No experience? No problem! This arts fest seeks fresh talent

It's time to let your art fly high! Mike Fernandez at a previous festival, via Facebook.

This ain't no unpaid internship. via BAX Facebook — This ain’t no unpaid internship. via BAX Facebook

You need a job to get experience, and you need experience to get a job. The same rules apply in the arts world: you need to make work to get seen, but you need to get seen to make work. Even the term “emerging artist” has come to refer to someone who has at least some work under their belt.

If you find yourself in this very predicament, then Brooklyn Arts Exchange is here to help. Applications are now open for their 2017 Upstart Festival, a two-day performance series whose only two eligibility requirements are that artists be New York-based and have fewer than three years’ worth of experience presenting their work in the city. Oh, and it pays. How’s that for emerging?

The Upstart application requires a five-minute digital work sample uploaded to Vimeo or YouTube, and must be relevant to the proposed work you are submitting. The festival performance itself can be up to 12 minutes in length. Here’s their pro tip:

Please note that the most successful applications include a work sample that is simple, clear & unedited. Rehearsal footage is preferable to footage shot from a long distance where the work and intent is less clear. Include title, year created, venue produced/presented in, and any funding credits.

If selected, your performance will take place once during the festival, which runs Feb. 10-11, 2017 from 7-9pm. Applicants will be notified on or before Oct. 31, 2016. All participating artists will receive a $75 stipend and five hours of free rehearsal space for their performance.

If you’re not going to audition for The Get Down, this is the next best thing. Apply today through October 3!