You may (or, also entirely likely, may not) have heard about Open To Ideas, Lincoln Arts Centre’s transparent and collaborative artistic policy. Following the Future Arts Centre consultation and a full-scale relaunch in 2023, Open To Ideas is a vehicle for how we connect with artists and artistic ideas.

But it’s not just a submissions portal for our work on stage, it’s a switchboard for creatives and creativity in Lincoln.

Lincoln Arts Centre is uniquely placed as the University of Lincoln’s public arts centre with a focus on innovation, talent development and research. We have 17,000 students and academics on our doorstep so are quite literally surrounded by growing ideas, expertise and skills. It’s an incredibly energising starting point and Open To Ideas is built from here.

Stop saying Open To Ideas. How does it actually work?

Wow, okay, fine. This new programming approach means that you can submit:

An Idea

It can be just an idea. But you want to flesh it out with people who have a deeper understanding of the subject, the context or another angle on things.

A Work-In-Progress

Maybe you’re a little further down the road and are trying out how your idea can work. You want to develop it into something ready for a public audience.

Something Ready-To-Go

Or your idea might be fully prepped and ready to share.

Then the LAC team meet four times a year to look through submissions and bring in industry specialists, academics and community volunteers to help find the next step for your idea and encourage collaboration. Outcomes can be:

– Programmed into our thematic seasons or festivals

– Included as part of Demo; our new-work nights

– Introductions to academics, students, industry professionals or local partners

– Feedback on how to strengthen your idea or where to look for further support and opportunities

Essentially, this is the best way to start a relationship with us. We’ve done a lot of trial and remodelling behind the scenes to make Open To Ideas a robust process. Now we want to shout about it and help artists make the most of the opportunity. You could be a well-established company, someone who’s completely new to the industry or somewhere in between, we want to hear from you.

So, please, check out our artistic policy, an expertly narrated intro video and submit your idea.