Isaac Mulé of Page1 Theatre at the 2023 Pitch Room Event. Photo by James Arthur MacLean.
June 8 at 10 am at Alderney Landing Theatre
We are excited to announce a call for submissions for the upcoming Stages Festival's Industry Series. This June, we will host a Pitch Room Event, where theatre artists, creators, and playwrights can showcase their innovative performance projects to a community passionate about advancing and celebrating the performing arts. The event will feature six to eight selected participants who will be able to present their projects.
What's New This Year
This year's Pitch Room Event is adopting a new format to enhance engagement, creativity, and connection among artists, industry professionals, and the public. Here's what's different:
Dynamic Pitch Format:
One Room, Multiple Conversations: We are bringing all the participants together in one large room this year, inspired by a science fair. Each participant will have their table to pitch from, which will create an interactive environment fostering creativity, connections and collaborations.
Multiple Opportunities to Pitch: This format allows artists to pitch their projects six or seven times throughout the event, ensuring broader exposure and interaction. Attendees can move freely around the room, absorbing diverse ideas and stories at their own pace.
Emphasis on Creativity and Connection:
Trifolds: We're making a change this year by moving away from using PowerPoint and digital presentations for pitches. Instead, we're encouraging pitch artists to use analog and old-school trifold displays. This shift is aimed at fostering creativity within constraints and promoting a more human and relatable approach to sharing ideas. (Need to jog your memory? Check them out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=53dTgx_DsTQ)
Engaged Feedback: Our Producer Cohort will have a more participatory role this year. They will rotate around the room to engage with pitch artists. Each pitch will last for five (5) minutes, followed by a five-minute Q&A session led by a Producer Cohort member. This will enable deeper interaction and provide constructive feedback. After the pitches, we will gather to reflect as a group.
How To Submit
To ensure your project aligns with the spirit of our festival and pitch event, we ask that you prepare your submission by first engaging with the following prompts, inspired by our recent workshop:
Introduce Your Project:
What is your title?
Offer a concise, intriguing one-liner that encapsulates your project's core idea.
Provide a brief introduction to yourself and your creative team.
Share the inspiration behind your project.
What forms are you currently using or experimenting with?
What themes resonate with your project?
Outline how you envision using the Pitch Room and industry gathering to benefit your project.
Describe the type of support or resources that would help elevate your project.
Submission Process:
The submission deadline is APRIL 29 at 5 pm.
We Encourage Submissions That:
Push the boundaries of traditional theatre forms and themes.
Demonstrate creativity, originality, and the potential for impact.
Selection Process:
Kat, Richie, and Dustin will carefully evaluate all submissions. The selected projects will have the chance to be presented at the Pitch Room event, which may lead to professional mentorship, networking opportunities, and access to further development resources.
Selected pitches will be notified on MAY 1, 2024.
We are especially keen to support artists and stories from communities that are currently underrepresented in Canadian theatre (including but not limited to IBPOC and Deaf and disabled artists). If you are a member of an underrepresented community, we invite you to self-identify in your application.