
– Stockholm during Subcase and CirkusMania festival in February 2022
– Kaunas during Cirkuliacija festival in June 2022
– one more live event in a Nordic country

Costs to cover travel and accommodation costs to these live events will then be covered by the project.

Interested to join?

Please fill in this form: https://bit.ly/3acXDo2

Deadline to apply is 28 October.

Samovar Circles is a short term network initiated and organised by Subtopia (Sweden), CircusInfo Finland (Finland), Performing Arts Hub (Norway), Teatronas (Lithuania), New Theatre Institute of Latvia (Latvia) and Wildtopia (Denmark). With the support of Nordic Culture Point.

The partners represent different missions, contexts, knowledge and practices. They collaborated for the first time in the context of Subcase Cyber in 2021, then discovering their differences being profoundly valuable. The encounters offered vital inspiration and provocation in a time when covid was stripping them of live interaction with Nordic and Baltic peers, artists and audiences. Based on their joint engagement in what the new reality will look like for contemporary performing arts in the region, they wish to deepen the conversations in a collective engagement with the field.