NZIF 2025: Pitches Open!
Maria Williams and Bianca Casusol in All Aboard!, NZIF 2024. Photography by Nicolette Hurnen.
Do you want to present something as part of the 2025 New Zealand Improv Festival? Good news! Pitches are open! We’re looking for proposals of shows, workshops and talks (or something else entirely!) to be part of the Festival. The full details of what we’re after are below.
The Festival will take place from 26 September to 4 October, in beautiful Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington), centred at the BATS Theatre with a few events offsite. We’re also excited to announce that our awesome Youth Programme will return from 22–26 September.
How to Pitch
You can hit the button below to fill out our pitching form! We also accept audio and video pitches. See here for more details on how to do this.
Below are all the details about what we’re looking for, what we need from you, and what we can offer you. The same information is included in audio form.
Pitches close 5pm NZ time on Sunday 11 May 2025.
What we’re looking for
We’re looking for proposals of Workshops, Shows or Conference Sessions that speak to one or more aspects of this year’s theme: Here, Together, Now.
Here: How does your idea tell stories of or from Aotearoa? How does it reflect the beautiful diversity of people and cultures of these islands? What opportunities does it give to Aotearoa performers of all stripes, especially from outside of major improv hubs? What does it bring to our audience in Pōneke?
Together: How does your idea create opportunities for people to meet and play, who might otherwise be geographically separated? What can they make as a unit that neither of them could have come up with on their own, and how does the presence of an audience factor into that? How will they grow and learn from each other?
Now: How does your idea celebrate, incorporate or challenge spontaneity and improvisation? Does it have something innovative in it that pushes improvisation forwards? Does it speak to or reflect the current improvisation scene or the present moment?
(It’s okay if your idea doesn’t speak to all three.)
Also don’t be shy about sending us something weird or half-baked. 2025 is Jim and Matt’s last year as Festival directors, and they want to swing for the fences!
We expect that all shows, workshops and conference sessions will conform with our Code of Conduct.
Workshops
These are generally 3-hour sessions that cover a practical skill, idea or approach that would be of interest to improvisers. This could be a core idea or technique of improv, an exploration of a genre or theme, or skills from adjacent artforms or skills (writing, acting, comedy, music, dance, storytelling, clowning, lighting etc).
Workshops tend to be for 12–20 people: 16 is the average, less than 12 means it’s hard for us to make money, more than 20 we worry about the quality of the experience.
These are usually practical, involving exercises, games and scenes. It’s fine if they’re theory-driven and include discussion or reflection, but we want to avoid lectures/talks (the space for these is in conference sessions).
The majority of pitches are often aimed at experienced improvisers, but we love pitches for workshops aimed at newer improvisers — they like coming to the festival too!
We have space for a handful of shows that are connected to workshops, where the skills of the show are taught in the workshop, and then some or all of the workshop attendees perform in the show later in the festival. If you’re pitching one of these, please indicate what skills/ideas the workshop teaches independently of the show format, as we want to avoid the workshop being an extended audition for the show.
We also have space for a few 6-hour masterclasses or deep dives. Please indicate in your pitch if this is something you’re interested in.
Shows
These are performances that feature improvisation or spontaneity. These can have an existing cast that travels with the show, be cast in advance from people attending the Festival, or can be cast from a workshop at the Festival (see above).
Our default shows are one-offs of up to 60 minutes in length. If you have an idea for a performance structure which breaks that format (A multi-night season? A day-long soap-a-thon?) we’re open to hearing it.
For the past two years the first Friday and Saturday of the Festival have been given over to a Local Showcase, celebrating ensembles from Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington. This year we plan to shake things up a bit and probably won’t use that same format again, but we still love local performers and want to receive pitches from you.
Conference Sessions
We have a few spots available for 45–minute talks, panel sessions, roundtables or forums on a topic related to improv or of interest to improvisers. Where we have multiple people interested in similar topics, we may combine these into more of a fireside chat, to bring a variety of perspectives.
Something Else
We love hearing new ideas for the rest of the Festival as well. Maybe you have a pitch for a social event, a different way to run a jam session, or an activity that runs through the whole Festival? You should tell us about it!
