Arts opportunities

Arts opportunities

* If you are from Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Susan, Syria, Tunisia, UAE and Yemen but live in UK you can compete for the the £100,000 Ithra Art Prize for a “site-specific commission that reflects the Arab world’s cultural and natural heritage”.

* New Earth Theatre is looking for an Artistic Director and Co-CEO to shape its theatre and training across the UK. The role will work with the Executive Director to champion British East and South East Asian talent and stories. Deadline: 16 October.

* Criterion New Writing is inviting writers to the stage of the Criterion Theatre, Piccadilly, for “highly-focused story & script development sessions” in 2024. Deadline: 15 October.

* Book now for Riverscribes, a regular drop-in playwriting group suitable for anyone over 18. It meets every third Wednesday of the month at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, 7pm-8:30pm. Tickets are £5.

* Aaron Kilercioglu's play The E.U. Killed My Dad has won this year's Woven Voices Prize for Migrant Writers. He will receive £2,500 and the play will be staged at the Jermyn Street Theatre next year. The runner-up, Elise van Lil's play next door, will get a public reading at the same theatre.

* Applications are open for the £25,000 Jameel Prize, the V&A museum’s triennial award for art and design inspired by Islamic tradition. It is for moving image and new media work. There are no limits on age, gender, nationality, ethnicity or religion. Applications must be made by 15 October.

* Submissions are invited for next year’s Windrush Caribbean Film Festival. It celebrates works by filmmakers from Caribbean backgrounds or that explore themes of interest to the Caribbean Diaspora.

* Black Cultural Archives is running six masterclasses led by industry experts for 18–25-year-olds from a Black and global majority background who want to get into the arts & heritage sector.

* Are you a writer, director, producer or theatre-maker with a piece of new writing that you’d like to put in front of an audience? This is the place.

* Projekt Empower is running a peer-to-peer skills exchange programme with twice-monthly free workshops by and for migrant theatre makers. The workshops aim to broaden the knowledge base of the migrant artist community and extend its network of creative connections.

* Artists’ alert: London is to get a memorial to slave trade victims, at West India Quay in Docklands. “It is vital that our public spaces reflect the heritage of our great city - in all its diversity and complexity,” said Mayor Sadiq Khan. City Hall will allocate £500,000 and other contributions will be sought.  A public consultation will be followed by a competition for the artist. Unveiling is scheduled for 2026. 

* Citizens of the World, a choir that grew out of the Calais “Jungle” and now has 50 members from 30 countries, says it welcomes new members (and bookings!). It rehearses in Blackheath in south-east London on Wednesday evenings. Details on the website

Thanks to volunteer Daniel Nelson (editor of Eventslondon.org) for compiling this list.