FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – COLLABORATION AWARD 2015 OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS

THE WOMEN IN THE ARTS AND MEDIA COALITION, INC. ANNOUNCES

THE 2015 COLLABORATION AWARD: WOMEN WORKING WITH WOMEN

REQUEST FOR SUBMISSIONS

THE WOMEN IN THE ARTS AND MEDIA COALITION, INC. will present the 2015 Collaboration Award recognizing Women Working With Women.

The $1,000 Collaboration Award and additional honorable mentions are designed to encourage professional women in the arts and media from different specializations to work collaboratively on the creation of a new artistic work.  As the aim of the award is to encourage women to work collaboratively with women of other disciplines, each collaborative team must be comprised of female members of different Coalition associations, unions, guilds and affiliates of The Coalition.  Eligible teams may submit any form of creative collaboration on a new work that had its first public performance within the last two years 2013-2015. A Public Performance can include, but is not limited to a staged reading, gallery show, screenings, concert series, etc.

Submissions will be judged on the basis of artistic excellence, diversity, and clarity.  All topics and subjects will be considered.  Special attention shall be given to those projects which reflect the goals of the Coalition:  to advance women’s work and women’s issues.

The team that has been selected and the honorable mentions will be invited to be recognized at an awards ceremony in New York in October 2015.  Women outside of New York may send a designee to speak about their project and accept the award.

Teams of two or more women working together on the creative project may apply for the 2015 Collaboration Award.  Applicants must be members in good standing of two different organizations and/or affiliates with The Coalition.  Those organizations are:  Actors’ Equity Association, Dramatists Guild, League of Professional Theatre Women, New York Women in Film & Television, Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, Writers’ Guild of America, East.  Affiliates:  WomenArts, The Rehearsal Club, The Women’s Media Center, Women Make Movies, Dancers Over 40, Professional Women Singers Association, The Drama Desk, The Lambs Club, Works by Women.  If an organization other than these listed joins the Coalition, their members are welcome to apply as well.

The application is online at www.womenartsmediacoalition.org and can be saved and re-worked there until submitted to us. A pdf of the application may also be accessed there in order to work on a submission offline.

Deadline:  The deadline for the return of completed applications is midnight 11:59 p.m. Thursday, April 30, 2015.  Award winners will be announced by September, 2015.

Send all inquiries and questions to: collaborationaward@womenartsmediacoalition.org

Quotes from past winners

“We are so honored to be accepting this award.  One of the best aspects of making this very unconventional film was working together.  We got it done using our creativity, mutual respect for one another, quality Skype-time with our families back home, plain old hard work, and as much good humor as we could muster.  It means the world to us to have our film embraced by an organization that celebrates women in collaboration.”

–        Jane Edith Wilson and Grace Lee, 2013 Winners

“It was an honor for Stefanie and I to receive the Collaboration Award.  It came at a critical moment for the DEVELOPMENT of Electric Baby as the award supported our work together on two DEVELOPMENTAL workshops and our world premiere production of the play at Quantum Theatre in Pittsburgh.  Not only did this award support our work financially it gave our collaboration recognition in the field.  Stefanie continues to be a key collaborator of mine on subsequent projects and having our relationship recognized publicly is invaluable.”

–        Daniella Topol, Director, 2011 Winner

“New work needs momentum.  It’s simply not a reality that a play can be written in the attic and then magically find a production.  Or that one production will lead to a second or third production.  People need to hear about work.  They need to hear about the artists who make the work.  There is no question that this award not only helped The Electric Baby become a better play, but it gave the baby a life.”

–        Stefanie Zadravec, Playwright, 2011 Winner

“The Collaboration Award’s encouragement of women working together is terrific.  It made all the difference in providing my collaborator and I with the time and support we needed to create a complex and dynamic theatre work.”

–        Kristin Martin, Director, 2008 Winner

“The evening of the Collaboration Awards was imbued with theatrical magic.  Wendy directed an excerpt from my play, Birds, that captured the spirit of the play with great response from a wildly supportive audience.  Birds is the third play of mine that we worked on together.  It was a beautiful jumping off point for us in our process.  It provided the opportunity for us to mine even deeper in our exploration of the world of this complicated play, and the support, enthusiasm and appreciation of this body of amazing women helped carry us through to the next step of our artistic journey.”

–        Jen Maisel, Playwright, 2006 WInner