Open Call by Rewire: sensory-friendly concert

December 2024, news

For the third year in row, in 2025 Rewire will present a completely new work for a sensory-sensitive audience. Taking place during Rewire’s festival edition in April 2025, the sensory-sensitive concert is presented in collaboration with Amare. Through this open call, Rewire invites local artists to submit their proposal before 22 December for a low-stimulus concert that will be developed and realized together with Rewire and the sensory-sensitive community.

Approximately seven million people in the Netherlands are sensitive to sensory stimuli. For these people, attending live music events is a challenge and in some cases even impossible. This can result in a sense of social and cultural isolation and their accompanying negative side effects. Rewire believes that everyone has the right to access live music; by creating a new work for an often forgotten and excluded group we hope to spark further conversation about the importance of accessibility to culture. By commissioning a new work, Rewire hopes to catalyze innovative approaches to presenting live music to people who would otherwise not have access to it.

Rewire is an annual international music festival that not only presents new forms of music, but also new ways of experiencing it – through film, performance, concert, and dialogue, among other means. Rewire believes in inclusivity and diversity. Other stories, backgrounds, and worlds enrich the perspective of the festival. Rewire also wants to reach people who may not usually feel that art and culture is accessible to them. Rewire Outreach is a programme aimed at an adult audience that may not usually engage with music festivals, such as Rewire.

For more information about our previous low-stimulus concerts during Rewire, you can read an interview (in Dutch) with Outreach coordinator Zoe Reddy: Een concert zonder prikkels? - Den Haag - 3voor12 or watch this short documentary about the sensory-friendly concert of 2023: Leslee Smucker - Worlds Within - commissioned by Rewire.

What is a sensory-friendly concert?

During the event, unnecessary sensory stimuli are reduced to allow for a more peaceful experience. During the concert, the volume is adjusted and the number of visitors is limited. The concert takes place during the day and the location is designed to be low-stimulus. This means that there is no background music in the bar and foyer, the staff at the location is instructed on how to best interact with the audience, and a quiet room is available for visitors. By reducing environmental stimuli, the audience can optimally enjoy the music.

We are looking for makers who:

Are in a duo or trio;
Have an innovative idea for a concert directed at a stimulus-sensitive audience;
Will present a new work (not an adapted version of an existing work);
Work or are based in the Netherlands;
Are available to perform on Sunday 6 April 2025. The performance will play once or twice and is a maximum of 40 minutes;
Are open to dialogue with people from the stimulus-sensitive community to ensure that the work is both practically appropriate and thematically relevant;
Are open to an exciting artistic challenge and are prepared to see the frameworks of a low-stimulus concert as possibilities rather than limitations.

We offer:

The space to further develop and implement your plan;
Advice during the production process by Rewire and partners;
A training on low-stimulus culture and sensitivity to stimuli;
Rehearsal space;
Your performance will be part of Rewire 2025 in Amare;
A suitable compensation for the development and performance.

Submit your plan on a maximum of 1 x A4 with the following information:

A short introduction about the duo or trio;
Description of the low-stimulus concert/performance including theme, set-up, and number of performers and instruments;
An overview of the budget you think you will need;
One or two examples of previous work. This can be music (only via a streaming link) and/or images;

Submit your plan or proposal to Zoe Reddy via zoe@rewirefestival.nl. Do you have any questions? You can also contact Zoe. The deadline for submission is 22 December, 2024. Introductory meetings start from 28 December, 2024.