The Philharmonia seeks to appoint two Artists in Residence: one for our 2024/25 season and one for our 2025/26 season.
We want to create events and content that authentically represent and engage with the UK’s diverse communities and want the artist to take an inclusive and critical approach to our work and provide perspectives not already seen without our seasons. This will be reflected in the art presented, the identities of the artist, and the communities and audiences that they intend to reach.
The Philharmonia seeks a socially engaged artist to collaborate with the Orchestra, to explore and combine two differing artforms, and celebrate the artistic creativity and relevance to existing and new audiences to whom that fusion may speak. We are interested in collaborating with artists from across the cultural world, including but not limited to: music of all genres (excluding classical), dance, theatre, literature, spoken word, visual arts and circus, to diversify our artistic offer and challenge us to work in new ways.
Principally based in London at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, the Philharmonia seeks to create the next generation of orchestral experiences, rooted in artistic excellence and innovation. Through its network of residencies, the Orchestra has a national footprint, serving communities across England both in performance and through its extensive outreach and engagement programme.
Founded chiefly as a recording orchestra in 1945, and about to celebrate our 80th anniversary, we use the latest digital technology to connect with audiences beyond the concert hall and are sector leaders in the production of immersive experiences and online media.
The Philharmonia has appointed three Artists in Residence to date: House of Absolute, Love Ssega, and Soumik Datta.
The Artist in Residence (AiR) will:
• Create cross-genre and cross-arts collaborations to enhance, respond, connect to, and challenge our key artistic plans across the artistic season
• Work with and use the Orchestra as a resource to develop new artistic opportunities and widen our reach to new diverse audiences
• Work with the Orchestra and management team to generate and retain new audiences for both orchestral music and the AiR’s medium
• Bring with them a loyal audience/fanbase to share with the Philharmonia and be excited to grow their own audience base
• Create work that is replicable within, or can be toured amongst, our UK residency centres
• Work with our Learning & Engagement team to connect with wider Philharmonia programmes across the country
• Have connections to diverse communities and lived experience of under-represented protected characteristics and communities within the UK’s arts sector (we ask you to self-identify as part of the application process)
• Encourage the Orchestra to think and work in new ways, to be a critical friend, and to challenge and support the Philharmonia to develop
• Remain conscious of environmental sustainability and committed to equity and justice
Read the full recruitment pack here.
To apply, please fill out this application form by Monday 25 September 2023.
The application form asks for the following:
- Links to online video footage or examples of two performances, exhibitions or projects that showcase you as an artist. Note that any private links should be made accessible to anyone with the link. The link will be shared with the panel
- Website and/or social media handles
- A cover letter (maximum one page of A4) or audio/visual recording (maximum two minutes) detailing your work as an artist, your previous experience, and what you might bring to the Orchestra
- An idea about how you might collaborate with the Orchestra in response to the Artistic Challenge posed on the application form and listed in our recruitment pack. Your submitted response for the Artistic Challenge can be written (maximum of two pages of A4) or you may submit an audio/visual recording (maximum of four minutes