Realising the Potential Artist Laboratory

What is the Realising the Potential Artist Laboratory? The Realising the Potential Artist Laboratory is a paid, 6-day residency run by Melbourne Fringe as part of our Radical Access program. Five artists or groups come together to develop new work ideas where access is a creative driver from the outset, not an add-on. Each artist or collective is paid $2,500. The Lab runs across two weeks in May 2026, with check-ins in August and October.

About the Opportunity

The Realising the Potential Artist Laboratory is a paid, structured residency for artists who want to make work with embedded access (where access isn't an afterthought but a creative engine). Five artists or groups will be selected through a national open call to spend 6 days together across two weeks in May 2026, working under the artistic leadership of Caroline Bowditch alongside guest 'access provocateurs' and sector leaders. You'll get dedicated studio time, practical workshops, and genuine space to develop a bold new project with access as a creative driver built in from the start. At the end of the Lab, you'll pitch your developing concept at a sector sharing event. Each artist or collective is paid $2,500 (plus GST if applicable) for their participation. This Lab is part of our Radical Access program, a ten-year commitment to cultural equity for d/Deaf, Disabled and Neurodivergent artists across the independent arts sector. The Lab prioritises applications from d/Deaf, Disabled and Neurodivergent artists, and is open to any art form. Non-Disabled artists with a genuine, demonstrated commitment to inclusive practice are also warmly encouraged to apply.

Key Details

Eligibility

This is a national open call. Four spots are for Victorian artists; one spot is open to an interstate artist or group. Any art form is welcome. The Lab prioritises d/Deaf, Disabled and Neurodivergent artists. Non-Disabled artists with a genuine commitment to inclusive practice are also encouraged to apply.

Location

The Lab will primarily take place at Fringe Common Rooms in Carlton, with one or two days at other city or inner north venues to be confirmed. The Lab is designed as an in-person experience, but if you need digital access, please still apply.

What Happens in the Lab?

The Lab is built around one central idea: access as dramaturgy. Not accessibility as a checklist. Not a caption added at the end. Access as something that shapes the form, the content, and the experience of the work from day one.

Alongside that, the Lab aims to expand skills and ambition, create space for genuine learning, and push artists to think bigger and bolder about what their work could be.
In practice, that means:

• Developing new performance concepts where accessibility is genuinely in the DNA of the work, not retrofitted
• Working under the artistic leadership of facilitator Caroline Bowditch, alongside guest artist 'access provocateurs' and sector leaders with expertise in practices like embedded audio description and integrated interpretation
• Combining practical workshops and artistic provocations with dedicated studio time to explore how the aesthetics of access can shape form, content and audience experience
• Presenting pitches of developed concepts at a sector sharing event at the conclusion of the Lab

Melbourne Fringe will support selected projects through future creative developments, commissions, and presentations. A presentation outcome at the 2027 Melbourne Fringe Festival isn't a requirement, but if that's your ambition, we want to hear from you.

Festival Opportunities (October 2026)

The Lab artists reconvene at the 2026 Melbourne Fringe Festival in October. Local artists will be invited to attend a curated selection of Fringe shows that amplify access. The interstate artist is invited to stay for two nights (Thursday 15 and Friday 16 October) to join the group. During the festival, artists will have structured engagement with industry delegates, peers, and touring presenters, plus a platform to pitch and share the work developed through the Lab with industry.

Program Timeline (2026)

Thursday 19 March 

Expression of Interest Applications close at 11:59pm.

Thursday 2 April 

All applicants notified of outcome.

Monday 4 May–Tuesday 12 May

The Lab: six days of workshops, studio time and artistic provocations paced over two weeks at Fringe Common Rooms, Carlton).

Tuesday 11 August

Project pitch check-in: Lab artists meet with Caroline Bowditch and the Lab facilitators at Fringe Common Rooms for approximately 2 hours to share where the work is at, talk through any barriers, and figure out next steps together. Digital access available for anyone who can't be there in person.

