First Fortnight Artistic Policy

Our festival aims to be versatile and approachable for maximum accessibility. Therefore, we wish to present high quality events from a variety of art forms.   Any work submitted for festival consideration is based on the following priorities: ·         Does the piece have artistic merit? ·         Does it identify with the ethos of First Fortnight? ·         Does it have a mental health connection? ·         Does it give an insight into mental health issues or challenge views? ·         Is it an authentic or accurate portrayal we can stand behind? ·         What is the experience of the artist involved? ·         What audience does this piece attract and does it apply to any of our aims from our audience development strategy? ·         Is it an audience or participatory piece of work? ·         Is there a way to allow the audience to interact e.g. post show discussion or workshop? ·         Is this a new piece or a remounted piece of work? ·         Does this piece bridge a gap in our programme? ·         Does it explore a new artistic area of element of the mental health conversation we haven’t explored yet? ·         Is this too alike to anything we are or have already programmed? ·         Is it potentially stigmatising? ·           With a limited budget we must carefully weigh up each potential festival piece with the above priorities in the context of our overall festival. Photo credit: Michael Duggan