We are seeking proposals from around Australia from artists who would like to develop new work over four days in a hothouse environment.
What are we looking for?
We are interested in projects that:
– Explore ideas, research questions, provocations and concepts;
– Are culturally, politically and socially informed and relevant;
– Provide a methodology for genuine experimentation (with consideration of areas such as decolonisation, collaboration, technology, interdisciplinary practice, climate, community engagement, as relevant);
– Are a genuine collaboration between a creative team (solo proposals are fine if the project is a solo endeavour);
– Are new works in the early stages of development that can benefit from this type of hothouse opportunity.
Key information
This year Adhocracy runs from Thursday 1 September to Sunday 4 September. Selected artists work across all four days on their projects, and present one talk, showing or other activity on each of the three-night public program (2-4 September).
Selected projects will receive a fee of $3000 to $5000, towards artist fees, transport and accommodation costs if you are from outside of South Australia, and materials. Selected project will be allocated a studio space at our venue Waterside, which can range in size and technical capacity. Artists will also receive some additional curatorial, production and documentation support from Vitalstatistix.
If your project is selected, the Vitalstatistix team will work with you to decide on which studio space will best suit your project and to develop a schedule for your time with us.
Adhocracy is an adventurous, intense experience and you will be sharing space and resources with other artists. This is an opportunity for collaboration, experimentation, creative development, and feedback from other artists and audiences.
If you haven’t attended or participated in Adhocracy before we highly recommend you check out the 2020 and 2021 sites, the 2019 public program and short documentary videos from previous years.
How to apply
To submit your proposal, please provide us with the following via our online form.
A description of your project: including the key ideas you are exploring and your general approach/methodology to the work’s creative development including how you would use four days at Adhocracy (max two pages).
A description of the creative team undertaking the project: who you are and why are you working together. You may include short biographies (max two pages, including the bios). If you have a large team/project and are applying to develop a specific component, please be clear which artists will directly be involved in Adhocracy.
Other notes (optional): We do not require a detailed budget or production information (we will work with you on this if selected) however you may like to provide any other notes that you think might be useful or contextual – see FAQs & Advice section for the types of things you may cover (max one page).
The above information must be provided in one PDF document which you can upload to the form.
One item of support material: provided by URL.
Optional: One letter of support or recommendation from an artistic peer that can be uploaded; and an option to provide a second item of support material by URL.
Amount: You will be asked to select one funding amount. See FAQs & Advice section for guidance.
Note: Due to the high volume of proposals we receive please stick to the information we have asked for above. Please only submit PDFs (not Word documents). Non-pdf audio visual or web-based support material must be provided as URLs on the cover form. Please ensure you clearly name your documents with your name and project title and that you note any passwords for support material.
For enquiries contact us via program@vitalstatistix.com.au or phone 08 8447 6211.
APPLICATIONS are due BY midnight Tuesday 7 June 2022
FAQs & Advice for general proposals
Why no budget? We have deliberately reduced the amount of information we are seeking from you which is why we are asking you to nominate one of three amounts to keep it simple. If you are selected, we will offer you an amount. This is an investment in your work, not an individual fee, so it’s really up to you what you do with it as long as it’s for the project you have proposed and its participation in Adhocracy.
How much money should I apply for? The three amounts on offer are based around whether your project is small (say one or two people collaborating, or perhaps you are based in Adelaide), medium or large (more collaborators and/or travel costs). Please feel free to get in touch if you have questions.
Can I top up the money with other grants? Of course, you can! However, if other funds are not confirmed please only apply if you are confident that you can be part of Adhocracy – and that it would be useful for you – regardless of whether these other grants come through.
I want to apply to develop one section of a larger project, is that ok? It absolutely is, in fact we encourage you to think realistically about the best way to use four days and a small amount of cash so that it is useful to you and everyone gets paid. Very large teams, projects that require a very large physical space, or projects without parameters for the four days, are not highly suited to this lab. Check out previous programs to see the diversity of explorations selected in the past.
I know Waterside and Adhocracy really well and I want to work in a particular studio. That’s great however it’s not always possible to accommodate that. You are welcome to let us know in your notes where you’d like to be located however we highly recommend not building your whole proposal around one preferred physical space.
My proposal includes artist/s who have been included in other people’s proposal to you. It’s unlikely that we would select two projects with overlapping creative teams unless the person/s have a very small role in one of the projects. Its worth being mindful of this. Please feel free to discuss with us.
I’d like to present a work I have already mostly or entirely made; or I’d like to present something I will build on day one and then make available to an audience for the rest of the time. Then Adhocracy is not for you. The lab is aimed at facilitating process-based making and explorations, with the public offerings aimed at furthering your process each night over the course of the four days.
I’d like to include non-artists in my project. Over the years Adhocracy has included a number of social practice and other artform projects that have included non-artists. If you propose this the curatorial team will need to read your ethical considerations and your plan for engagement and payment of specific non-artist participants who are not part of our general walk-in audience.