Marlborough Productions relaunches flagship artist and audience development programme New Queers on the Block with call-out to LGBTIQ+ artists to apply for one of three £12,500 commissions.
Marlborough Productions is a producer of pioneering LGBTIQ+ live art and performance. New Queers on the Block is its radical artist and community development programme.
Now in its fourth year, New Queers on the Block proposes a bold new vision for how LGBTIQ+ culture is supported across England. Bringing together arts partners in Bradford, Blackpool, Hastings, Cambridge, Folkestone and Brighton, commissioned artists are encouraged to embed themselves in these communities to build new audiences.
This phase of the New Queers on the Block project opens with a callout for LGBTIQ+ performance artists to apply for one of three £12,500 commissions to fund full-time residencies from January – June 2022. These grants aim to support three artists (or groups of artists) to embark on a 6-month development period with, crucially, no expectation to deliver a show or other fixed outcome at the end. In addition to financial support, commissioned artists will benefit from residency space, mentoring, access support, and professional guidance in producing, marketing and community engagement from Marlborough Productions and its national partners: Art B&B and LeftCoast in Blackpool, Bradford Producing Hub and Theatre in the Mill in Bradford, Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts in Brighton, ]performance s p a c e[ and Creative Folkestone in Folkestone; Home Live Art in Hastings, Cambridge Junction in Cambridge and Unlimited. New Queers on the Block is funded by Arts Council England and Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.
Since New Queers on the Block was established in 2018, the initiative has supported the artistic development of a number of innovative and exciting LGBTIQ+ performers. The project has developed, produced and toured new performances from Oozing Gloop, Malik Nashad Sharpe, Rachael Young, Harry Clayton-Wright, Mandla Rae, Subira Joy, Jackie Hagen and many more – working across live art, theatre, dance, cabaret, film, spoken word and visual art.
Tarik Elmoutawakil, Creative Director and David Sheppeard, Executive Director of Marlborough Productions says: “We’re delighted to announce the next phase of New Queers on the Block, which promises to innovatively empower marginalised LGBTIQ+ artists and producers around the country. Recognising that traditional models of artist development are often product oriented, we’ve created a programme that disrupts the capitalist origins of this way of working, breaking new ground on which artists and producers can determine for themselves their optimum conditions to thrive. With a particular focus on community engagement, New Queers on the Block seeks to sow the seeds of a cultural and community-centred revolution.”
Applications for New Queers on the Block 2022 are open from 7 October – 4 November 2021. For more information about how to apply, visit https://newqueersontheblock.com
