The 2012 Anywhere Theatre Festival is inviting performers from around Brisbane to register to be part of the only festival in the world for performances anywhere but a theatre.

Due to hit Brisbane and surrounds 10-19 May 2012, performances can be anywhere - a park in Yeronga, a backyard in Wellington Point, a house in Nundah, a community hall in Redcliffe, a patch of grass in Southbank, an elevator in Springfield, even streaming online. Anywhere but a theatre.

“Like the great fringe festivals in Edinburgh and Melbourne, anyone can be part of it. Since you don’t need to perform in a theatre to be part, it also allows anyone to put on a show nearly wherever they want without having to find theatre space,”  said Paul Osuch, Festival DIrector of the Anywhere Theatre Festival. ”

Companies and individuals can register online at www.anywherefest.com between now and the 31st of January. 

The 2011 festival featured a range of local performers and companies from Circa and Belladiva to national and international performers like Imploding Fictions

Like last year, performances can be anywhere in Brisbane and surrounds or around the world that Brisbane audiences can access via the internet.

“Performers can be part of the festival while performing anywhere globally and have an audience here in Brisbane participating online,” said Paul. “That makes this a great way for international performers to be part of the festival and for Brisbane audiences to see interstate and international performances without having to step away from their computer… of iPhone.”

For interviews, photo opportunities or comment on theatre venues and site specific theatre, contact Paul Osuch direct on 07 3102 1978 or paul@anywherefest.com

Anywhere Theatre Festival Facts

• Anywhere Theatre Festival registrations deadline for performers is 31 Jan 2012
• The festival is not just theatre – it is all kinds of performance from music to circus, cabaret and more
• The festival is Brisbane’s one and only city wide fringe festival (like the legendary Edinburgh and Melbourne Fringe)
• Anywhere Theatre Festival’s inaugural festival ran with 38 productions and 152 productions for ten days in May 2011.
• The 2011 Anywhere Theatre Festival had more theatrical performances than the 2011 Brisbane Festival
• Performances spread from Queen Street Mall to St Helena Island and Ipswich
• Anyone who registers can present a show as part of the festival.

The Anywhere Theatre Festival is for performances anywhere but a theatre. Performances at the inaugural 2011 festival were in boxing rings, cars, parks, alleys, homes, online… anywhere, but a theatre. Performances can happen anywhere in and near Brisbane City Limits or online from anywhere around the world.

Registration only costs $200 (or $100 for an online only show) and includes centralised marketing, box office, option of umbrella public liability, venue support, risk management strategies, linkages to other performers and much more. Don’t forget payment is not due until after registration.

With 3 weeks to go until the registration deadline we already have the same number of registrations as last year with registrations from around Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Sydney, Melbourne, New Zealand, England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France, Brasil, Zimbabwe, U.S, Poland and a few places besides so we are expecting a well attended and exciting second festival.

We’d love you to be part of it and it is all very easy.

For more info and to register, go to http://anywherefest.com/artist-info/, check out our latest newsletter at http://t.co/LiINh8p3 or contact us direct on the details below.

For only AU$100, international performers and companies can perform an online production in the Anywhere Theatre Festival – a festival for performance anywhere but a theatre.

The inaugural festival in 2011 Brisbane, Australia featured theatre, dance, opera, musicals, comedy, circus and cabaret with online performances from the U.S, Germany, Spain Norway and locations around the U.K. (See video here)

“We wanted to set up a festival where performances can happen anywhere and be available to Brisbane audiences. That’s why we set up this cheap price of $100 for performers anywhere to produce performances online and be part of the festival.”, said Festival Director Paul Osuch.

Why pay AU$100 for a festival happening in another country?

“Last year we had companies interested in being part of the festival where international travel didn’t make it financially possible for them to come to Brisbane Australia,” said Paul. “This way they got to be part of the festival program and get some great publicity that built up their local audiences in their home country as well as international coverage to help with future funds raising efforts.”

In 2011, online performances of already scheduled shows were streamed using UStream, via Twitter and even an amazing new work using Skype video conferencing for an interactive experience shared by ten groups of people.

