Slingsby Theatre calls for artists in residence to join Hall of Possibility

Just shy of a year ago Slingsby Theatre moved into the Parkside and Eastwood Institute Building, rechristening the century-old space their ‘Hall of Possibility’. Now the company are looking to grow the family, inviting creatives to make us of the former roller skating rink/table tennis club/library through two artist residencies.

“The Hall of Possibility has been an incredible new chapter for Slingsby,” Slingsby artistic director Andy Packer tells The Adelaide Review. “Alongside making it much easier for us to rehearse and prepare the technical and freight components of our productions for touring, it is also a really great space to go to work to every day. We love having passers-by popping into to be amazed that the space has been sitting there for years empty.”

In addition to the company’s own work, the space has hosted a variety of other groups including Patch Theatre, Blue Sky Theatre and Gravity and Other Myths. After impressing audiences by transforming spaces like the former Dazzeland into escapist fantasies, 2019 will see Slingsby mount its first season in its new home, a reprisal of Finegan Kruckemeyer’s Man Covets Bird which won Slingsby a Ruby Award in 2010.

With the company enjoying a particularly fruitful year with Emil and the Detectives and The Young King touring Shanghai and North America respectively, the space offered an opportunity to help foster the creativity of others.

“The last few years have been a remarkable period of growth for Slingsby,” Packer says. “Our touring has tripled and the number of weeks of employment for artists has grown to the point where we are now providing more than 200 weeks of employment for our touring artists. In 2019 we will tour to more than 30 venues across six states of Australia as well as China, India, Canada, USA, Scotland, England and Ireland.”

“As we have grown over the past 12 years (from 2007) we have been constantly challenged in finding good, affordable creative spaces to make our work in,” he explains. “We are [now] at a stage in our Slingsby’s development where we have secured the resources to invest in the asset of a space. We feel a responsibility as a leading (albeit young) company to contribute to our broader community and support the work of other Adelaide artists.

“Our own development approach is a multi-stage process over six months to a year. We wanted to give other artists the luxury of an extended time frame for their project development,” he says. Successful applicants will be able to make use of the space around the schedule of Slingsby and its hiring partners, with the first period running from  February to July, and the second from and July to December.

The news follows ActNow Theatre’s launch of MakeSpace, an initiative that will see the company share its own Hindley Street home with emerging creatives.

“This is our way of giving back to our artistic community and ensuring the building continues to deliver on the vision is was first built for over 100 years ago.

Applications can be made via Slingsby Theatre website
slingsby.net.au

Header image:
Sia Duff