Pitching

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WA Showcase 2022 is ON, and now is time to start thinking about what performing arts project you might like to speak to Western Australian presenters and communities about.

What is WA Showcase?

WA’s biggest arts and culture conference, WA Showcase, presents the best opportunity you have to rub shoulders (or elbows) with ‘people who book shows’ and who can support your next project.

With a conference theme ‘The Next Stage’, we’re taking the time to focus on critical future directions for performing arts in Western Australia, with the key areas of First Nations, accessibility, living in a digital world, making work in communities and arts role in our mental health.

So, this is your call to action

Do you have work that speaks to communities?

Does it tackle issues related to major social issues, audiences or topics?

What was your driving force behind creating the work in the first place?

Join us 25-28 July 2022 in a gathering of the most creative arts people in WA.

Pitching your show or arts project

This is your chance to tell your story to the people who present performing arts across WA. Show us the heart and soul of your work, why it is something WA audiences must see and why regional centres should have it in their venues. In the end, we hope to be as excited about your work as you are!

Benefits to pitching

There are some amazing benefits to pitching and sharing your work or ideas with venues and other producers and artists. You will:

  • Make new connections and open doors to new opportunities for collaboration and possible presentations.
  • Meet the presenters face to face and solidify or develop relationships. Getting to know the presenters and understanding them and their communities’ needs and wants is vital.
  • Get to see other work pitched and meet other artists and producers. See how others do it.
  • Learn from the Professional Development sessions on offer. You will pick up some great learning for yourself and your practice, but you will also learn what challenges regional venues face and perhaps see ways your work can support them. You’ll also learn about practical things like audience development, engagement, and funding.
  • Receive feedback.
  • Get your show out there! It is your best chance to get heard above all the touring work in play. The connections you make at WA Showcase will ultimately lead to touring or presentation outcomes in the future.

The aim of the game is to see quality WA work touring WA venues.

Benefits to presenting work in the regions and touring:

  • It is a wonderful, rewarding and exciting experience.
  • It will broaden your audiences and engage with new ones.
  • It will develop your skills in producing, tour coordination and management.
  • You will be contributing to the well-being and liveability of the state!

Who can pitch?

Any West Australian artist or organisation can submit a show to be considered for pitching. A curatorial panel of 5 industry experts will consider the applications against a range of criteria and then determine which shows will pitch at WA Showcase.

Important dates

  • 5 May 2022 – pitching applications open
  • 23 May 2022 – pitching applications close
  • Week of 27 June – successful applicants notified
  • 11 July 2022 – deadline for all pitch components and presentations

So, you’re ready to apply. Which category should you apply to?

There are four different ways in which you can pitch at WA Showcase.

  • ‘CALL ME’ (READY TO TOUR) A 10-minute ‘pitch’ session for works that are tour ready. This means the work must have had a professional or independently produced season before this year’s WA Showcase. (Pitch = presentation, not a performance.)
  • ‘HELLO’ (COMPANY UPDATE) A 5-minute slot with no tech that is an update or an introduction to an artist, venue or organisation. (This is not a show pitch category). This pitch type is particularly well suited to medium-to-large funded companies that want to provide a company update.
  • ‘MORE THAN WORDS’ (SHOW EXCERPT) A 10-minute session comprising a performance excerpt from your production and pre-or post-performance presentation (no slides).

Works must be tour ready for this pitch category. This means the work must have had a professional or independently produced season before this year’s WA Showcase.

*There is limited tech and staging available for this presentation and will generally be scheduled after a ‘break’ for quick set-up. If your production does not present well in a ‘stripped back’ format, we recommend you DO NOT apply in this category.

  • ‘GET TOGETHER (IN DEVELOPMENT) Designed to allow for a dialogue in a small group providing a forum to support creative projects that require deeper discussion/explanation/understanding and where the project will benefit from or requires a closer relationship between the parties involved. For example, this may be a work in development or discussion of a process, or you may be seeking feedback on ideas.
    We see this as a 20-minute conversation between interested presenters and you.

If you’re still unsure which category you should apply for, don’t hesitate to contact Beck or Nick and arrange a time to chat.

Can I apply for more than one work?

Yes. You might have a tour-ready work that’s best suited to ‘Call Me’ and a work still in development suited for ‘Get Together’. Please complete a separate application form for each show you want to be assessed by the panel.

How will my show/ project get chosen to pitch?

How will my production/performance be chosen to pitch?

Applications to pitch are assessed by a curatorial panel.

The panel will consider the following when assessing your application:

  • The originality of the work
  • Reach and appeal to audiences
  • Quality and professionalism in the delivery of the production
  • Inclusiveness and/or diversity of the production and those who are involved in it
  • Consideration of risk
  • Tourability of the work

If you have any further questions, please contact our team!

What happens after my pitch at WA Showcase?

CircuitWest collates the presenter’s interest in each pitch straight after the event and passes onto you/ the producer the contact information for you to get in touch directly and keep those conversations going.

As part of your preparations to pitch, we recommend that you build a pack of information that can be provided in an email or DropBox. Include things like show information, video, images, reviews, some commentary from you about why the show is a good fit for regional communities, tech specs, costs, and any community/ audience engagement opportunities that exist.

If you receive a large amount of interest from presenters, CircuitWest may offer tour coordination services to you to help get the tour up. As part of this service, CircuitWest will help liaise with the presenters, build the itinerary, fine-tune your budgets, work with you to apply for a Playing WA (regional touring) grant, and write up contracts. If successful in the grant, we would engage in a contract with you and the presenters to deliver the tour. You remain the ‘producer’ (and lead the delivery of the show/ product), and we take care of the tour coordination.

I’m ready to apply!

Great. Watch our gorgeous video for some inspiration and complete your application form.

Still, got questions?

If you have any further questions about pitching, preparing your product or WA Showcase in general, please reach out to Beck at touring@circuitwest.com.au or Nick at tourcoordinator@circuitwest.com.au and arrange a time to chat. We’re here to help.