ECA Announces Call to Producers

Easthampton City Arts
Call for Producers: Bear Fest 2009
Deadline for proposals: May 1, 2009

Ever wish to produce your own cultural event? Here’s your chance!

About the Call to Producers
Easthampton City Arts is looking for creative individuals to create, produce and manage cultural events that will take place from mid-June to mid-October. We seek producers who will develop cultural events/performances or public art initiatives around the Bear Fest theme (which can be broadly interpreted). Working with Easthampton City Arts and the Easthampton Cultural Council, producers will be responsible for selecting an event, lining up talent, creating a budget, planning and managing the event, and helping to promote the event. Themes can be broad or specific, ranging from dance and performance art to film and multimedia work. Events that reflect and include the downtown and mill areas are particularly encouraged. Easthampton City Arts has a total of $5,000 available and we are hoping to produce from four to eight events. ECA will assist in marketing your event. Deadline to receive proposals: May 1, 2009.

For those events/productions which generate a profit (after expenses paid), 20% of those profits are to be paid to Easthampton City Arts. ECA will then use these funds to produce additional cultural events.

About Bear Fest
Starting in June 2009, Easthampton City Arts will host a major public art event. The Easthampton Bear Fest will revolve around an exhibit of life sized adult & baby bears, which will be decorated and painted by local and regional artists and will be on exhibit from June through October 2009. In Mid-October, a City-wide, week-long (October 10 –17) celebration of the arts and auction of the Bears will take place.
Events are planned to occur throughout the four months of the Easthampton Bear Fest. However, we are particularly interested in events before and after each of the five Art Walks (5:00-8:00 PM) occurring during the festival (June 13, July 11, August 8, Sept. 12, Oct. 10) and during the week-long celebration. Events which attract out-of-town tourists as well as those geared to Easthampton residents (such as a community-wide dance) are desired.
There have been dozens of these displays throughout the United States and Europe, beginning in 1998 in Switzerland and followed by the Cow Parade in Chicago in 1999. Always wildly popular, ECA is expecting the Easthampton Bear Fest to draw crowds throughout the Summer and into the Fall. When the Bear Fest opens in June of 2009, the bears will be displayed throughout the downtown area, within a walking tour. A “Bear Track” map will be available for visitors to track each bear location. We can only imagine where the bears will hide. Some on street corners, up on a rooftop, on the pond or hanging in the air. Imaginations will soar!

How to Apply:
Please provide the following information on no more than two pages:
1. Contact info: e-mail and snail mail addresses, phone, fax and Web site (if applicable)
2. Describe your theme and event.
3. List some or all of acts/talent you would like to include; describe talent and how it supports your theme.
4. Tell us what day and time frame would be ideal for your event.
5. Outline schedule for your event (which act goes on first, second, etc.).
6. List technical requirements (stage, sound, lighting, etc.).
7. Give budget: Break down how you would spend the grant monies; this may include a producer stipend, talent fees and other fees you foresee.
8. Easthampton affiliation (if any)
9. Please describe your experience in producing previous cultural events. Also, include support materials; i.e., photos, CDs, press clippings, resume(s), etc. Include a self-addressed stamped envelope if you would like your support materials returned to you.

About Easthampton City Arts
Easthampton City Arts is an initiative designed to support and enhance arts and culture in Easthampton in order to improve economic opportunities for artists and cultural establishments, while increasing the role that cultural activity plays in the vitality of the community. Easthampton artists and the City Planning and Community Development department created Easthampton City Arts in collaboration with numerous partners. Through funding from the Massachusetts Cultural Council’s John and Abigail Adams Program, the City of Easthampton, and business and institutional support, Easthampton City Arts cultivates and promotes the city’s diverse artist and business community. During 2009 Easthampton City Arts will continue outreach, marketing, and highlighting of Easthampton artists through its website, directory, and gallery AND will guide Easthampton’s largest public art display ever: the Easthampton Bear Fest. We hope that you will want to participate.

Mail or drop off proposals by May 1, 2009 to:

Easthampton City Arts
43 Main Street, Suite 4
Easthampton, MA 01027
Questions:
Call 413-527-8278
info@easthamptoncityarts.com