Uptown / Downtown
A Workshop & Performance Opportunity
September 13 – November 15, 2010
The registration deadline for Uptown/Downtown has passed.
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What does it mean to be an Uptown or Downtown Artist? Is the idea grounded in geography? Community? Aesthetics? How can we bring these artists and ideas together?
This Fall, The Field, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and Harlem Arts Alliance will collaborate to provide a unique opportunity for performing artists working in dance, theater, music, or multidisciplinary forms to develop new work for presentation — working in venues, with artists and accessing resources at both ends of Manhattan.
Uptown/Downtown provides an opportunity for participating artists to:
- Work with and learn from artists working in different performing disciplines, communities and career stages
- Explore the feedback process as a tool for developing their own work and responding to the work of others
- Develop a work-in-progress performance in a supportive and responsive environment
- Connect with artists, spaces, and resources in two of Manhattan’s most vibrant creative communities
Program Description
Uptown/Downtown is a 10-week performance development opportunity for 10 performing artists who have a technically simple, 10-minute work in progress or excerpt ready to perform.
The workshop, Fieldwork, consists of six consecutive weekly sessions in which artists will show works in progress and share non-directorial feedback with a moderator present. The workshops will be held in two venues, three weeks uptown and three weeks downtown.
This series also includes presentations by invited guests from the performing arts community in Manhattan, including arts administrators and curators on their institutions and how they approach their work.
The workshops will culminate in two consecutive nights of work-in-progress performances, one uptown, one downtown. Each artist will perform for up to 10 minutes. At the end of each performance evening, the invited audience will be included in a talkback about the work and the artists’ process.
After the performances, the artists will meet to share thoughts about the process with each other, and discuss next steps with their work.
Each artist will receive a free membership to The Field, a Metrocard to defray transportation costs, and a professional DVD recording of their performance.
Locations
Uptown workshops and work-in-progress performance
Dance Theater of Harlem
466 West 152nd Street, New York, NY
Downtown workshops and work-in-progress performance
Chen Dance Center
70 Mulberry Street, 2F, New York, NY
Timeline
- Online Registration Deadline: August 22, 11:59PM
- Lottery & Notification: August 27
- Orientation: September 13, 6:30PM-8:30PM
- Downtown Workshops: September 20, 27, October 4, 6:30-9:30PM
- Uptown Workshops: October 11, 18, 25, 6:30-9:30PM
- Presenter Panel: November 1, 6:30PM-8:30PM
- Performances: November 10 and 11, 7:30-9:30PM. Tech each day from 9-5PM. The program is limited to 10 participants.
- Wrap-up Session: November 15, 6:30PM-8:30PM
Registration & Selection
Interested artists must complete the online registration form before midnight of August 22, 2010. A final roster of ten participating artists will be selected through a lottery drawing from among eligible registrants positioned to benefit from this opportunity.
One lottery will be held at Lower Manhattan Cultural Council to select five downtown artists. One lottery will be held at Harlem Arts Alliance to select five uptown artists. Ten artists total will participate.
Only complete registrations will be included in the lottery.
Who Can Register
- You must be a performing artist living in the greater NYC area, who can identify as an Uptown or Downtown Artist.
- You must have a three-year history as a working artist, demonstrated by a track record of self-produced performances and/or presentation by performing arts venues.
- You must have performed at least 15 minutes of an original work publicly in the last two years.
- You must be available to participate fully in all of the workshops and performances. No exceptions.
- You must have a piece 10 minutes or less that you are prepared to perform, finish, embellish, or excerpt in the workshop. Note: This program is not for those who will begin work on a piece –it is intended for artists who have a specific work in progress that could benefit from a development process and a showing opportunity.
- You must complete the registration form (Please note: the registration deadline has passed and the form is no longer available.)
Am I an Uptown Artist or a Downtown Artist?
For the purposes of this program:
An Uptown Artist is an artist who lives and/or focuses their creative activities or aesthetic above 110th Street.
A Downtown Artist is an artist who lives and/or focuses their creative activities or aesthetic south of 14th Street.
Deadline for registration is Sunday, August 22, 2010 at 11:59PM.
Questions?
At Lower Manhattan Cultural Council: contact Haowen Wang, Program Manager at (212) 219-9401 x129 or by email at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
At Harlem Arts Alliance: contact Kim George, Associate Director at (347) 735-4280 x253 or by email to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
At The Field: contact Pele Bauch, Associate Director at 212-691-6969 x16 or by email to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Sponsoring Organizations
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, has been a leading voice for arts and culture Downtown and throughout New York City for over 35 years, producing cultural events and promoting the arts through grants, services, advocacy, and cultural development programs.
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council is dedicated to making Manhattan a thriving center of arts activity with relevance to the arts community worldwide. It does this through a range of grants, cultural programs and advocacy.
The Harlem Arts Alliance
The Harlem Arts Alliance (HAA) is a non-profit service organization committed to the development of artists and arts organizations in Harlem and its surrounding communities. Comprised of over 700 individual artists and arts organizations, HAA plays an essential role by helping to build the resources, network, and capacity of its richly diverse membership. Counted among its members are young emerging artists as well as established and internationally recognized artists. Also represented are small grassroots organizations and major cultural institutions in Harlem and beyond. In addition, HAA maintains strong partnerships with numerous arts organization and institutions throughout New York State, the region and the nation to maintain vital collaborative efforts to promote the arts in communities.
The Field
Founded by artists for artists, The Field has been dedicated to providing impactful services to thousands of performing artists in New York City and beyond since 1986. From fostering creative exploration to stewarding innovative fundraising strategies, we are delighted to help artists reach their fullest potential. Now in our 24th year, more than 1,900 performing artists come to The Field each year to build their businesses. Each year 2,000+ new art works are developed under our stewardship, and our services are replicated in 11 cities across the U.S. and Europe. In tandem with this significant growth, we remain true to our grassroots origin and artist-centered mission to: strategically serve the myriad artistic and administrative needs of independent performing artists and companies who work in the fields of dance, theater, music, text, and performance art.
