WE ARE GLAD YOU ARE INTERESTED IN SHOWING WORK IN OUR VENUE! Here are a few things you should consider before requesting to present/perform at Shapeshifters.
About Us
Shapeshifters Cinema provides a venue and support for contemporary artists working with experimental and artist-made film, video, sound, music and other types of mediated performance. We host screenings and performances by local and visiting artists in our intimate 40-seat theatre and offer workshops on a variety of experimental and DIY moving image and sound production.
Programming Guidelines
We are primarily a cinema. We are set up to show films. If your work does not include some kind of visual material, you might be better off connecting with other venues that are set up for music/sound-oriented/installation/performance work. Yes, we do sometimes have musicians and sound artists perform here. They are generally doing so with some kind of accompanying visual material.
We support artist-made and experimental work. We value the work of artists who are pushing the boundaries of moving image/sound/multi-media/performance making—especially those who work with innovative source material and/or production and/or presentation processes (alternative photochemical developing, hand processing, collage editing, glitch and feedback video, live sound-making & improvisational performance). We tend to show a lot of short and collaborative work too. We rarely show the work of a single artist who is not already known for what they do.
We are selective. We support progressive, marginalized, thought-provoking, non-mainstream, visionary artists. If your work contains egregious violence, murder, misogyny or racism, or has the primary purpose to shock, we're not going to show it, no matter how creative it is.
Bay Area Represent. If you are a travelling/touring artist interested in presenting work at Shapeshifters, we will be more likely to say yes if you have some kind of tie to the Bay Area (you are collaborating with a Bay Area artist, you are originally from here, you have a fan base here, your work is about something/someone in the Bay Area). The fact of the matter is that unless you or your work or someone you are working with is already known to us and/or the Bay Area, we will likely not be able to guarantee much of an audience for your event.
We have limited capacity. We are more likely to say yes to you if you are bringing us a fully-formed program. If you just finished a short film and you want to show it around, that's awesome! But we just don't have the capacity to suggest artists for you to show with/open for, or to create a program around your film. Your best bet is to show single works or pieces at open screenings (Like ATA's monthly Open Screenings), open mics or submit to open calls or festivals. Also, we prefer to schedule our programs around weekends whenever possible (Friday—Sunday, with the occasional Thursday). Please note, we have regular programs that happen in our space every first Thursday and every first Sunday and workshops are generally scheduled on Sunday afternoons. So, Friday and Saturday nights are your best bet when proposing something to us, but we will work with you to find a day and time that works for everyone, given the circumstances.
SUBMIT A PROGRAMMING REQUEST. If have a project or program you would like us to consider, given everything outlined here, please fill out this Programming Request Form and, if we decide it fits within our programming scope and schedule, we will get back to you.
If you have an idea or proposal that does not fit within the parameters above, we can still likely host you through a private rental.
Information for Presenting Artists
If we choose to present your project/program at Shapeshifters, here's what you need to know:
- Venue Specs: If you are not familiar with our space, please take a look at our venue specs page here which has detailed info about our space and equipment.
- Financial Info: All door proceeds from events presented at Shapeshifters are split 50/50 between the presenting artist(s) and Shapeshifters. You can choose a set price per ticket or sliding scale (anywhere between $12-25, generally).
- Promotional Materials: You will need to send us promotional materials at least 4 weeks before your scheduled event, including an image (at least 1280 pixels wide, landscape-oriented with no date/address/time/price text included on it) + a few sentences about what will be presented, including the names of all involved artists and titles of works that will be shown. Links to artist websites/social media pages with more info is encouraged (rather than lengthy bios). All of this will be rolled into the Shapeshifters promotional machine over the weeks leading up to your event through our website, email list, social media and pre-show slideshows. If you want to make printed fliers/handouts, that's fine, but you will be responsible for posting those around town. You can leave small handouts (5.5" x 4.25", or quarter page size, max) with us. We will put them on the small bookshelf in our cinema foyer with all the other print promotional material for goings-on around town.
- Presentation files: You can send your video/sound files to us via Dropbox or WeSend or a shared Google folder (or whatever third party platform you prefer). Please do not send files to us via email. We show video files using VLC on a Mac, so most files work. We prefer .mov or .h264 files. Our video projector is HD so resolution does not need to be higher than 1080p. If you are showing a whole program of short films, they do not need to be edited together into one file. You can send the program as individual files. Just tell us what order you intend to show them in.