CPT Announces Request for Proposals: Pandemonium 2019

Pandemonium 2019: Alchemy

Request for Proposals

Application Deadline: Monday, June 10

Cleveland Public Theatre is planning a festive evening in keeping with its tradition of presenting innovative, original artistic work, featuring diverse artists. On Saturday, September 7, 2019, CPT will present its annual fundraising extravaganza and party of the year – Pandemonium 2019: Alchemy. Featuring dozens of area theatre, dance, visual, and performance artists and with fabulous food and drink, Pandemonium is a benefit like no other and an opportunity for you to be a featured performer.

Your participation in Pandemonium 2019 will support Cleveland Public Theatre’s challenging and inspiring performance work, ensure that emerging artists and small performance companies have opportunities to participate in the arts, and sustain CPT’s work with youth and adults in transition. In its 30+ years on Cleveland’s near west side, CPT has been a catalyst for economic activity, job creation, private-sector investment in the community, and led to the area’s designation as an arts district.


How Pandemonium Works

Each year, Pandemonium is a success due to the generosity of over 200 artists performing throughout the CPT campus, and we are committed to tapping into Northeast Ohio’s amazing arts community to make this the best Pandemonium to date.

Over 800 guests will be invited to explore the CPT campus and create their own artistic adventure. With more than 60 performances to choose from, a guest may encounter a band in the balcony, giant puppets outside, an art installation in a hallway, and a 10-minute play in a garage – all in the span of 20 minutes.

Pandemonium is a wonderful opportunity for you to have an artistic platform and showcase your work. It will also give you the chance to meet and be inspired by the best performing and visual artists in our region.

Pandemonium is a huge production with 20+ stages, so there is very little technical support available for individual artists. While each space will have basic lighting and sound systems, it’s more about the performance and the art than technical spectacle. However, don’t confuse minimalism and resourcefulness with lack of style and quality. Artists are welcome to make elaborate plans for their space, but they must be ready to implement the plans on their own with little time in the space.

There will be a Stage Manager (if necessary) available for one rehearsal and the event, but it is up to each artist to provide their own artistic collaborators and produce their individual performance or installation.

Pandemonium performances should be no more than 10-15 minutes in length and involve no more than 5 artists. Most performances are presented multiple times throughout the evening. Art installations can range from large to small, depending on the individual needs and space available.

While CPT is not able to pay artists for their participation in Pandemonium, all artists are invited to enjoy the party of the year after their performances. CPT provides free food and beverages in the artist greenroom. Following performances, Pandemonium artists are invited to be our guest at the party of the year!

Pandemonium is just that – PANDEMONIUM! Flexibility is a must.


Who Gets Selected?

Proposals should be bold, inventive, entertaining, and thought-provoking. At Pandemonium, anything goes, so be creative and let this year’s theme inspire you! Alchemy is the power of bringing together many elements in a way that makes GOLD, LIFE, and HAPPINESS. It is that ineffable process when the impact is bigger than the predicted sum of the parts. It is the place where compassion/love and science/consciousness come together.

We look for diversity in our artistic offerings at Pandemonium. Proposals can range from bands, dance companies of all varieties, short plays, art installations, poetry, performance art, wandering characters, comedians, etc. The sky is the limit, so we encourage you to think outside of the box.

In selecting works for this event we will be looking at a number of factors:

Has the artist/group demonstrated the ability to produce the proposed work? We want to feel confident the artist/group has a clear understanding of what it takes to pull off a show, and they understand how to assess their own capacity.

Has the artist demonstrated artistic excellence? While all artistic enterprises require risk and there are no guarantees, it’s important the artist has shown an understanding of artistry. This could be demonstrated in a work sample, resume of artist, script of past or current work, or in a project summary.

Is the work adventurous and new? CPT has a history of producing work no one else in town will produce because it is somehow “outside the box.” The work doesn’t need to be experimental or weird (though that is fine, too), but it does need to be entertaining and compelling.

If you would like to be considered for Pandemonium 2019, please complete the included application form.


Pandemonium 2019 Application

Application Deadline: Monday, June 10

Thank you for your interest in participating in Pandemonium. Please complete the application and submit it electronically with your supplemental materials and a work sample (if available) to: Associate Artistic Director & Director of Production Beth Wood at bwood@cptonline.org.

Click here for a Microsoft Word version of the application.
Click here for a PDF version of the application.
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