Artist Takeovers

Think Big!

Applications for the May Artist Takeover are now closed.

Aviva Studios’ vast spaces have been designed to provoke artists to do things differently, explore what’s possible and offer a backdrop to create some of the most ambitious work in the world.

In May 2025, we will hand over the keys to our North Warehouse space for use by a South Asian artist or collective who want to explore working at an epic scale, experiment and play. This is an opportunity to explore an idea at scale that is not possible elsewhere.

We'll support South Asian artists from any discipline based in the North of England, who have a minimum of five years of professional practice, to experiment in our space for 5 days (from 15 to 20 May 2024). We will support the development of your ideas in the weeks leading up to the takeover with our specialist team of producers, engagement and technical staff, offering a budget of £10,000 to support your development time, R&D and production costs. You can apply as an individual with a creative team or as a collective of artists. There’s no pressure to create a public outcome; instead, the priorities are your development and to create space to play and imagine.

How we'll support

We will support you in the following ways:

Provide a dedicated Production Manager and support you in the run up to the Takeover to help realise your ideas…
Offer a budget of up to £10,000 to produce your idea – this will likely cover artist fees and production costs. You will be offered support by the Factory International team to budget your project.
Provide access to the North Warehouse with a Production team for the agreed period of time
Provide critical feedback and advice from our Curatorial/Producing/Digital/Technical teams
Provide networking opportunities internally and externally
Co-ordinate a public sharing or targeted industry event if appropriate/desirable

How to apply

Please read the guidance notes and complete the online application here. If you would like an informal conversation with our Artist Development Manager, Punam Ramchurn, please email Punam at punam.ramchurn@factoryinternational.org

We are looking for South Asian artists who are either working individually or as part of a collective/creative team, from any artform or interdisciplinary and based in the North of England.
Applicants must be over 18 years of age.
You need to be able to demonstrate at least five years’ professional experience and be making work that is ready to scale up.
You need to be able to demonstrate that you or the artists you are working with are interested, or at a position in your career, to make work at large scale. The space will be the North Warehouse at Aviva Studios.
There is no limit on the number of artists who can apply as a collective in one application, but the budget will be £10,000 in total. This can be spent on artist fees, equipment hire, materials etc. An amount of in-kind Producer/Technical/Engagement/Digital support can be accessed from the Factory International team.
You should have availability from February 2025 to develop your ideas, ready for experimentation in the space in May 2025.
You’ll need to be available for bi-weekly meetings with Producing and Artist Development and the wider Factory International team. You must have enough free time in the proceeding weeks to be able to fully plan and prepare for the Takeover, to make the most of this opportunity.
You will need to outline your idea and evidence how this opportunity will impact your development.
You will need to outline how you’ll spend the £10,000 including artists fees, dramaturgs, rehearsal spaces etc.
You will need to take part in our monitoring, evaluation and documentation processes. We will also help you create assets for the work you have developed.

This takeover is for South Asian artists. We particularly welcome applications from South Asian artists who are underrepresented in the sector including artists who identify with disabilities and female artists.