Call For Texts

– Applications are now closed –

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James Banner + Stephanie Lamprea Duo

Berlin-based composer and improviser James Banner is commissioning 6 people who work with words to create new pieces of writing for a new duo with Stephanie Lamprea. The words will form the basis of a new series of works for voice and double bass (plus guests) for a 2021 album release. Each commissioned writer will receive 200 euros and in addition, each piece will be published alongside its paired musical score as a limited edition printed book and in digital form.

You may be an author, poet, writer, blogger, journalist, or active in any other field that uses words, and at any level or stage in your career. There is no official requirement to be working professionally or established in any of these fields, however one aim of the project is to further the visibility of your work and develop your portfolio, to help stimulate future opportunities and the possibilities of further collaborations, therefore please consider if this is the right project for you before applying.

Brief

The brief is to create a new piece of writing that is limited to 1-2 A4 pages with no minimum or maximum word count. The content is totally up to the contributor and may also include other visual/graphic elements, but this is not a requirement – the focus is on the meaning of the words and representing a diverse range of voices and ideas in the resulting music.

You may consider yourself published, self-published, unpublished, ‘emerging’ etc. We recognise the variety of people who may feel included in one or more of these umbrella terms and no-one is excluded based on this.

For this project, James is especially seeking to include those who identify as LGBTQIA+, non-binary, gender fluid, BIPOC, QTPOC, Latinx, Asian, female, D/deaf, blind, sight impaired, disabled and neurodivergent, as well as those who are or were first generation college/university students or come from under-represented socio-economic backgrounds.

To enter, please fill out the form below by 15th January 2021, 10pm CET – audio and/or video submissions are also encouraged alongside textual representations. You should send examples of existing works that represent your writing style and output, not create new works – 6 contributors will receive 200 euros to create new works for the project. Please read the full information below before applying.

Application form NOW CLOSED ->

Full Details:

The call uses a two stage non-anonymous process: open call and final selection. The open call runs for one month during which contributors can send in existing work examples. 6 contributors will go on to submit a final work to be included in the project and receive a 200 euro commission fee – there may be edits to be made in collaboration with James and Stephanie.

Schedule:

Open call – submissions accepted until 15th January 2021, 10pm CET
Final 6 selected for the project notified – 31st January 2021, 10pm CET
Final works to be submitted – 14th February 2021, 10pm CET
Project realisation – summer/autumn 2021

Application:

Submissions will not be judged anonymously and a diverse range of voices will be represented – additionally, we will endeavour to actively reach out to the groups mentioned above during the open call process
Free to apply, no age limit, no location limit, no language or education requirements
Dates and deadlines are subject to change depending on applications and will be flexible to allow more time where necessary

Project:

The 6 contributors agree to communicate with James in a timely manner via email and will aim to promote their participation in the project via personal websites and/or their social media presence (where available) – where email is not accessible or appropriate, an alternative mode of communication will be established
The design of the physical/downloadable editions will be made in collaboration between James and the contributor to ensure they feel their work is being visually represented fully and accurately – whilst we do want the finished work to be high quality and high resolution, no-one will be excluded based on access to hardware or software or abilities in design, and this is not part of the judgement in the open call stage
If a contributor misses a deadline without warning due to exceptional circumstances and no contact is made, James will attempt to contact them by email to check in – where the contributor does not respond within two weeks of the final deadline, James reserves the right to withdraw the offer of inclusion in the project and will ask someone else to take their place

Copyright and accreditation:

Every contributor retains copyright of their work and is permitted to publish their work elsewhere, wherever it does not impinge on the ability to continue to use the work for this project – a non-exclusive licence will be set up between the contributor and James that details the uses of the words for this project only
Contributors agree that their work can be freely interpreted, developed, performed, broadcast and recorded live, digitally, on radio and in any other format for this project only (in relation to audio/booklet purchases, also for profit) – full details will be provided in the contract
Upon completion of the musical works, contributors will be credited by James as ‘authors’ of the words through GEMA and any royalties through live/radio performance automatically distributed through that system if you are registered with a performing rights organisation such as PRS, GEMA, ASCAP etc. by doing this, contributors are able to receive both the one off payment for the new work and any continued royalties that may arise from performance or broadcast
Contributors will not receive any share of audio/physical/download sales or concert ticket sales relating to this project
With approval, all contributors from the open call will be credited in the digital download edition of the final work alongside one link to their work/portfolio/website etc. – please select this option in the application form if you wish to be included
The final 6 contributors will receive appropriate credit in the album track listings, physical and digital download editions of the final work and agree to send one press photo with photographer credit and a biography that is available to use in this project without restriction
Every contributor from the first stage onwards will receive a free digital download of the project. Each of the final 6 contributors will receive a printed copy of the book (including postage up to 15 euros) plus a digital download

Commission fees and financial transparency:

Each of the 6 final contributors selected from the shortlist will receive a commission fee of 100 euros from James plus a further 100 euros from the crowdfunding campaign – in the event that the crowdfunding campaign does not reach its target, the contributors will still receive the agreed amounts
This project is partly enabled by the support provided from the Berlin State scholarship ‘Kulturprojekte Berlin’, full details are available at https://stipendium.kulturprojekte.berlin/de/stipendien/
Please note: the shortlisting stage of this project was removed on 11th January 2021 due to new financial limitations of the project.

For all queries please contact James or get in touch via DM on Twitter or Instagram