What We’ll Need From You
In Your Pitch
For now, we want to hear about two things:
Tell us about yourself: Your improv experience, where you’re coming from (geographically as well as contextually), and why you want to come to NZIF.
Tell us about your idea. Describe the experience for participants and audience members, tell us why you’re passionate about this particular thing, and how it fits the festival themes.
We can take this information in a range of formats. Our preferred method is via the pitching form, as this makes sure we have all the information we need, but if you’d prefer to talk through your idea, we also accept audio or video files — we’re not looking for video footage of your show, just try to make sure you’re covering the questions in the pitching form. Upload them to a cloud storage service like Google Drive or Dropbox, and email a link to directors@improvfest.nz with the subject line “2025 workshop pitch”, “2025 show pitch”, and so on.
We’re happy to hear multiple ideas from you, but please stick to the things you’re most excited about, rather than your whole arsenal of workshops/shows. If we’d like to have you involved but can’t fit the things you’ve pitched, we may come back to you for other ideas.
Later
We’ll confirm your involvement in the festival by 6 June at the latest, sign an agreement, and give you a full rundown of exactly what is required and when.
As a rough guide, by mid-June we’ll need a blurb and an image to promote your workshop, show or conference session, along with a few other admin details. We reserve the right to edit your blurb or to request or supply alternative images to help marketability.
Within a month or two of that, we will also need your tech requirements (for shows and workshops) and licensing requirements (for shows), among a few other things.
What We’re Offering
Okay, here’s the thing. This year, our funding and pitching timelines haven’t aligned neatly, so we’re not able to confirm artist fees until after pitches have closed.
If funding comes through as hoped, we’ll offer presenters a fee, plus travel/accommodation subsidies for people coming from out of town. Partial or no funding may mean reduced or no subsidies. These amounts will be confirmed when we send out offers from late May to early June.
We’re sharing this to be upfront about the realities of running a not-for-profit arts festival in 2025. We’re committed to fair compensation and hope to match or exceed past years’ offers, and will not expect anyone to teach or perform for free. If this uncertainty affects your ability to pitch, or you have any questions, please reach out.
Things we can guarantee! Anyone who presents at the Festival will receive a cool Festival lanyard and pass, which allows access to social events, discounted tickets, standby access to shows that aren’t sold out, and discounts at local cafés and bars.
For those travelling from out of town, we’ll also likely be able to offer a discount on accommodation through an accommodation partner. If you choose dorm-style accommodation, we’ll work with them to make sure you’re only in a room with other NZIF people. Please note this year we will not be directly booking accommodation for presenters.
We’ll also make sure you get to and from the airport safely, either being picked up by one of our volunteers or, if we can’t find you a ride, by reimbursing your transport costs.
Workshops
Each workshop will receive an artist fee for its tutor(s). In previous years this has been $200 for a three-hour workshop, and we aim to at least meet that again this year (or equivalent for longer/shorter workshops). The registration fees for the workshop will be retained by the Festival.
If funding permits, we aim to offer a travel/accommodation subsidy to presenters attending from out of town. The exact amount will be confirmed when we offer you a spot.
We will work with you to ensure you have what you need in the space and to arrange any supplies required (whiteboards, paper and pens, etc. Fabergé eggs are probably a stretch).
Shows
Each show will receive an Artist Fee for performing. In previous years this has been $200–250 for a 50-minute show, and we aim to at least meet that this year (or equivalent for longer or shorter shows).
If funding permits, we aim to offer a travel/accommodation subsidy to presenters attending from out of town. The exact amount will be confirmed when we offer you a spot.
The box office for the show will be retained by the Festival. In return, we take care of producing and marketing your show, as well as providing a technical operator, musician, and stage manager if required (though you are also welcome to bring your own people if, for example, you’re used to working with a particular musician).
We’ll work with you to arrange tech, set, props, music licensing and rehearsal time as required. As standard you’ll be offered an hour of tech time — if your show has a lot of technical requirements and will need extra tech time, please make sure to let us know in your pitch.
Conference Sessions
In the past, our conference sessions have been unpaid, but we hope to add a small koha payment this year, funding permitting.
But what about…?
Want to know something not answered here? Need help? We’re here for you!
Please email us at directors@improvfest.nz and we’ll be happy to chat or find time to set up a call.