In House Art Festival
A catalyst for collaboration and digital art creation.
What is the Festival?
How does one participate?
Why do this?
How does this site work?
The concept behind a traditional festival is the coming together of people to experience art, but this festival is about embracing the distance between us and not allowing it to stop our creativity. The Festival is a prompt and a platform to inspire and encourage out of work artists to get into groups virtually or face to face, if you can, (Please stay safe. If you are feeling sick follow advised safety measures.) and create a piece of work that can be viewed on any device with internet access. Once your group has created your piece, upload it to this website and we’ll make a library of digital work inspired by these uncertain times. April 11th will be the official festival premiere so we all have ample time to create, innovate, and enjoy! This network of people working together and the library of new work created will highlight the community that emerges from this time where innovation and collaboration might seem like a pipe-dream.
Using the “Project Board,” on the Forum page or other platforms, form a group. The goal here is collaboration while embracing social distancing. Although solo work will be accepted, the mission of this festival is to get people working together in this time of unprecedented isolation. So, use technology, work with your roommates, work with people you have never worked with before, converse across your balcony, etc...
Once you’ve formed your group, make some art. A play, a dance, a painting, truly anything as long as it can be viewed on our website. Get creative and innovate!
Then upload your content to the In House Art Festival website by April 9th, 2020 at 11:59 pm EST. In your submission, prior to/with any content please include any and all trigger warnings and an audience suitability rating (use the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) film rating system as a guide) and a quick blurb describing your piece. The work will then be organized into a digital archive. However, keep in mind, as soon as you upload your creation, it is out there in the world.
Finally, celebrate the festival premiere with us on April 11th at 8 pm EST by throwing yourself a party with you and your computer! Scroll through the library of work and check out all the incredible work created.
In this confusing and somewhat discouraging time, as we are scattered all around the world, it will be easy for us to stay in our bubbles and distance ourselves from each other and from our art. This is a scary and uncertain time for the world. As artists, we create for people. We highlight parts of the human experience and bring audiences together to share a moment. However, social distancing makes that a little more difficult. So we have to create a new way for ourselves to do what we love and keep the spirit of theatre and community alive.
By participating in the In House Art Festival you are helping create a library of work that will serve as a light at the end of the tunnel. The hope is that out of this festival groups create innovative art and stay connected with each other during this time of unprecedented division. We may lack a physical theatre, but this does not cause theatre to stop. This archive will show that even when theatres and public art venues close down we don’t stop collaborating and celebrating art. We will always find a way to adapt as a community and continue to create!
The date of April 9th is not the end, rather an initial push to get groups together and start this database of work. On April 11th we will have an organized and centralized place to view the work that has been created in the previous weeks. However, the Work page does not shut down. The hope is to continue to collaborate and create and grow the library of innovative digital work till our theatres open their doors again!
With theatres and public art spaces closed, we have lost our conventional spaces for creating. Instead of letting this be a deterrent to the creation of art, let's look at it as an exciting challenge to create a new space for theatre and art. Think of this website as a theatre for every kind of art. The stage is set, now it’s time to create.
This website is the face of the festival. It will serve as a platform for collaboration and connection and a vessel for viewing for the work created.
To get started go to the "FORUM" page and go to the "Project Board" forum. There you will be able to become a member of the forum and post ideas, calls for team members, and other things that will help create groups of people who can collaborate to make digital work.
Once the work is created, upload the file on the "WORK" page. On this page you can post your team's creation and a short description of the piece or a writeup on your process along with any content warnings and audience suitability rating. Once uploaded, your work is open to the world wide web and anyone with internet access can view it.
Also on the Forum page, there is a forum called "Community". This is a space where you can post your feelings about the situation or questions you think this community of artists might be able to answer. People can view these comments and respond. It is also a space where you can post positive messages and words of encouragement. During this time it might be easy to let this get you down, but we have to remember that we still have each other and this community. It didn't leave us, it just changed for now. So, let's celebrate all that this wonderful community of artists has to offer.