Photo of Good Grief at Nextfest 2023 featuring Claudia Kulay. Photo taken by Brett Boyd.

Nextfest is the best fest this side of summer and we and YOU to be a part of it! 

Nextfest is a multi-disciplinary emerging arts festival in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada running May 30- June 9, 2024

We are looking for emerging artists in any discipline to apply to be part of the festival. 

Want a mentor to come to your rehearsals? Want guidance to help you develop a safe(r) spaces policy? Looking for dramaturgical help? Interested in talking about the next stages in your career? Want coaching for your auditions? Want help writing grants? Want to meld poetry, dance and visual art into an interactive piece? Need help setting up a recording studio in your basement? Want to learn how to edit video?

Have an idea for an artistic piece, project, play, presentation, exhibition, experiment or other “thing”, but not sure where to start, where to apply, or how to get involved with Nextfest? WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! Tell us what you want to achieve. 

To submit to Nextfest, follow these steps:

1. Double-check that you define yourself as an emerging artist with Nextfest guidelines. The Nextfest Arts Company defines emerging artists as:

• any artist within the first ten years of their career
• an artist who is NOT represented by any organization or union (ACTRA, EQUITY, IATSE, PGC, DGC, ADC, etc.)
• an artist who is NOT represented by an agent or agency

2. This call for submissions is for GENERAL SUBMISSIONS ONLY. If you would like to submit a script of a play, submit a theatre project, or submit a digital project, please fill out a form for those submissions. (Please note the deadline for those submissions is January 20, 2023). This General Submission call is to begin a conversation on how Nextfest can support you on a smaller scale.

3. Send an email to Ellen Chorley, Festival Director with the subject line NEXTFEST GENERAL SUBMISSION.  Ellen’s email address is ellen@nextfest.ca If you do not have access to email, you can call or text Ellen at (780) 906-2365 to get a conversation going. 

4. In that email please include:

• Your full name
• Your email address and telephone number
• Your pronouns
• A brief bio of your past experience as an artist (this doesn’t have to be long, we just want an idea of where you are coming from) 
• A brief summary of what you are looking for or what you want to achieve with Nextfest (again this doesn’t have to be long, we just need to a place to start the conversation)

Please get in touch with Nextfest before March 1, 2024.