Hazard 2016 - taking to the streets... call for proposals

Hazard 2016 – Saturday 9 July – Manchester City Centre


Produced by hÅb and presented by Word of Warning, in collaboration with the participating artists

Proposals are now invited for Hazard 2016 (Deadline Friday 22 April, 5pm):


A micro-festival of incidental intervention and sited performance, blurring the boundaries between art and activism… cheeky, thought-provoking and sometimes raunchy sprees of eccentricity…


Manchester’s unique micro-festival of all things bizarre and stripy returns for its fifth outing, and invites you to join in with its strange antics and ludic(rous) activities. So far we’ve wrapped Cathedral Gardens in fluttering hazard tape, hosted the world's slowest fairground ride, moved the goalposts (literally) and witnessed breastfeeding in a shop window  – oh, and conducted a hoola-hoopathon; The Larks had the public riddling, racing and chasing as urban archaeologists and private investigators, injecting mass gaming into St Ann’s Square and beyond. To date Hazard has produced five micro-festivals of sited performance and intervention – nearly 100 artists have taken to the streets of Manchester including: Action Hero, Alex Bradley, Nicola Hunter Canavan, Kris Canavan, Jordan Mackenzie, Juliann O’Malley, Katherina Radeva, Michael Pinchbeck, Richard DeDomenici, Shahram Entekhabi + the vacuum cleaner.


For a glimpse of previous outbreaks of hazardous behaviour see here. 

Think big, think bright, think irreverent!

Call for Proposals:


Once again we are using St. Ann’s Square as our focal hub, with projects happening in, or radiating out from there.


We are now looking for proposals of work for a daytime event (Sat 9 July, 12noon-5pm) in Manchester City Centre:

• work that intervenes in public spaces in the city centre;

• work that is socially engaged, and/or conceptually motivated;

• work that is low- or no-tech and self-sufficient;

• work that is interactive and playful – which could mean anything from street/urban/pervasive games to playful spectacles;

• we will give bonus points for creative engagement with the idea of hazard – chance, danger, risk, and/or use of yellow+black tape! 


In addition to the general call for proposals of work, there are also a number of specific opportunities: 

• one commission (small budget c£1000) for a focal work embodying the notion of Hazard, which draws attention to the event;

• ideas for flash-mobs and/or mass participation interventions;

• work that is playful/interactive/participatory (both games and more loose formats welcome).


Hazard will be programmed by Tamsin Drury of hÅb. We will select from proposals from this call and other research, to put together the best possible programme of work for the event. There are no fixed criteria aside from the guidelines above and the feasibility/legality of the ideas for realisation in the public domain.


Honorarium/expenses (£2-300 per piece) available, to be negotiated on an individual basis. Please include outline budget with your proposal. For projects needing significantly more money, please contact hazard@habarts.org to talk it through first.

To apply

Please complete the proposal form (and the monitoring form too if you can bear it!)

Direct links: 

It would be great if you could send us a link to video of your work – either things you’ve done in the past – or a mock-up or pitch of what you’re planning! Put your own YouTube/Vimeo etc link into the form and/or send via wetransfer.com to hazard@habarts.org or by post to hÅb, c/o Zion Arts Centre, 335 Stretford Road, Manchester, M15 5ZA

Deadline: Friday 22 April 2016, 5pm

The small print:
•    pieces must be the artist's own, original work;
•    the artist must hold copyright/ownership of the piece and materials included;  
•    artists must conform with statutory and local authority rules concerning health and safety, obscenity and defamation and any other licensing conditions imposed;
•    Equal Opportunities will be employed in the selection and programming of this platform.

*NB: The forms must be completed at one sitting (you can't save and return later) so please copy and paste the longer elements from another document.