Ambient Performance Call for Art EXTENDED!

Performers, did you hear the news? The deadline for receiving AMBIENT performance proposals has been extended to January 31st! This means you still have time to come up with a creative piece to perform at our festival this year. Learn more about ambient performance art, and submit your proposal (it does not have to be a finished product!) via our Artist Portal.

What is ambient performance?

Ambient performance at SEAF is interactive performance art that breaks the 4th wall by using the entirety of the festival space as the stage. Ambient performers engage directly with our guests, creating an immersive environment. Performances “roam” around the event, making use of cozy corners as well as busy passageways to create improvised, intimate, hyperlocal experiences. We delight and challenge festival goers by weaving stories, expressing ideas, and inviting engagement.

As an ambient performance artist, you not only stimulate attendees to contemplate and appreciate the erotic; you embody the erotic. Roaming performances spin an energetic web of art around the entire event, invoking fresh perspectives and contemplations, and moving attendees to communicate with friends and lovers about desires, consent, questions and nuances of their experience.

Call for ambient performance art:

Use the Artist Portal to submit your proposal.

Ambient performance can include dance, movement, improv, spoken word art, acoustic music, singing, pure silence, visual art, clever props, technology, costuming, body art, drawing, and many other forms of expression.

Amplified sound is generally not accessible (e.g., portable speaker) for performances. Please keep in mind singing, spoken word and instrumental performances can be very challenging to hear in this environment; these would need to be truly “hyperlocal” experiences. The overall construct of the performance will work best if it conforms to the existing environment. Technical needs such as sound and lighting should be identified and communicated as early in the process as possible in order to try to work out reasonable solutions.

Professional performance experience is NOT required to be an ambient performer but professionalism is. We encourage all confident, creative artists to submit proposals! Most importantly, we are here to create a mutually respectful platform for everyone involved.You may have an erotic performance in mind that you envision as a stand-alone piece. As an ambient performance, we encourage you to re-imagine it as a performance you deliver in parts as you move from one place to another, embodying a character or a story as you roam.

You draw people in, they follow you; they can’t wait to see what happens next… We will workshop promising proposals with you.

Performances are compensated with weekend entry passes to the event for yourself and a guest.

Budget: Our budget (e.g., to support props or costuming) is limited, but reasonable budget requests will always be considered. We will help performers experiencing financial hardship as best as we can.

Intrigued? Ready to use your creative mind to inspire our guests as you roam throughout the venue? Submit your proposals by January 31st!