There are lots of opportunities through Manipulate Arts to present your work to audiences, communities, promoters and press. Read on to find out exactly what type of work we’re looking for in our programme, how and when we make our decisions and how you can become involved.
With all our platforms the first step is to email and introduce yourself and invite us to attend work that you are sharing or sending us over a video link. In most cases it is far better to see bad footage of a good show than nothing at all. We do programme work by artists whose work is not already known to us, however in this case we would expect you to supply strong supporting materials with video footage and/or reviews.
How we programme: Manipulate Festival takes place biennially in February, with the next one being held in February 2028. It is a curated festival which means that there is no formal application. We build relationships with artists over time by attending performances, screenings or development sharings, by watching videos of work and by meetings in person or through Zoom.
What we are looking for: The programming remit of the festival is focused around artforms which breathe life into the inanimate or tell stories using primarily images rather than text. Our definition of visual theatre includes object theatre, mime, clowning, physical theatre, dance theatre, circus theatre, aerial theatre and more. The key is that the word ‘theatre’ usually appears here; if a work can be considered ‘pure’ circus or ‘pure’ dance we are less likely to programme it.
On the film side, we do programme some films which are a combination of live action and animation but the animation needs to be a dominant or key feature in the work. We programme across all animation styles and techniques.
Timeline: We start working on a festival programme up to 2 years in advance. If you’d like to have a performance work shown at the Festival it’s good to be in conversation with us around 12-18 months in advance.
UNDERCURRENTS
Undercurrents is a new annual event from Manipulate Arts; a space for raw ideas, bold experiments and fresh, untested work.
How we programme: Through this platform we will present work emerging from Manipulate Arts’ talent development programmes and other exciting new ideas in puppetry, visual theatre and animation from across the sector. As the work is at different scales and points in its creative journey, we are keen to hear about what you are developing. Each year, we will issue a general callout for Undercurrents, seeking proposals for new work in development that you would like to present. We will also issue specific project callouts, such as for our annual Creative Fund or our Animation R&D Fund, which may come with a presentation at Undercurrents as part of the opportunity.
Timeline: We will begin working on the programme for Undercurrents around 12 months prior to each edition. We will issue a general callout in Spring of each year for Undercurrents the following February. You are also welcome to approach us at any time with projects which you feel fit with the remit of the platform. And do keep an eye on our opportunities or sign up to our Artist Network to be up to date with specific projects which have a presentation point as part of Undercurrents.
CAPTIVATE
Captivate is our nationwide communities and partnerships programme, delivering a bespoke programme of productions, screenings, workshops and co-creation projects in the areas of puppetry, animation and visual theatre. Captivate aims to enrich the lives of people from diverse backgrounds across Scotland.
All the work currently programmed through Captivate is targeted at families and young people, with some work having an additional focus on those with communicative barriers to engagement (i.e. D/deaf and HoH, New Scots, some neurodiverse individuals).
The kinds of project that we programme include:
Public Participatory Art Projects – mid-scale public artworks, co-created with local groups and developed in partnership with our nationwide.
Professional Performances with Targeted Engagement – high-quality professional visual theatre for families which usually would tour to only major cultural centres, performed live with wraparound workshop activity to target groups from those listed above.
Find out more about previous years on our Captivate project pages. Captivate is curated in partnership with communities and artists are engaged by invitation only, If you would like to propose a specific project for Captivate, please contact us on info@manipulatearts.co.uk.
Letters of Support – We can support visual theatre, animated film, and puppetry artists to research and develop new approaches to community work, specific to communities in the Captivate areas. For example, we are supporting a development week for a new piece of family visual theatre work that seeks to create an equitable experience for hearing and non hearing audiences.
How to begin a dialogue with us We do programme work by artists whose work is not already known to us, however in this case we would expect you to supply strong supporting materials with video footage and/or reviews. As above, please introduce us to your work as it is staged year-round; it is always helpful to be familiar with your work when we come to putting together the lineup.
