For Artists

Image of Grace Bentley in WOMAN OF CITRUS, 2019. Photo: Ankita Singh

Putting on a show at Basement? Visit the Artist Base for everything you'll need. Resources, templates, timelines, and more! Add the Artists Base to your bookmarks, download the resources and get that season humming!

Basement programmes three seasons each year (Summer/Pride, Winter/Matariki & Spring), with deadlines for submissions approximately three-six months in advance.

Submit your idea through our submission form, email, video or in person.

Our Winter & Matariki season submissions are now closed. Submissions for Spring will open soon.

The Artist Handbook has all you need to know about what’s involved in presenting a work at Basement.

OUR VALUES

Urgent artistry

We occupy the underground and value the idea of pushing culture forward through brave, urgent, adventurous and untameable artistry. We celebrate ‘genre-bending’ and enjoy the unpredictable revelations that come with eclectic, mixtape-style curatorship.

Wildly connecting

We value communities coming together in vibrant social exchange as being key to our sector’s resilience. We see warmth and generosity as powerful tools for social activism. We want our space to be a heaving hub, an energy nexus, a portal for social exchange.

Abundance & sustenance 

We believe that a well-resourced artist is a vital and impactful agent in society, and we want them to live abundant lives. We celebrate infrastructures that ensure live performance can be a financially viable practice. 

Radical groundedness

We believe an enriched organisational life-force starts with grounding into the locality of who we are and where we are. We believe that the wellbeing of our communities depends on our staff being nurtured. We want to engage radically with the notion of respect; as a concept, as an action, and as a remedy.

Learning & curiosity

We are a place for artists to learn things, and see ourselves as learners too, always in collective pedagogy. We value the ‘invisible curriculums’ and subsidiary skills that exist within the live performance creative process. We appreciate knowledge that emerges from going into the unknown.

Basement receives public funding to offer a unique Hire-For-Nothing arrangement to independent and emerging performing artists who meet specific programming targets and criteria.

If selected for this programme, you won’t pay a fixed per night venue hire for the use of our space. Your only venue costs will be a subsidised flat technical fee ($115-$140) and a ticketing fee ($2.50-$2.65 per ticket sold).

If you don’t meet our Hire-For-Nothing criteria, you can still apply to be included in our programme as a special event or fixed rate season. This includes weekly or multi-week hires of performance work or festivals, and daily or one-off event hires and private functions.

Head to our Venue Hire page to find out more and make an enquiry.