A week in the studio for research, or a month to take the next step? Become a ‘Maker for a Week’ or ‘Maker for a Month’ at TENT in 2027.
Each year, TENT facilitates a range of short- and longer-term development trajectories. From 2025 to 2028, TENT and Theater De Landing are co-production partners for trajectories including Maker for a Week. In 2027, we will welcome six Maker for a Week projects. We are also launching the new Maker for a Month trajectory, with space for two projects.
In both trajectories, you will work from a research question related to circus. As a Maker for a Month, you will also spend time at the TENT office working on a development question aimed at professionalising your practice. In addition to facilities such as a rehearsal space and a production budget, both trajectories include a moment in which you enter into dialogue with a small audience of fellow professionals, local partners or members of the public. How you shape this moment is up to you.
As TENT is committed to supporting makers in the Netherlands, it is important that your professional practice is also based in the Netherlands. You do not need to have Dutch nationality, but we do expect your practice to take place primarily in the Netherlands. This means that you carry out a significant part of your artistic and professional activities here. For example, you may collaborate with Dutch makers, producers, venues or other partners, receive funding from Dutch sources and/or have a professional network that is largely based in the Netherlands.
WHAT WE OFFER
We offer a studio or theatre space during a number of fixed residency periods. We also provide productional, artistic and technical support, as well as a creation budget that you can spend freely on travel, materials or other costs related to your residency. We will also support your publicity by introducing you as a maker on our social media channels and website and announcing your presentation within TENT’s network.
WHAT WE ASK
We ask you to credit TENT as a partner in any future publicity relating to your research or project. Please contact us if you are unsure how best to do this. You may also be invited to take part in the Circus Whispers podcast.
We expect you to return in the same year or the following year with an act or work in progress as a participant in Back to Base. This may be based on your research project, but it does not have to be.
Following your residency, there will be an evaluation and a concluding conversation with the TENT team.
TIP: Listen to Circus Whispers in your podcast app and discover the research questions and experiences of previous makers.
CHOOSE YOUR RESIDENCY
Choose Maker for a Week if you are looking for space to conduct initial, exploratory circus research. Over the course of one week, you will work from a specific research question and have the freedom to experiment, question, try or fail, without your research having to lead to a concrete outcome. You will choose one of the fixed residency periods, either in the studio or in the theatre, and explain why that space suits your research. [link]
Choose Maker for a Month if you have moved beyond creating your first act and want to take the next step in your artistic practice. You will spend two consecutive weeks in the studio and/or theatre working on an artistic research question. In addition, you will spend two separate weeks at the TENT office working on a development question related to your professional practice. During this time, you can draw on the knowledge and expertise of the TENT team. You will work primarily in the studio and, where available, in the theatre. When choosing a residency period, consider the practical and technical requirements of your research. [link]
The two residencies are designed for different stages of the creative process. Carefully consider which trajectory best suits where you and your work currently stand; it is not possible to apply for both residencies.
WHAT WE NEED
Make a clear choice between the two residency options and explain your reasons for choosing it. Let us know which residency period you are interested in. To help us understand your research and ideas, we ask you to explain them in the Google Form.
Answer the questions from both an artistic and a conceptual perspective. Explain the role the space — studio and/or theatre — plays in your research and clearly outline what you need from us in technical terms. If you are collaborating with others, clearly describe each person’s role. Before submitting your application, always read it through carefully and check whether it presents a clear and compelling picture of your circus research and the discipline in which you work. We will use your answers in the selection process, so make sure we can follow your ideas and working process. Your application should make clear not only what the trajectory could mean for you, but also how your circus research could contribute to the development of circus in the Netherlands.
SELECTION CRITERIA
- At the time of the residency, you have graduated from a circus school or work as a self-taught circus maker.
- You are available during the week or weeks for which you are applying.
- Your professional practice is based in the Netherlands and you live either in the Netherlands or no more than 100 kilometres beyond the Dutch border. You do not need to have Dutch nationality.
- Circus is the starting point of your research.
- You have a clear artistic and conceptual vision for your research: the work demonstrates originality, expressive power and craftsmanship.
- Your research and work demonstrate artistic urgency and an open view of the world around you.
- You are curious about what you need as a professional maker beyond the studio, for example in the areas of dramaturgy, audiences, production and communication.
When selecting makers and artists, we aim for broad representation of society, allowing as many different stories as possible to be told. The selection will be made by the TENT team, Brittany Sanders from Theater De Landing and circus artist Michael Zandl.
DEADLINE: Sunday, November 1, 23:59 CET.
SELECTION: mid-November
APPLY: Google Form
QUESTIONS: [email protected]
The form can be completed in either Dutch or English. If you are selected, the submitted texts and visual materials will be used, in consultation with you, as the basis for promoting the Maker for a Week/Month trajectory.
