Artist Development Programme 2022

STTA: Space | Time | Tools | Advice

STTA is IOU’s artistic development programme for individuals or groups practising any discipline who are interested in IOU’s approach to making. It is designed to help realise projects that are in development by providing support in the form of studio space, IOU staff time, workshop tools and advice from IOU arts professionals or a combination of all four.

IOU’s approach is inventive, imaginative and distinctive.

Guidelines for applicants for IOU’s Space Time Tools Advice mentoring programme

What is IOU?

• IOU’s core purpose is to make new, surprising, original productions exploring the intersection between art, engineering, performance and technology. 
• IOU’s work is experimental in concept and content and often presented in new and unusual ways for audiences to experience.  
• We aim to reach underserved audiences in the local area and nationally. 
• We are keen to support and encourage young and mid-career artists and welcome new and underrepresented artists through our work. 
• Through Space Time Tools Advice and IOU’s other support activities, we aim to develop  artistic talent in the arts sector helping individual artists, groups of collaborators and arts companies to produce the best work they can.

If your work is in-tune with this approach, IOU’s STTA may be able to help you to:

• Develop your ideas
• Develop and produce your new piece of work
• Develop your own art practice
• Something completely new we haven’t thought of
• Co-produce and present your work

The type and style of work we can help with is very broad:

Installations, painting, sculpture, film, photography, animation, dance, digital art, virtual worlds, music/sound, location/site specific art, landscape art, performance poetry, performance art, street art and performance art, architecture and art forms we’ve missed from this list or haven’t thought of yet.

In all these art forms we are looking for something new and special in your ideas and for artists with talent and potential.

Please note:  There are some types of work that we have great respect for, but are unlikely to be accepted for the STTA programme.  This is because they don’t feature in IOU’s work or we don’t have the facilities to support them, or they are better supported by other institutions and organisations:

• Plays for regular theatre venues
• Scripts or art forms that rely heavily on dialogue
• Circus skills
• Work intended for commercial or popular culture

The STTA programme is fluid and can be adapted to your project and the funding you seek. 

When can you apply?

IOU is open all year around to any artist or organisation who requires project support.  Your idea can be at an early stage when we may be able to advise you on next steps or more developed, perhaps having some development funding attached to your project that is for working with IOU on the STTA programme. 

If accepted:

IOU will help build an IOU support team with you that most suits what you are trying to achieve.  This may be just someone to feed back at important moments in the works development or provide key members of your creation team, eg. director, technician, producer, maker etc.

IOU also scouts for projects that the company may wish to help produce and tour in a more involved collaboration. Please let us know if you would like IOU to be involved with your project as a co-production.

If you have a project or idea and are interested in this opportunity to develop it, use the form below to get in touch.

Introducing the artists currently working with us in the IOU studio. Each producing their own unique works, they present a diverse range of creative output.