Trans and Intersex Performer Submissions

Due to the nature and limitations of live streams, we are limiting this performer call to musicians, poets, and storytellers. Basically, any art that can be created by the artist’s voice and/or a musical instrument. We are not looking for movement based art like dance or drag.

The work should also be original content by the artist, content in the public domain, or content that the artist has a license/permission to use. We don’t want our videos muted or deleted because they contain copyrighted content.

Gender Unbound will let performers know if they are selected, rejected, or on our wait list July 31st – August 2nd, 2020. Our performer call ends on July 24th, after which out jury reviews the applications and create their final selections. Our jury consists of our Gender Unbound board members and key organizers, all of whom are trans and/or intersex and artists themselves. The jury considers the following when making their decisions:

• The overall quality of the artist’s work
• The messages of the artist’s work
• Whether the artist is a voice that we believe should be amplified in our communities. We prioritize artists of color, indigenous artists, intersex artists, and artists with disabilities.
• (for the Virtual Showcase) Whether the artist was financially  impacted by COVID-19 and could use paid work.
• Whether we have already showcased the artist. We often showcase repeat artists, but if we are making tough decisions we prioritize artists that we have not already showcased or who are emerging into art scenes.
• The artist in relationship to other artists we are accepting. Sometimes this means picking work that is very different from what we normally showcase and sometimes this means pairing work that we feel complements/enhances each other. We want to ensure that the art we showcase flows with and enriches the show while not being repetitive or similar to the other work.

Just because an artist meets some of the above criteria does not necessarily mean that they will get picked. Gender Unbound is forced to work within budgets and time restraints and gets hundreds of submissions a year. Our jury often has to make difficult decisions to cut artists that they value and would love to showcase because they have to make a subjective choice. Any artist who is rejected by Gender Unbound is deeply encouraged to continue applying to future artist calls.

Artists will be paid $100 for a 15 minute performance. For this showcase, we only have the budget to pay per performance instead of per individual. If the artist is a group, the group will have to decide who recieves the money and how it is split. We are able to pay artists via check, Paypal, Cash App, or Venmo. Gender Unbound will strive to pay artists within 24 hours of their performance, and no later than 72 hours after the performance.

Yes. The artist MUST be able to provide their own microphone and webcam. While we can help artists with tech questions on how to join our live stream call, Gender Unbound cannot provide tech equipment to the artist. Please test your equipment for quality and consider the computer and internet connection that you are using. We do not need your setup to be of studio quality, but we do need it to be a high enough quality to be heard and seen clearly. If selected, we will schedule a test call with you before your live stream to work out technical issues. While we will work with you to make your equipment work, if we deem the audio and/or video quality to be unusable, we may decide to move to a different artist on our waitlist and cancel your booking.

Yes. Unfortunately we are unable to accept international artists. We do, however, accept artists from anywhere in the United States. Gender Unbound will reimburse the cost of shipping original work or printing digital work for artists who are not local to Austin, TX and cannot complete a contactless drop-off of their work. Pieces must be received by Gender Unbound no later than Monday, August 3, 2020.