PERFORMA-Q: Stage for Untold and Erased Queer Stories
Open Call – Cycle 1 of the PERFORMA-Q residency program invites performing artists, directors, playwrights, and collectives whose work confronts queer identity and marginalization in and from Europe’s periphery. We are looking for bold voices ready to reclaim erased histories, challenge dominant narratives, and carve out space for stories that rarely reach the spotlight. This residency, running from October 2026 – April 2027, offers time, care, and resources to develop performance projects that center queer lives, struggles, and joys at the edges of Europe. Applications are open until July 31, 2026, and we especially welcome proposals that experiment with form, language, and collaboration. If your practice is rooted in resistance, community, and visibility, this call is an invitation to step onto a stage built for you and with you.
Artistic Focus and Goals of PERFORMA-Q
PERFORMA-Q is a residency dedicated to experimental and politically engaged performance practices that question dominant narratives and open space for queer imaginaries. It invites artists who work with performance, live art, choreography, expanded dramaturgy, and hybrid forms that cross boundaries between stage, visual arts, sound, and digital media. The residency is designed as a laboratory for risk-taking, where process, research, and collective reflection are valued as much as finished results.
A central focus of PERFORMA-Q is the exploration of queer histories and futures, especially those that have been silenced, fragmented, or erased. We are particularly interested in projects that trace minoritized lineages, reclaim forgotten archives, or speculate on alternative queer worlds. Works that engage with memory, loss, care, and resilience—whether through intimate gestures or bold public interventions—are especially welcome.
The residency centers voices from Europe’s periphery and other marginalized positions, including artists who navigate racialized, migrant, working-class, trans, disabled, and other intersecting experiences of exclusion. We encourage proposals that address intersectionality, decolonial perspectives, and structural inequalities, not only as themes but also through the ways projects are made, shared, and organized. Community-based and collaborative practices that build alliances across movements, geographies, and generations are strongly supported.
PERFORMA-Q is an ideal context for artists developing new dramaturgies, experimental storytelling, and hybrid performance forms that resist easy categorization. This may include projects that blur fiction and documentary, rework popular or folk forms, or use sound, text, and embodiment to question who is allowed to speak and be seen. We welcome research-driven proposals, long-term inquiries, and early-stage experiments that need time, feedback, and critical companionship to grow.
If your work is grounded in queer and feminist politics, attentive to power relations, and curious about how performance can reimagine social realities, this call is likely for you. Whether you are revisiting a local queer history, building speculative futures with your community, or testing new performative languages that emerge from your specific context, PERFORMA-Q offers a supportive environment to deepen your practice and connect with others engaged in similar struggles and dreams.
Practical Information & How to Apply
Who can apply? We welcome performing artists, directors, playwrights, and artistic collectives, both emerging and established. The residency is particularly oriented toward practices connected to Europe’s periphery and related social, cultural, or political contexts, including artists based elsewhere whose work meaningfully engages with these realities.
Residency framework
Across three years, the programme will host 18 residencies. This open call concerns the first cycle, running from October 2026 to April 2027. Each residency offers dedicated time and space for research and creation, access to shared rehearsal or work facilities, and guidance from mentors or invited guests, depending on project needs. Residents may be connected to local partners, peers, and networks, and in some cases there may be opportunities for work-in-progress sharings, public presentations, or support toward future production, within realistic organisational capacities.
Application process
Applications are submitted via an online form. You will be asked for a concise project description outlining your artistic proposal, its connection to Europe’s periphery or related contexts, and your goals for the residency period. A short motivation statement should explain why this residency is relevant to your practice at this moment. Please include a portfolio or links to documentation of previous work and a brief CV for all key collaborators. Only complete applications received by July 31, 2026 will be considered.
Next steps
Selection will be based on artistic quality, clarity of intent, feasibility within the residency framework, and the relevance of the project to the programme’s focus. We encourage applications from artists with diverse backgrounds, working methods, and access needs; basic support for accessibility can be discussed with selected residents within available resources.
