Revolution NOW! is a multi-faceted suite of digital-friendly incubators, performances, and advocacy efforts designed to:
- Mobilize resources for court-involved Black people
- Develop paying opportunities for Black artists
- Offer professional development to Black artists
- Produce new Black works
- Co-create the new critical inquiry, considerations, and dialogue around what the revolution looks like now
Black emerging artists are invited to submit their work for inclusion in the 2021 Revolution NOW cohort. Cohort members will work with BRTW dramaturgs, directors, writers, and producers to strengthen their work and develop a suite of materials to help them get their work produced. Revolution NOW cohort members will share a portion of their original work during the December 2021 Melanated Monday, and in 2022, BRTW will produce each of their full pieces as audiodramas on Black Revolutionary Media.
Writers will be paid a stipend of $250 each upon successful completion of the program.
Stay tuned for the info session! Applications due Friday, October 29 at 11:59 PM EST.
Action Items
Stay tuned! We’re proud to offer Melanated Mondays, The Grapevine Project, and The Revolution NOW! Writing and Production Cohort as paying opportunities to support Black creatives, proliferate Black perspectives, and signal boost Black works. If you’ve missed one opportunity, there are sure to be more. The best way to keep abreast of upcoming opportunities is to subscribe to our e-letter.
Let’s break theatre out of the “having conversations industrial complex.” We invite you to not only be an audience member but an engaged citizen. We talk about revolutionary shit because we need revolutionary shit. So, please, support the advocacy efforts like you support the art. We’re proud to offer programs like The Grapevine Project, which focus on storytelling efforts in news deserts and Melanated Mondays, which spotlights a new issue and organizing effort each month. You can also use the FREE resources on our website to petition major law firms to allocate more resources to court-involved Black people.
“Small” recurring donations of $1-$20 are vitally important to an organization like ours. As an organization focused on making theatre accessible (i.e. free) and serving Black artists (paying them), we don’t hold onto a lot of cash. We rest easier knowing that we can rely on the regular support of donors like you.
BRTW is proud to do a lot with a little… but we could definitely do a lot more with, well, a lot. Each of our programs costs somewhere between $1500 and $5000, and our annual operating budget is around $10-$15,000. A donation of $1000 or more could single-handedly pay 4 Black creatives. A donation of $1500 or more could basically subsidize an entire program.
Donate a stipend or several via Fractured Atlas here or PayPal here.
How do I apply?
While it is not required, we strongly encourage you to watch the info session and thoroughly review the information below. Incomplete applications will not be considered.
The By Us, For Us Checklist:
Before you fill out the form (it’s pretty self-explanatory) and attach your script, we invite you to consider the By Us, For Us checklist. If it doesn’t meet this criteria, maybe this isn’t the program for you at this juncture.
We’re looking for the following:
- Is it by a Black writer?
- Is it for Black audiences and communities?
- Is it about 3-dimensional Black people?
If you answered “yes!” to all of these, move onto the application content.
Submission Guide
Use the writing tips in the resource below to strengthen your submission.
The Application Content
All in one PDF, Word doc, or Google doc, please and thank you!
Please submit the first 5-10 pages of your script with a brief treatment or outline. If you submit a treatment, it should be no more than 1 page. If you submit an outline, it should be no more than 2 pages.
We’re looking for the following:
- Writing quality
- World building (how has Covid-19, Trump, and continued state violence during a global pandemic impacted the world of your story?)
- A compelling story
- 3-dimensional Black characters
- What do you want from your audience?
NOTE: This does not have to be a traditional theatre, film, or audio drama script. It can be a long poem, a short story, a journal entry. Just give us some context, and make sure it adheres to the By Us, For Us checklist!
In Lieu of a Submission Fee
We’re asking you to donate $5-$20 to at least one a few key organizations. The movement for Black Lives takes several forms, and we strongly encourage you to invest however you can. So, please, if you can, donate what you would pay to submit your work to this project. And if you can’t, please let us know if you’d like us to donate on your behalf in your application.
SUPPORT BRTW TODAY
BRTW exists to disrupt any and all oppressive systems that marginalize Black people using narrative and performance as a methodology to recenter Black people and experiences. With economic, social, educational, healthcare, housing, and political injustice facing our community, BRTW aims to tackle the issues that impact us while becoming a beacon for Black opportunity within the arts.