Open call: Storytelling in the Digital Age

OPEN CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS

Summer Scriptwriting Base
“DIGITAL VILLAGE”
18.07 – 28.07.2018
Bozhentsi - Sofia, Bulgaria

“Tell me a fact and I’ll learn. Tell me the truth and I’ll believe. But tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever”
Native American proverb

“The most powerful person in the world is the storyteller. The storyteller sets the vision, values and agenda of an entire generation to come”
Steve Jobs

The 2018 edition of the Summer Scriptwriting Base is dedicated to storytelling in the Digital Age. Humans are story-driven creatures. We need stories to convey meaning, values and hopes. Human knowledge is based on stories and the human brain is a sort of cognitive machine necessary to understand, remember and tell stories. Stories mirror human thought, as humans think in narrative structures and most often remember facts in story form. Neurologists confirm that when a human hears straight data, only the language parts of our brains work to decode the meaning of this data. But when we hear a story, all the parts of the brain that we would use if we were actually experiencing that story light up and become active.

LOCATIONS
In 2018 we continue our collaboration with the Architectural Reserve of Bozhentsi, a small village of traditional XIX-century houses in the mountains of Bulgaria. For ten days we will transform this village in a Digital Village - a global village from the Digital Age.
The inauguration and the opening lecture will take place in Sofia, the bustling capital of Bulgaria.

PROGRAM
The Summer Scriptwriting Base 2018 program consists of lectures and workshops that will help the participants learn how to create good stories, and to explore the forms stories could take in the Digital Age. The program has an open unit – free for everyone to come and to learn – and a closed unit, reserved for preselected participants.The Summer Scriptwriting Base is open to foreign participants and all lectures and workshops will be in English.
The program traditionally finishes with a public presentation of the workshops' results and a concert. This year we invited the famous Macedonian guitarist Vlatko Stefanovski and Bulgarian flutist Teodosii Spassov. It will all finish with a DJ set of Balkan Beats by Nikola Gruev - Kottarashky.

SPEAKERS & MENTORS
We curated as speakers and mentors professionals from all around the world:
Andrea Brunello (Italy)
Sytze Schalk (Nederlands)
David Finnigan (Australia)
Daniel Bye (UK)
Aiste Ptakauske (Lithuania)
Simón Adinia Hanukai (USA / Azerbaijan)
Caspar Schjelbred (Denmark / France)

WHO CAN APPLY
As in every year, we welcome as participants students and young professionals from all around Europe and beyond: screenwriters, playwrights, storytellers, journalists, science communicators, bloggers, content creators for creative industries, and all other people who write. The two previous editions of the Summer Scriptwriting Base had participants from 20 countries, and we aim to continue having this diversity. The Summer Scriptwriting Base also allows the participants to meet future friends, partners and collaborators.

FEES
Partnerships with various organisations and institutions allow us to keep participation fees for the workshops low. We do not want them to be an obstacle for participants.
The participation fee is 120 BGN (60€) for one workshop; 220 BGN (110€) for two workshops and 280 BGN (140€) – in case you’d like to participate in all three workshops. Preference will be given to candidates who wish to subscribe for the full program. This fee includes also the housing in Bozhentsi in traditional XIX-century houses.

HOW TO APPLY
Send us your resume, a short motivation letter (up to 200 words) why you want to participate, as well your choice for workshop(s) you would like to participate to: [email protected].
APPLICATION DEADLINE: MAY 1, 2018 (results around May 10)

More information and updates: http://www.arteurbanacollectif.com/summer-scriptwriting-base.html

We look forward to meeting you in Bulgaria this summer!

Organizers: Arte Urbana Collectif – Sofia and the Museum of the Architectural Historical Reserve “Bozhentsi”
Partners: Institut Français Bulgaria, Municipality of Gabrovo, Famille Mundi theatre company – Paris, The Fence network, Eurodram, Jet Propulsion Theatre.