Onassis Next | Open Call 2024

We live in a world that is facing multiple crises. A world that is in constant flux, plagued by wars, extreme climate change, violent population displacements, human rights abuses, epidemiological pandemics, and labor deadlocks, amidst rapid developments in artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and big data. At the same time, in terms of ontology and consciousness, we oscillate between the quotidian and the mystical, love and death, our desire for justice and the struggle to obtain it. And while artificial intelligence may be able to get us to our destination instantly, art exists to remind us that, in the end, what matters is the journey to get there, the adventure of exploration.

There is general agreement among ethnologists, sociologists, and anthropologists that there has never been a human culture without rituals. The inhabitants of a region would gather in a specific place and time and, through predetermined actions and processes – like dancing, singing, drinking wine, the remembrance of the dead, release and ecstasy, laughter and joy, mourning and feasting – they would seek to reconnect with Nature and each other. Some believe that the roots of theatre may lie in these rites of passage.

In what ways might we be able to redefine theatre, dance, performance, and shared experience? What shape will the new forms of encounter between spectator and artist ultimately take?

We would like the creators of next year's new original works to shed light on this uncertain future.

Ten of the theatre, dance and performance proposals that were submitted to the previous Open Call Onassis Future N.O.W., which took place in the summer of 2022, have been shortlisted and will premiere in the coming months, as part of the ONASSIS DANCE DAYS, FUTURE N.O.W. and EUROPE BEYOND ACCESS festivals, as well as at the Onassis Stegi Small Stage.

We are now looking for proposals, to be included in the 2024 season among already planned major international productions and appearances, that not only will explore forms of contemporary ritual in theatre, dance and music, radical comedy, radical documentary theatre, and immersive VR, AI and XR experiences, but will also spark a debate about the globality of the local, and about the ways our stages can and should function as platforms for a public discourse that seeks to foreground the need to be together.

RITUAL / DEMOCRACY / PSYCHEDELIA / FREEDOM / POETRY / RESILIENCE / PAGANISM / NATURE

Proposed works should be original creations that have never been presented in Greece in the form in which they are currently being submitted to Onassis Stegi.

Each artist (writer, director, choreographer, choreographer, composer, visual artist, etc.) or artist group is allowed to submit only one proposal for evaluation.

Priority will be given to proposals by younger artists living and working in Greece, to those by experienced artists who wish to attempt new artistic approaches in fields in which they have not experimented before, and to those by artists who have not previously presented their work at Onassis Stegi.

Submission of a proposal does not guarantee its inclusion in Onassis Stegi’s program.

The curatorial team reserves the right to request a meeting in person or via Zoom with the creators and producers of the strongest proposals, to better facilitate evaluation.

The curatorial team is not obligated to justify the rationale behind its choices with regard to rejected proposals.

All applicants will be notified by email regarding the status of their proposal within four (4) months of the Open Call Future N.O.W. proposal deadline.

Applicants wishing to apply must create a personal account in the Onassis Directory via the link below, and may complete the application and upload the required supporting documents in stages until the submission deadline.

The originality of the proposal; the significance of its content; its quality and completeness; innovation in terms of artistic concept and personnel.

The feasibility of the proposal, as demonstrated by consistency between its content and the proposed budget, the technical specifications of the production, and the personnel involved.

Lastly, a constant requirement for all Onassis Stegi productions is for them to be outward looking. With this in mind, we seek original creations that can be performed in Greece as well as internationally: projects that can – in terms of personnel, tone, content, and with regard to scenography, and production and technical requirements – be presented at international festivals and theater and dance venues, after their premiere at Onassis Stegi.

The above criteria will be considered by the Onassis Culture curatorial team, which will, however, select the successful candidates at its absolute discretion.