Apr 27, 2025 - May 3, 2025

ARC Residency

Applications open until March 14th

April 27-May 3, 2025

Left of Main (Historic Chinatown, MST Territories/Vancouver)

About the Program

Electric Company Theatre is seeking submissions for the Advancing Research Capacity (ARC) Residency, taking place at Left of Main between April 27 and May 3, 2025.

This unpaid residency will offer studio time, access to select equipment, technical support from ECT technologists, and the option of dramaturgical feedback from ECT Core Artists.

The selection committee will choose 1-3 artists or artistic teams, depending on the time required by each.

Accessibility note: Left of Main is on the 2nd floor and accessible only by stairs.

Who it’s For

The ARC Residency is for artists who are currently in-process and have a particular challenge or question about technology. For example: you want to project onto a performer and need support with projection mapping, or you want to create a sound design that responds to lighting and don’t know what equipment and software you need.

Below is a general list of activities we can support during the residency:

Video Projection
Live Cameras
Live Streaming
Show Control
Basic Lighting
Technical Programming Support

Please contact TD@electriccompanytheatre.com with questions about whether your proposal would be feasible, including compatibility of any specialized equipment you plan to provide.

How to Apply

To apply, please fill out the application form here. In addition to basic information about you, the form includes the following short-form questions and a link to upload your support materials.

Briefly describe your artistic background. This may include education/training, project history, and/or information about your practice. (up to 200 words)

Briefly describe your history of working artistically with digital technologies (up to 200 words)

Briefly describe the project or process you are currently engaged in. (up to 200 words)

What challenge or question about technology are you hoping to address? Please include dramaturgical as well as technological considerations (up to 200 words)

Please estimate how many hours in the studio you anticipate needing.

Please outline your technical/equipment needs as best you know them

Support Materials:

A headshot or other promotional image of you
Your artistic resume/CV
Short work samples related to the project/practice you are seeking support for. This can be video, images, audio, text, or whatever format makes sense for you and your practice. It can be documentation of process or product, creation or production.

Timeline

Submission Deadline: March 14, 2025

Notification of Results: week of March 24, 2025

For more information contact Communications and Admin Coordinator, Julian Legere

Past ARC Residencies

Our pilot initiative ran December 14-21, 2024 at Left of Main with resident artists Alexandra Caprara and SQx Dance Company.

Alexandra Caprara

Alexandra is a queer interdisciplinary artist whose practice is grounded in performance making and design. With a focus on creating new movement based works that feature integrated design, she has worked internationally as a director, performer, and designer for lighting and video, and has presented her work across Canada.

She used the ARC Residency to research and experiment with the technical setup for her upcoming project, "gently divine, violently disorienting" (GDVD). This piece explores the collaboration between technology and performers as co-authors, and examines the ways queer individuals can utilize technology and online spaces as a tool for imagining and becoming.

SQx Dance

SQx Dance uses contemporary dance to promote kinship, collaboration, & teamwork. They make performances & education programs with a blended social-cultural theme that balance the promotion of art & culture with social change-making.

They spend the ARC Residency working on HURRICANE, which is part 2 of a new 3-year dance creation project series reflecting on the changing planet. This project was initiated with Canadian Heritage Youth Take Charge funding. To deepen creative & community partnerships, SQx is working with long-time partner, Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc (Kamloops)

HURRICANE will combine long-exposure photography (light painting) with dance & projection to encourage audiences to question reality & their environmental impact—everything is not what it seems.