Call For Artists

White Snake Projects is currently soliciting artists for the following projects (click on the text to learn more and apply):

  • SING OUT STRONG: DeColonized Voices



    • Call for Writers and Composers for SING OUT STRONG: DeColonized Voices

    White Snake Projects is excited to announce the second year of SING OUT STRONG, a community-based project that sets stories to music on activist themes flowing organically from our mainstage operas. Last year was the inaugural launch with SING OUT STRONG: Immigrant Voices, as part of our 2019 new opera, I Am A Dreamer Who No Longer Dreams. In 2020, it’s SING OUT STRONG: DeColonized Voices, as the companion piece to our 2020 mainstage opera, Cosmic Cowboy, with its themes of colonization.

    2020 is the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrims’ landing on Plymouth Rock, marking 400 years of colonization of our First Nation Natives. Cosmic Cowboy and SOS: DeColonized Voices will be a counterpoint to the many celebrations of this event anticipated to take place in Massachusetts. More broadly, it will give us the opportunity to explore the human instinct to dominate and/or subjugate people unlike oneself by looking at colonial history. It also looks into the future, as today’s scientists research the possibility of one day colonizing Mars. Colonization has made the political world map look as it does today, drawing up borders with no regard for local sensibilities and realities. It has created a legacy of conflict, precipitating the mass migration of people from Central and South America, the Middle East, South East Asia, and Africa.

    We are collecting stories from writers about their experiences of the effects of colonization and will commission composers who have experienced, witnessed, and/or who identify strongly against the negative effects of colonization, to set these stories to music. These songs will be presented in free public concerts in May 2020, as well as on WSP’s mainstage as the prologue to Cosmic Cowboy.  

    To apply, please fill out the online form here.

    • Writers, please submit the writing (songs, poems, text or stories told predominantly in English) that you wish us to consider as the lyrics to a song on themes of colonization. Do not worry whether your writing is “singable.” White Snake Projects will assist the selected writers to rework the lyrics, if necessary. Short stories should be no more than one page. Composers can be their own lyricists and should submit their lyrics accordingly.
    • Composers, please submit two (2) links to recorded samples of your work on hosted audio or video on sites like YouTube, Vimeo and SoundCloud. Studio-quality recordings are not required.
    • Any questions, email us at info@whitesnakeprojects.org with SING OUT STRONG: DeColonized Voices, as the subject. 
    • The applicants selected to be part of the songwriting teams will be paid an honorarium.
  • Deadline: February 3, 2020. Selected writers and composers will be notified by the end of February, 2020.
    • Final songs are due April 15, 2020.

    NB:  SELECTION AS AN SOS COMPOSER OR WRITER DOES NOT GUARANTEE THAT YOUR WORK WILL BE PERFORMED OR PRESENTED BY WHITE SNAKE PROJECTS. 

    You may write whatever comes to mind, or respond to one or more of the following prompts:

    • Have you felt like a “second class” citizen in your own homeland?
    • Does a culture other than your own seem superior to your own ethnic heritage? In what way? How did you develop this mindset?
    • Are you new to living in this country? What challenges do you face living somewhere new?
    • Do you consider yourself “American”? What does being “American” mean to you?
    • What does “freedom” mean to you?
    • Has colonization changed part of your heritage, e.g., food (chop suey which is not part of Chinese cuisine), the modern belly dance costume (a Hollywood invention), etc.?
    • How do you feel about cultural appropriation (when someone outside of your culture or ethnicity practices an aspect of your culture)? For instance, when a white person wears braids they may be considered trendy, but when you do this, it may be considered unprofessional?

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