If you are interested, have a performance happening during 10-19 May 2012 that you’d like to get in the festival, contact us via the web site, check out Festival Director Paul Osuch’s presentation at TEDxBrisbane or register your idea for free at the link.

It allows us to reduce the registration price to the 2012 Anywhere Theatre Festival to AU$200 and even better, any online productions can now register for only AU$100. That’s a $160 saving. Bargain!

“We have always wanted to make the registration price as small as possible so that individual performers and small companies feel it is an easy thing to commit to,” said Anywhere Theatre Festival Director Paul Osuch. “We are also very excited that we are able to make the even bigger cut to the price for online productions.”

Even better, the price is for as many performances of any one production – not per performance.

“It is open for companies and performers to do as many or as little performances of their production during the ten days of the festival,” said Paul. “They can do a big one off event or as many small events as they want for that one price.”

But wait, there’s more! Companies registering one production are still eligible to register additional productions for an extra $100.

The registration price puts it below all other fringe festivals and still provides fantastic value for

1. Inclusion in the Anywhere Theatre Festival program  (20,000 distributed throughout Brisbane)
2. Inclusion in group space negotiations with councils, venue, advertising buying , etc
3. Inclusion in the Anywhere Theatre Festival marketing activities . Main festival images will be determined by end of January so if you have a great image, it may become one of or the festival image that alsow drives audiences to your show
4. Show listings on the anywherefest.com web site (40,309 page views leading up to 2011 festival)
5. Online Box Office listings and bookings services through Anywhere Theatre Festival Box Office
6. Access to info for registered practitioners only , including Facebook page, ENewsletter with tips, tricks and contacts
7. Packs and templates , including Marketing and Communication Pack, template venue contract, risk assessments, risk incident checklists, draft budgets and much more
8. Assistance in location scouting and negotiations . We are already working with organisations including Brisbane City Council and Southbank Corporation to get this process started
9. A direct phone number to call us and ask for advice .
10. Reduced rate to use the crowdsourcing web site  pozible.com.au which is an amazing way to raise funds for your production.
11. Reduced rates for services . We are negotiating for discounted rates with potential partners to be able to pass these rates onto you.
12. Resources to help you manage front of house in an environment that most likely wasn’t set up for it.
13. Funding application support. We are able to help support you with any funding applications for your Anywhere Theatre Festival production.
14. Sponsor and partner support . We will be providing assistance with your partnerships to help minimise your costs.
15. To be part of an exciting and innovative festival that is the only one of its kind and to present exciting work while minimising the costs outside of the creation of the work… like venue hire.

Registration deadline is 31 January 2012 and all existing registrations get the new prices!

Kelly Wong aka @kellyyyllek

We are very excited to announce that as of today the second of January 2012 Kelly Wong aka @kellyyyllek is taking over the @anywherefest twitter account as our Tweeter in Residence. Kelly will be tweeting on anything connected to the festival and anywhere theatre, along with the odd  contribution from Festival Director @thepaulosuch.

“I love that social media – used correctly – can be an amazing platform to reach all sorts of people, quickly and effectively. I’m a very practical person like that (it’s the scientist in me). Twitter is my favourite social media outlet for this very reason. Short, practical newsbites that mean people can read what they want without wasting too much time (something that no one seems to have nowadays),” said Kelly.

Kelly came to the festival after making some fabulous contributions as part of the Anywhere Activators.

“What’s so great about this is that my first contact with Kelly was through conversations and exchanges on Twitter.” said Paul Osuch, Festival Director of the Anywhere Theatre Festival. “Then through the Anywhere Activators Facebook page leading up to and after the first festival in May 2011. When we put the call out for people to take over things like our eNewsletter, Twitter and Facebook, Kelly was an obvious choice.”

It is all part of a scheme for people interested in the festival to play a big part in making the festival a success while we learn from each other to build up our skills. Anyone interested in being part of the Anywhere Theatre Festival should join the Anywhere Activators Facebook page to get involved.

