Development Site - 13 June 2023, RISING

A 'mini' Commissioning Site (Development Site) focussed on seed and creative development was held on 13 June, 2023 produced by RISING festival in Melbourne, alongside APAM. CAIAF also hosted a session 'Working with Australia's Major Festivals', as part of APAM on Friday 16 June. Outcomes of the 2023 Development Site.

Next Commissioning Site - details TBA

The MFI Commissioning Site (C-Site) is a gathering of CAIAF member festivals, that brings together festival curators, artists, their producing companies and other commissioners of work. They meet together in a single space across a day to two to observe, listen and learn about the ideas, concepts and visions of Australian artists, collectives and companies.

The festivals, producers, artists and presenters mingle, with each other and with the artists they advocate for, to invest funds in news works.

The last full C-Site was held over 22-23 September in Brisbane 2022, where 12 projects budgeted at $3.8m, were allocated $1.9m in MFI investment. Investment was made through seed funding, creative development investment, and pre-production streams with five projects supported to creation and presentation of new work. Outcomes of the 2022 Commissioning Site.

The date and location of the next C-Site is under consideration.

If you're an artist or company with an idea that you believe meets the vision of the Major Festivals Initiative, find out more here.

Frequently Asked Questions

I’m an international presenter. Why did I get invited to Commissioning Site?
Commissioning Site will present ambitious, exciting works-in-progress by some of Australia’s leading artists and companies. CAIAF members invite international presenters who share a passion for commissioning original and bold performance. Commissioning Site offers international presenters an opportunity to see, and potentially collaborate, on new exciting Australian work that is unique, multi-faceted and large scale and to connect with Australian festival directors, presenters and producers.

When will the schedule of pitches be released?
The full schedule is released around 4 weeks ahead of the event.

Can I attend only parts of the event?
Yes. Please let the team know which sessions you will attend when you RSVP.

What if I can’t attend but am still interested in the works presented?
If you would like to be put in touch with any of the artists featured in the Commissioning Site please contact the Secretariat.

I am interested in a work but not ready to commit to presenting—how can I stay connected to the process?
Please contact the chaperoning Festival attached to the work and, or the company directly. If you don’t know them, please ask the Secretariat for an introduction.

How do I get a copy of the complete MFI guidelines?
View the Summary Guidelines here. For further details please contact your home state Festival.