THE Absolutely Anywhere Residency

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Holy Show is looking for an experienced creative writer or artist to choose a location in which to 'reside' for anywhere between 1 day to 1 week. The more unusual the location the better. Some examples of the kinds of locations that might excite us include:

• a ditch at the crossroads
• your best friend's childhood bedroom
• a fishing boat
• a squat
• a festival we've never heard of
• a film set
• a green room
• a Ballroom of Romance
• Berghain
• the Bog of Allen
• a weekend congregation of people with very niche interests
• your local chipper

Your welcome to pitch any of these ideas, but we hope you have a way better one yourself. The location must be in a safe place (for you to judge) where its fairly legal for you to be. It can be abroad if you're there already, but ideally on the island of Ireland.

The residency should result in roughly 3,000 words of creative non-fiction (which can be made up of essay, overheard speech, interviews, diary entries, musings, travelogue, or a mixture of any of these and more). No fiction or poetry please, and no academic writing or International Art English. Some interaction with other humans while 'on residence' is preferred. To get a feel for Holy Show, check out a sample of what we've published previously here. Or buy an issue here.

WRITER/ARTISTS FEE

We'll pay a total fee of €1,000 to the selected writer/artist. We can pay a third of that up front if needed to cover any costs. 

We'd like the chosen writer to identify another artist to produce visuals to accompany the text (painting, film stills, photography, illustration, cartoon). We can help you find the right person if you can't think of anyone, but ideally you'll have suggestions or ideas. The visual artist's budget is €500. The artist's work can be created especially for this residency or involve images they've already created. This artist need not be 'resident', but the visuals should speak/relate directly to the text. At least one of the collaborating writer/artists should be Irish or based in Ireland. 

WHEN WILL IT HAPPEN?

Pretty soon. We publish our next issue this July, so we'd like the residency to be completed, and text and images submitted, no later than 31 May 2022. (If this timeline doesn't work for you, but you have an unreal idea for our next issue, get in touch.)

HOW TO SUBMIT

Email your residency idea, including the sort of people or happenings you might encounter there, in 150 words or less to brendan@holyshow.ie with ABSOLUTELY ANYWHERE in the subject line. Please include a brief biog and/or attach a CV. If you have a collaborator in mind, tell us briefly about them. Link us to their website/instagram or attach their portfolio/CV.

Send idea proposals as outlined above by Friday 25th March 2022.

We've got another Open Call at the moment in partnership with Skein Press, seeking more general writer-artist collaboration proposals for 2023. More info here.

These and other opportunities are kindly supported with Arts Council Literature funding.