At the Young Vic, we are interested in creators of work from all disciplines, and in anti-disciplinary artists. We receive many great ideas, proposals and plays, as well as invitations to see artists’ work. We want to be transparent and open in how artists can reach out to us, and how we consider submissions.
Kwame Kwei-Armah:
“We want the Young Vic to be a home for work that is ambitious, courageous, and socially relevant. Work of the now, which speaks to the now: urgent in its questions, curious about the world we live in, and inventive in form. We invite storytellers to embrace vision and imagination, and come dream up the theatre that they have never seen.”
We recognize that great stories for the stage don’t always (have to) start from a script. While we create new work, the Young Vic hasn’t historically had a Literary Department. Instead, our artistic team all take a role in discovering and discussing new work for our stages.
Submissions of Ideas and Proposals
We want to be more transparent and accessible to freelance artists and producers who wish to collaborate with us. What we are interested in, are artists and their ideas: their proposals for how their work speaks to our audiences and to our times.
In the past, we have not always been able to consider unsolicited submissions of scripts; we did not have the resources to read, evaluate and respond to these in ways that we felt was supporting their writers.
Instead of submitting scripts, we invite artists who want connect to the Young Vic to send us project proposals and plans. We believe this makes it easier for us engage with artists and their ambitions.
How you share your work, is up to you. We encourage you to make the format and content of your submission reflect your voice and vision – whether that is through visuals, video, audio, or in written form.
How to Submit your Proposal
Please create one document for your proposal, and save it with a file name that includes your full name and the title of your project. Also make sure you include your name, the project name, and a contact e-mail address within your proposal.
We ask you to adhere to limits in length and size:
For visual proposals (for example vision boards or decks) – no more than 5 pages or slides.
For proposals in video or audio – no more than three minutes long.
For written proposals – no more than 1 sheet of A4, normally spaced out and easy to read.
Please make sure the file size of your document does not exceed 50MB.
We do invite you to tell us a little bit about yourself within your proposal, but you don’t need to submit a CV or portfolio; feel free to include links to places where we can find your other work if you want to.
You can send us your submission through Dropbox. There is no need for you to have a Dropbox account; simply click the button below and then click the ‘Add Files’ button or drag and drop your file in the window. Click the ‘Upload’ button, and your file will be uploaded securely to us.
Inviting us
The best way for us to get to know you as an artist is through your work; the easiest way to tell us about upcoming work is through e-mailing programming@youngvic.org. We share the invitations we receive there with members of our artistic team, so you don’t need to e-mail us individually. We advise people to send invitations a minimum of four weeks prior to an event.
At the Young Vic, we are interested in artists at all stages of their careers. It doesn’t matter whether you are just starting out, or have decades of experience. We just as frequently, and happily, attend workshops, work-in-progress sharings and short runs – at all ranges of venues.
To make sure we see as much work from as many artists as possible, we rarely attend more than one iteration of a production; we are, for instance, unlikely to see a production if we have already attended a rehearsed reading of it. We, therefore, ask you to think carefully about the stage at which you wish to invite us, and whether that is the piece of work you want the Young Vic to engage with; is it reflective of the work you wish to make, and the questions you want to ask about the world?
We try and see as much work as we can, but we can’t guarantee that we will see everything to which we are invited. Although we are a theatre based in London, we do our best to see work beyond the capital, and we have members of our artistic team who live across the country. At regular meetings, members of the Young Vic’s artistic team share what they have seen so this knowledge is rippled out across the theatre.
We don’t expect you to provide us with complimentary tickets.
What happens next
Your submission will be reviewed by one or more members of the Young Vic’s artistic team, who will feed back on it and share it with the rest of the team. We will reply to every submission; however, we may not be able to provide feedback on all submissions. We will follow up for further contact where we believe we can take the conversation further.
If you are a creator of work for the stage, you can learn more about the opportunities offered by our Creators Program here.
Our creative engagement department Taking Part works with young people, adults, schools, and our local community.
The Young Vic’s Artistic Team
Kwame Kwei-Armah – Artistic Director
Sue Emmas – Associate Artistic Director
Jennifer Tang – Genesis Fellow / Associate Director
Teunkie Van Der Sluijs – Creative Associate
Shereen Jasmin Phillips – Director of Taking Part
Nisha Modhwadia – Head of Producing
Holly Aston - Associate Producer
Robyn Keynes (maternity leave) – Producer
Christabel Holmes (maternity cover) – Producer
Olivia Poglio Nwabali – Dramaturgy and Literary Associate
Amy Cranston - Executive Assistant