YORK Theatre Royal is seeking artists to take part in a new European project, BeSpectACTive!.

The project with the unwieldy title is a network of nine theatres and three universities spread across nine European countries, each interested in developing audiences through the active involvement of spectators.

Artists have until Monday, January 12 to bring their ideas to the table. York Theatre Royal is leading the call-out to those ideally based in the North of England who are in the early stages of their career, established and known in their field in Britain, but not yet working at an international level. Artists or companies working in visual or physical theatre, or in dance or movement, are ideal candidates on account of the transnational nature of the project.

BeSpectACTive! will commission five new pieces of work each year: two small-scale dance pieces and three large-scale theatre pieces. The choice of commission will be made by the European theatre partners from a selection assembled by each theatre. Proposals for the 2015 commission must be made by next week's deadline.

Two commissions are available. One will lead to a residency in three European countries, each lasting between ten and 12 days, with rehearsal space and technical and financial support, resulting in a professional performance presented as an international debut at the end of the third residency.

The second commission will result in the creation of video-dance projects developed through residencies in two European theatres. Each choreographer and his or her dancers will spend one week in each of the theatres, managed by the partners. During each residency, the choreographer and the dancers will work together with a local filmmaker, who will shoot and edit their work.

Juliet Forster, the Theatre Royal's associate director, has been working on the project idea. "This is a really exciting opportunity for artists and companies in our region to make work for an international audience and in collaboration with a wide variety of organisations from across the continent," she says. "We’re really looking forward to hearing people’s ideas and hope the project will help to raise the profile of the fantastic work being made in the north of England."

The project is financed by the European Union as part of the Creative Europe 2014-2020 programme. Artists and companies who would like to submit a proposal can do so by visiting the website yorktheatreroyal.co.uk and clicking on Jobs and Opportunities.