Kelly can also be found at http://kellyyyllek.tumblr.com/)

“After the huge success of its inaugural event earlier this year, Anywhere Theatre Festival will receive $48,875 towards facilitating and producing a follow-up event in 2012.” Arts Minister, Ms Rachel Nolan said.

“This funding will also go towards ensuring the future sustainability of this truly unique Brisbane event which took theatre to kitchens, cars and footpaths!”

The inaugural Anywhere Theatre Festival ran in the greater Brisbane region in May 2011 and is returning May 10-19, 2012. After an initial plan of 40 performances over ten days, the festival ran 152 performances, more theatrical performances than the Brisbane Festival!

Performances for Brisbane audiences happened all across the city limits and beyond from  Ipswich to St Helena Island as well as performances from and in Spain, Germany, Norway, the U.K. and the U.S.

“This is a huge boost,” said Paul Osuch Festival Director of the Anywhere Theatre Festival.” We ran the festival in 2011 on the smell of an oily rag and some fantastic inkind partnerships and this allows us to take the festival to a new level.”

The festival has a concept unique to Brisbane and the rest of the world.

“It is a festival anyone can be part of because it is about any type of performance that happens anywhere but a theatre.”, said Paul.

“By taking performance out of theatres we take the focus away from the city based big venues and put it in the suburbs where most of us live anyway.”

The festival is also the only fringe theatre festival in Brisbane and is open to anybody to perform.

“Just like the Edinburgh and Melbourne Fringe, the festival is open to anyone to put on a performance, whether it is the internationally renowned Circa and Queensland Theatre Company or a young playwright who wants to perform a new script in a house, park, coffee shop and open it to a bigger audience.”

To produce a show in the 2012 Anywhere Theatre Festival in May, performers, producers have until 31 January 2012 to register their idea.

Details at www.anywherefest.com, on twitter @anywherefest, the Anywhere Theatre Festival Facebook pageor the old fashioned ways of email anyone@anywherefest.com or 07 3102 1978.

Belladiva shared their 'Confessions' with us in 2011

30 arts projects awarded Development and Presentation Grants

A Brisbane company travelling to Japan to perform for children, a Sunshine Coast non-fiction literary festival and a unique event that takes theatre to the streets are among 30 Queensland arts projects to be awarded a Development and Presentation grant this year.

Arts Minister Rachel Nolan said the groups were sharing in a total of $659,505 in funding for the projects.

“Development and Presentation Grants (DPGs) are in place to assist artists, collectives and arts organisations deliver a range of exciting projects and performances across the state,” Ms Nolan said.

“After the huge success of its inaugural event earlier this year, Anywhere Theatre Festival will receive $48,875 towards facilitating and producing a follow-up event in 2012.

“This funding will also go towards ensuring the future sustainability of this truly unique Brisbane event which took theatre to kitchens, cars and footpaths!”

“Regional Queensland produces some great work and it’s pleasing to see that $323,255 of the funding will go towards 15 projects throughout regional Queensland.

“There were some very exciting and innovative applications, including one from the Sunshine Coast Regional Council to continue its development of the 10-day biennial green art event, Floating Land 2013.

“Another successful applicant was the Sunshine Hinterland Writers Centre Inc, which will receive $13,900 in funding for the promotion and professional development of authors for the Reality Bites literary non-fiction festival in Cooroy in July 2012.

“Brisbane company DeBase Productions will receive $28,266 in funding so they can take their children’s theatre show, Hurry Up and Wait to Japan.

The DPGs are offered twice a year and offer up to $50,000 for new works, exhibitions, productions, industry developments and cultural engagement activities.

“The August round was very competitive with 121 applications,” Ms Nolan said.

“The successful projects were chosen on their artistic or cultural merit, the contribution they make to Queensland’s arts sector, and the correspondence to the priorities identified in the Queensland Arts and Cultural Sector Plan 2010-13.”

For more information, visit www.arts.qld.gov.au, email grants@arts.qld.gov.au, or contact Arts Queensland on 07 3224 4896 or toll-free 1800 175 531.

