Wellness Together Fellowship Open Call

This open call seeks an artist or artist collective/group to create a hybrid performance with homebound elders through a series of workshops that center community building, social interaction, and the development of artistic skills. The fellowship will culminate with a hybrid live presentation with participating elders and audience joining both in-person and online.

The fellow will be responsible for:

• 4-6 creative sessions with a group of homebound older adult participants (selected by University Settlement) facilitated via Zoom

• Collaboration with CultureHub to develop interactions on the livestream platform for the participating artists and audience

• Leading the creation of a final performance, which could take the format of a variety show with additional guest artists, or another in-progress presentation that engages the participants as performers/co-creators

The fellow will have the following supports:

• University Settlement’s Wellness Together team to both prepare for the sessions in terms of facilitation, structure and navigating access issues during the sessions

• Rehearsal time and space, coordinated with the spaces of all three partners.

• Technical support from CultureHub to integrate virtual performers and produce the live broadcast and the opportunity to collaborate with a technologist to design custom interactions for the performance into the CultureHub Broadcaster. 

• Mentorship and support from the artistic directors and producing teams of The Performance Project, CultureHub and La MaMa for creative ideation and envisioning. 

• In-person performance in the Community Arts Space at La MaMa.

This fellowship is designed to leverage creative and interactive possibilities of online  performance to create an expanded sense of community for homebound older adults and ensure the technological advances are accessible and inclusive to those who could benefit the most from it.