Call Out – Storytelling Festival Commissions

Up to 3 Full Length Storytelling Commissions available!

Background: 

Scotland’s biennial Contemporary and Community Storytelling Festival is back for 2026!  With a format described as unique, visionary and ground-breaking, Village Storytelling Festival will explore the theme ‘Voices of Change’ this year, retaining its focus on Glasgow and its people, their stories and the ways in which they communicate them. We will also showcase the best in contemporary storytelling from Scotland, the UK and beyond. 

Commission Information: 

We are delighted to invite proposals from Glasgow based oral storytellers / narrative performers to create new work to be presented at the festival. 

The performance should be between 45 minutes and 1 hour in length.  

We actively welcome ensemble applications including collaborations with other artforms but expect storytelling to be the predominant focus. We will also consider performances for children and families this year to be platformed on during our dedicated family days.  

The Village Storytelling Festival celebrates the artform of oral storytelling, but we welcome applications which challenge the definition or add to the existing tradition. For example, we welcome applications from storytellers who use non-verbal language such as BSL or Visual Vernacular. 

Proposals should actively explore the themes of change and voice within their application. We are interested in performances that push boundaries and challenge perceptions in contemporary storytelling and who tells those stories. 

Previous commissions have included “A Circumnavigation” by Ian Stephen, “What I Know About What my Grandfather Didn’t Know” by Sonia Gardes , “I Hope Your Flowers Bloom” by Raymond Wilson and “Dregs” by Emery Hunter and Bobby Bradly. Commissions have gone on to be performed nationally and internationally at the Fringe, the Scottish International Storytelling Festival, Yorkshire Festival of Story and the Amsterdam Storytelling Festival. 

Eligibility: 

As part of our wider initiative to develop storytelling in Glasgow, the commissions will only be available to artists who are from or are based in Glasgow. 

We are committed to contributing towards a more diverse arts industry. For that reason, we have ringfenced at least one of these commissions for people from groups that are historically under-represented in the arts, due to age, disability, ethnicity, faith or belief, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, education, socio-economic background, or those with caring responsibilities. You are welcome to let us know in your application if you identify as coming from an under-represented group. 

Timings: 

VSF26 will take place between 19th and 24h May 2026 

The commissioned performances will be performed once on either Thursday, Friday and Saturday of that week at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow. 

Fees: 

Each full-length commission is offered a fee up to £2500. You must provide a budget and include all research, preparation, materials and performance. 

Support: 

We will provide mentoring and dramaturgical support. Our Artform Development Lead will discuss this with successful applicants.  

In addition to this we have a staff member who can discuss any access needs and contribute, with the staff team, to supporting them. We have a separate access budget available therefore access needs should not be included in your budget.  

Application Process: 

Please email your proposals to opportunities@villagestorytelling.org.uk by 5pm on Tuesday 17h February 2026. 

Please include: 

• CV (no more than two pages) 

• A short budget – this does not have to be detailed and we can discuss it with applicants afterwards. 

• Links to/examples of work (no more than 5) 

• Proposal of up to two A4 pages outlining the idea and how it meets the criteria for the chosen commission. Alternatively, you are welcome to submit a sound or video recording of no more than 5 minutes.  

Additional Access Information: 

If you have any access needs in responding to or delivering this commission or need to receive this brief in an alternative format, please contact naomi@villagestorytelling.org.uk or call us on 0141 882 3025. 

Proposals will be considered by a panel including members of the Village team and external curators, with successful artists notified on or before Monday 23rd February 2026.  

For any informal enquiries please contact dan@villagestorytelling.org.uk  

We also invite applicants to complete our Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form. This is anonymous and not mandatory.