Full list of grants available on request.

Media Contact: Justine Scarff 0400 367 174

Anywhere Theatre Festival and Sunshine Coast Council are excited to announce a two hour workshop for a limited number of performers and producers.

The workshop will run from 9-11am on Friday the 3rd of February and is aimed at anyone looking to produce a show as part of the 2012 Anywhere Theatre Festival in May. It is also aimed at performers looking to perform anywhere but a theatre who want to know what is involved, the advantages and also what stumbling blocks can be easily avoided.

This workshop will introduce local performers and drama companies to the Anywhere Theatre Festival held in May, with a view to creating a Sunshine Coast contribution. Although the registration deadline for the 2012 Anywhere Theatre Festival is January 31st, participants will have the option to register interest at the workshop which is held three days after the deadline.

More info and bookings. 9am-11am, 3 Feb, Maroochy Arts and Ecology Centre, Tanawha, Free, Bookings essential – be quick as only 20 places available.

In more detail: A more tightly focussed workshop for people interested in either being part of the festival or interested to know details about performance anywhere, be it theatre, music, opera, circus, stand up, dance, anything performance related. We will talk through a range of issues from:

• choosing a text
• public liability
• venue scouting
• lessons from Renew Newcastle
• ticket pricing
• operating a  box office anywhere
• technical considerations
• funding options
• plus a free online 60 page guide of tips and tricks (also available as a hard copy for $10)

The workshop will work most effectively for those with a project in mind to allow us to provide more targetted advice.

The Anywhere Theatre Festival is a fringe festival in the mould of Edinburgh and Melbourne with a twist – you can perform anywhere but a theatre.

Drama, comedy, music, opera, circus, performance art, kids and youth theatre and much more are all part of the festival.

If May 2012 still seems to far away, don’t panic. The registration form allows you to put in as much or as little information as you can.

As long as you have completed a registration form with the basic details by 30 November you are entitled to the early bird discount registration price of $200 that can be paid before the final registration date of 31 January 2012.

What do you get for your registration amount?

• Inclusion in the Anywhere Theatre Festival program (20,000 distributed throughout Brisbane)
• Inclusion in group space negotiations with councils, venue, advertising buying, etc
• Inclusion in the Anywhere Theatre Festival marketing activities. Main festival images will be determined by end of January so if you have a great image, it may become one of or the festival image that alsow drives audiences to your show
• Show listings on the anywherefest.com web site (40,309 page views leading up to 2011 festival)
• Online Box Office listings and bookings services through Anywhere Theatre Festival Box Office
• Access to info for registered practitioners only, including Facebook page, ENewsletter with tips, tricks and contacts
• Packs and templates, including Marketing and Communication Pack, template venue contract, risk assessments, risk incident checklists, draft budgets and much more
• Assistance in location scouting and negotiations. We are already working with organisations including Brisbane City Council and Southbank Corporation to get this process started
• A direct phone number to call us and ask for advice.
• Reduced rate to use the crowdsourcing web site pozible.com.au which is an amazing way to raise funds for your production.
• Reduced rates for services. We are negotiating for discounted rates with potential partners to be able to pass these rates onto you.
• Resources to help you manage front of house in an environment that most likely wasn’t set up for it.
• Funding application support. We are able to help support you with any funding applications for your Anywhere Theatre Festival production.
• Sponsor and partner support. We will be providing assistance with your partnerships to help minimise your costs.
• To be part of an exciting and innovative festival that is the only one of its kind and to present exciting work while minimising the costs outside of the creation of the work… like venue hire.

Early bird prices if registered by 30 November 2011

$200 (+$100 for any additional productions by the same performer/company – ie two productions $300 and three productions $400)

Final deadline prices if registered by 31 January 2012  

$260 (+$100 for any additional productions by the same performer/company – ie two productions $360 and three productions $460)

Finalised show details including ticket prices, performances dates, times and locations, cast, imagery, show description can be changed from the original registration as long as it is done by 28 February 2012.