Friday 16 October

Festival pitch day: Lab artists reconvene at the 2026 Melbourne Fringe Festival to pitch their developing work to industry delegates, peers, and touring presenters. The interstate artist is invited to stay for two nights (Thursday 15 and Friday 16 October).

How to Apply

Your application will ask you to share:

A summary of your practice 

Your key influences, the artistic questions currently driving your work, and how you're already thinking about or embedding accessibility in your practice.

How you plan to use the Lab as a site for experimentation, testing and iteration

Including the new project or inquiry you want to develop, the questions about access, form, or audience you're most interested in exploring, your initial ideas for embedding access as a dramaturgical driver in this specific Lab project, and what's previously got in the way of making your work more accessible (knowledge gaps, resources, funding, lived experience collaborators. Whatever it is, be honest).

Examples of previous work that embeds or experiments with access.

Your access requirements 

Everything we need to know to make the Lab genuinely work for you, including your ideal length of day and rest time. No word limit on this one.

Your availability 

Any dates or times within the Lab schedule you already know you can't make.

Each written answer is limited to 200 words (or 2 minutes if submitting by video or audio), except for the access requirements question, which has no limit.

Video or Audio Applications

While we expect most applications will be submitted in writing using the EOI Airtable form, we also accept a video or audio file submission. If you submit a video or audio application you will still need to fill out some of the applicant details in the form linked to above. But you will submit your answers to all assessable questions by uploading a video or audio file. If your video is in another language, such as Auslan, you are welcome to suggest a preferred interpreter for us to engage when assessing your application.

Please note, this option to submit by video or audio is not about creating something with high production values. It is an option provided for access purposes. The following formats will be accepted: MP4, MOV, WMV, AVI, MKV, M4A, MP3, WAV or AAC. You may submit a single file for each of the questions, or one file for the whole EOI. If you submit multiple files please ensure each file is clearly named. The link to submit your file(s) is in the EOI form linked above.

Applications in Other Formats

If the form is not accessible for you, please get in touch to let us know. If there is another way you would prefer to submit an application, we welcome alternative format submissions. You can call our office or email Milly Cooper at [email protected] or call the Fringe office and ask for Milly on (03) 9660 9600.

Please let us know how you would prefer to submit your answers to the questions. We are open to your ideas around process. However, we cannot change the timeframes unfortunately – you’ll still need to get your proposal in by 19 March, 2026.

How Applications are Assessed

A selection panel that includes d/Deaf, Disabled and Neurodivergent artists and industry leaders will assess applications against three criteria:

Artistic merit

The quality, ambition, and distinctiveness of your practice and proposed project.

Innovation

How your project pushes boundaries of form, access, or audience experience.

Commitment to access as dramaturgy 

The depth of your thinking about embedding access as a creative driver, not an add-on.

Questions or Enquiries

If you want to discuss other ways to submit your application or have questions about this info pack, please contact us. Send your email to Milly Cooper at [email protected]

Alternatively, you may phone our office: Melbourne Fringe on (03) 9660 9600 and ask to speak to Milly. You may contact us through the National Relay Service. Alternatively you could download Convo.

If you would like to discuss access provisions at Melbourne Fringe more broadly, or would like to discuss how Melbourne Fringe holds safe cultural spaces for d/Deaf, Disabled and Neurodivergent artists please email our Access Advisor, Carly Findlay: [email protected] or call our office on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday and ask for Carly.

Submission Due Date

Applications have closed.

About Radical Access

Radical Access launched in full in 2022: a ten-year social change project in partnership with Arts Access Victoria. It imagines a radical version of best practice accessibility for the independent arts sector, moving the conversation beyond access services and into cultural equity. It's a provocation for change and a call for accelerated action. Melbourne Fringe commissions bold new work by d/Deaf, Disabled and Neurodivergent artists, provides creative development opportunities, runs workshops, masterclasses and mentorships, and creates employment opportunities for d/Deaf and Disabled arts workers. All with the aim of significantly increasing access and inclusion across the independent sector.