The 26th Emergency will take place on Saturday 26 September 2026 in its seventh home, Contact, Manchester — combining daytime durational, installation, intervention and limited capacity work; followed by an evening of short (max 20 min) show-type pieces of work, works-in-progress, or extracts of longer works.
The event’s objectives are to be
• a free to access public micro-festival and open submission platform;
• an opportunity for artists to meet, show, and peer review work;
• a selection event for a number of small Works Ahead commissions to be produced by hÅb.
Artists working in Live Art, contemporary performance, time-based media, and interdisciplinary arts are now invited to submit proposals. Work can be in any relevant artform/medium, though some live presence is desirable.
Spaces available (please see pdf document below)
Contact is a big multi-space building which has recently undergone a major capital expansion and refurbishment.
• Spaces available include a theatre, a black box studio, a multi-purpose events space, large + smaller rehearsal rooms, a meeting room, a café-bar, various landings + alcoves.
• For daytime work: Bar, First Floor Foyer, Meetings Room, Space 1 Lobby, Space 3, Space 4, and possibly Space 0.
• For evening work: Space 1, Space 2, Space 0. All evening show-type works have a maximum duration of 20 mins per piece.
The Spaces Information in the pdf below outlines the main rooms, but there may be other small areas – which we might put work in.
If you are looking for a type of space not listed, please select “Other – public” or “Other – private” and describe the kind of space you want and we’ll see if anything fits!
Please note
Emergency 26 will offer an honorarium of £200 per piece selected, to cover fees/expenses.
For artists coming from beyond Greater Manchester we may be able to offer an additional discretionary contribution to travel.
Selection process + criteria
• Final selection will be by a panel from hÅb + Contact on the basis of suitability to artistic parameters and technical + logistical feasibility.
• Deadline for proposals: Friday 7 August 2026, 5pm
• Selected artists will be notified by Monday 31 August 2026.
• There will be a technical meeting either in person at Contact or remotely by video call on Saturday 12 September 2026.
• Emergency 26 takes place on Saturday 26 September 2026 at Contact, from Noon to 10pm (exact event times tbc).
How to apply
• We would also be grateful if you would complete an online monitoring form at https://forms.gle/y3HWz5FuLha5htp28