Pizza and Pitches
Do you have an idea for an amazing new creative event or activity you’d like to see at ARC? Do you want up to £1,000, access to ARC’s building and resources as well as support of the ARC team to make your idea a reality? If so, we want to hear from you!
We’re inviting members of the Creative Coalition for Climate Change exclusively to put forward their ideas. We want to support activities that help promote environmental responsibility, either in their content or the way they happen. We’re working hard to make sure what we put on reflects the needs and interests of our local communities – and this is one way we can make sure environmental responsibility is central to our programme.
This is a chance to take an ambitious idea and make use of the professional facilities, staff expertise and a budget of up to £1,000 to make it a reality. It could be a special one-off event or performance, or a series of activities, it could involve bringing in other artists or staging something yourselves – whatever you think others would like to see or do at ARC that has an environmental theme or is created in a way that demonstrates environmental responsibility.
All we ask is that your idea is:
• Creative in some way
• New (not something that’s already taking place in Stockton)
• Open to the public
• Able to take place at ARC
• Either has an environmental theme or is created in a way that demonstrates environmental responsibility
At this stage, all you need to do is fill in a really simple ideas form.
Paper copies of this form can also be collected from ARC during our opening hours.
We are looking to collect in ideas by the end of June. Once we have at least four, we will schedule a special Pizza and Pitches event.
If you have an idea you would like to discuss please email [email protected]
What happens next?
Our community panel will read all the proposed ideas and choose the best ideas to go forward to our Pizza and Pitches event. For this we’ll ask you to prepare a four minute pitch to sell your idea to the public to try and win their vote. We’ll help you prepare for your pitch, and if you’re not the most confident public speaker you can ask somebody else to pitch for you. We even have some willing volunteers on the ARC team to get your idea over if you can’t phone a friend.
Once everyone’s ideas have been pitched we’ll ask the public to vote for the one they would most like to see and count up the votes.
If your idea wins the most votes we’ll give you £1,000 and our full support in bringing your idea to life.
If you’ve never done anything like this before we know you might be unsure about jumping in with both feet. That’s why we’re always happy to have an informal chat about any ideas you’ve got before you send them in. To arrange a chat with our Programmes Manager, Chloe, call 01642 665190 or email [email protected].
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How long does my idea need to be?
A: If you just have your basic idea a few sentences explaining what it is you want to do will be fine, However if you already have thoughts on some of details you can include these to help give our community panel a good sense of your thinking, and your vision for the event. If you’re unsure if you’ve written too much or not enough it’s a great time to get in touch and have a chat with us before you send your idea form in.
Q: What do you mean by ‘a creative activity’?
A: We want Pizza and Pitches to help us find new ideas, including things we’d never think of ourselves, so there’s no exhaustive list of what we mean by a ‘creative activity’. To help you understand what we mean the best way to think about it is to ask ‘Does my idea allow people to be make or create something themselves, or to enjoy something that was made or created by others?’ If the answer is yes then chances are it’s a creative idea.
Q: Creative activities need to be open to the public. Does that mean they need to be open to everyone?
A: No. We’ve had projects in the past that were targeted towards working with people of a certain age, gender, or social background. The only limit is that the activity can’t be specifically for the benefit of an existing group of people or club.
Q: If I’m not from Stockton can I still apply for Pizza and Pitches?
A: Yes. We want all ideas to be created with the people of Stockton in mind, which is why we ask for a connection to the local area. This is easiest if you are from Stockton, but we’re also happy to receive ideas from people who aren’t from Stockton but have a connection here. That way we can be more confident the idea will appeal to and benefit local people.
Q: No experience or expertise is required. Can I still apply if I do have experience or expertise in my idea?
A: Yes, we want to give everyone the opportunity to take part. If you are a professional artist or practitioner, or have other experience that can help make your idea happen then we’d love to hear from you too. If you don’t have any experience or expertise don’t worry we have connections with a huge range of professional artists and other creatives who provide lots of different kinds of experiences to people across the country and beyond.We’re inviting members of the Creative Coalition for Climate Change exclusively to put forward their ideas. We want to support activities that help promote environmental responsibility, either in their content or the way they happen.