Bears in the Park is looking for innovative Vienna-based artists and collectives who want to join the next round of the “Huggy Bears Supporting Program”. The program is designed for upcoming artists who are either already working in the performance art scene and/or dance or are motivated to enlarge their previous practice with performance art. This way a special transdisciplinary learning atmosphere is created which enables a shared knowledge transfer. The project runs from spring till autumn 2024. During this time participants get project support that involves administrative, technical, financial and artistic help. An intensive learning environment is created through regular feedback sessions within the group and with the leaders of Bears in the Park. Along the road the selected Huggy Bears will show and foster their working process on different occasions. Showings at e.g.“Handle with Care” by brut Wien and collaborations with WUK and ImPulsTanz are part of the program.
Aim of the Huggy Bears Supporting Program
At the end of the program stands the big premiere of each project on one of the established stages for performance art in Vienna (This year’s Huggy Bears are performing from 26th – 30th November at studio brut and WUK.performing arts). From research to rehearsal, from rehearsals to showings, and finally to the premieres, the different phases of creation are met with care, curiosity, and professional advice. Every year 3 to 4 projects (single artists or collectives) will be selected to join this journey. The aim is to place the selected participants on the artistic map of Vienna and to support the first connection points with the audience and other professional players in town. The program is run by Philippe Riéra and Charlotte Bastam.
The Supporting Program contains*
-Monthly group meetings with the staff of Bears in the Park and the other Huggy Bear participants.
– Dramaturgy and coaching support anytime.
– Sharing/showing opportunities along the way such as „Handle with Care“ in collaboration with brut Wien.
– Facilitated and prioritized access to our studios over the whole 7-8 months (Our studios are accessible 24/7).**
– Getting in touch with a wider network of the performance art scene in Vienna and further.
– Several exclusive workshops in the fields of production, outreach, sound, video, and light taking place in a fully equipped theater.
– A week-long residency over summer in a fully equipped theater.
– Administrative and financial support (In the last years our Huggy Bear artists have been supported by BMKÖS).
*Changes in the program structure are always possible, since our funding needs to be secured every year as well as cooporations with our partners. Yet this also means things can come on top!
**At the moment we find ourselves handling some changes. We will need to leave our current studios until the end of 2023 and a new option is still pending. We do our best to provide studios until March 2024, however more will be announced in the next months.
Who can apply?
We are open to transdisciplinary artists, scholars, and other creative minds dealing with time-based artforms. However, we are an institution for performance art. A strong base in performance is therefore necessary for completing the project with us. After all, the goal of the Supporting program is to bring your project on stage. Applications that are thought through with these circumstances and goals in mind will be prioritized. Furthermore, a connection to Vienna is important since our aim is to bring fresh wind to the Viennese performance art scene. Please note, if you are not based in Vienna, it will be difficult to organize the project with you since the monthly feedback sessions, studio time slots and other points of the program need your physical presence. We also encourage projects interested in reaching out into different Viennese communities and (public) spaces.
How to apply
For the application it is necessary that applicants line out an idea of what and how they want to make use of their time with the mentoring program and what kind of project they would like to bring to a stage in autumn 2024. Ideally, this should not only involve the content of the project but also an idea of how to realize it. For the first round we ask you to send in:
-a CV and an artist bio of every team member -a short description of your project (1 A4 max.)
-relevant material (photos, links to videos etc.) of your (previous and work-in-progress) work
-a letter of motivation (please, state here why you would like to join the supporting program, and how you imagine to make use of what the program and the space can offer you)
-please, send us the application in one pdf document and label it with your (group) name.
All of the application materials need to be sent in one pdf file to charlotte[at]bearsinthepark.org by the 19th of November 2023. Please note, that we are a program that mainly functions in English. So also send us the application in English. Successful candidates will then be invited for a personal interview in December (presumably interviews will take place between 11th and 19th of December). The selected Huggy Bears will be announced in the beginning of January 2024.