Our News
THE LATEST FROM US
|
|
|
Centre Of Excellence in Education micro-commission open!
In addition to the recently advertised commissions with Salisbury Road and Whitleigh Community Primary School, lead school High View now have a micro-commission open for application as part of the CECE programme.
Within CECE High View is continuing to test and explore their ways of working whilst also sharing their knowledge and expertise of the creative curriculum and associated practice with their two partner schools.
This is a new and exciting micro-commission for High View who, as part of the CECE programme, have an opportunity to explore new ways of working with artists, developing creative responses to curriculum themes and forming new relationships.
High View would like to see proposals from artists which respond to the themes of environment, patterns in nature, coasts, water, plants or islands. Ideally the selected artist will work in a medium that is new to the school; the school is open to ideas and suggestions for ways of working that could fit well with the theme. Work should be appropriate for the age of the pupils. For further detail and how to apply follow this link.
Social Learning: Setting Up A Social Enterprise with Gareth Hart
The latest in our series of online learning packages is now live and available to take part in.
The film series put together by Take A Part and Iridescent Ideas CIC explores the essential features of running community projects and social enterprises. Looking at setting up your project; funding and finance; governance’ proving the difference you make and exploring some of the concepts behind social enterprise the package is super useful! The films are sponsored by the Rank Foundation.
In addition the the package we are hosting an online Q&A session, a place to ask questions, share learning, and meet some of the learning cohort. The Q&A will take place on May 19th at 10am, you can find out more about the course here.
If you would like to join us for the Q&A session, please email Beth at hello@effordtakeapart.org.uk
|
|
Support for the sector
OPPORTUNITIES, SUPPORT AND NEWS THIS WEEK
|
|
|
Artist Commission: CECE/Whitleigh Primary School
Whitleigh Community Primary School, CECE and Take A Part have joined together to commission an artist or collective of artists to deliver a Creative Education project that engages up to 60 pupils in a project connected to the title 'Do the crime, pay the time' and inspiration from Bodmin Jail. Whitleigh Primary would like to see proposals from artists which respond to ideas of crime, rules, punishment, repercussions, imprisonment, good and bad or any other ideas that come to mind connected to the wider theme title Do the crime, pay the time. This is a new and exciting commission for Whitleigh Community Primary School who, as part of the CECE programme, have an opportunity for an artist to work with up to 60 pupils across a 10 day project (the 10 days are to include preparation and planning and any follow up work) leading to the outcome of an exhibition within school of the work created. How the 10 days of time are used/delivered will be planned together with the school, project producer and artist to ensure that time is used fairly and within the constraints of the budget, we would anticipate a minimum of 3 days delivery in school. You can read all about the opportunity in full here.
Slow Social: Pier Projects
Pier Projects are hosting an event as part of their programme Slow Social: informal get-togethers developed through an unhurried process to bring people together to discuss, collaborate and advocate for artistic projects in Felixstowe. This event will focus on how art can transform the high-street. Artist and curator Chris Alton has been invited to discuss his work and his experience of developing and delivering projects within high-street or retail spaces. You can read more and book a space here.
Public Artwork Commission: Artizan Collective
Artizan Collective are seeking expressions of interest for a commissioned piece of public artwork to be installed on a hotel development close to the harbourside in Torquay. The commission will be a displayed in a prominent location, welcoming visitors arriving to stay on the English Riviera whilst also holding an affectionate place in the hearts of residents and local audiences. The brief seeks responses considerate of the heritage of the area, the iconic image of the English Riviera, and the cultural reference points for which Torbay is recognised. Expressions of interest are welcome from applicants with relevant experience in delivering this scale of project, but in particular those who can demonstrate a connection to, understanding and appreciation of Torbay’s culture, heritage and communities. Click here for more details.
Finding the Words, Starting a funding application: POP/POP Ideas
POP presents this workshop as part of POP ideas' themed "Improving Your Chances of Getting Funding" events, designed to equip groups and organisations with skills and knowledge in all areas of income generation and social impact. The session will cover; top tips on getting words onto paper, thinking through the outcomes that result from your activities, creation of budget headings and allocating costs. You will leave the session with the ability to describe clearly the "what, when and where", and have more ideas on the "who" and "why" of your project idea. Increased confidence to answer the questions being asked by a funder, increased knowledge of where to search for evidence to support your idea, project or activity. You'll have a greater understanding of the distinction between an output and an outcome and the ability to identify at least 6 relevant budget headings. There will also be an opportunity during the workshop to find out more about the High Street Sparks funding scheme, which will support community projects to breathe life back into Plymouth's city centre. Follow this link to book.
Local Community Officer: Churches Conservation Trust
The Churches Conservation Trust are looking for someone to join their team developing community fundraising and stewardship, ensuring 22 historic churches across Herefordshire, Worcestershire & Warwickshire thrive as beautifully maintained visitor attractions and venues for events. Your experience supporting people to care for heritage will deliver new funds for conservation projects, new events and activity days and will inspire growing public interest in these special places. As part of the sixteen-strong team of Local Community Officers the selected applicant will use their creativity and passion to win support across multiple sites. Find out more here.
Bathing Beauties, Vintage Swimwear: RAMM
Based on her book of the same name, Jill Salen presents this online session on the history of English swimwear focusing on the individual garments of both men and women, and their clothing-historical context. Sea bathing outfits were being designed as early as the 1780s. By the 1880s the general population was becoming more enthusiastic about healthy pursuits, cycling, walking, golf and swimming. To allow these pastimes to be pursued appropriate clothes were required, however, by today’s standards these elaborate garments are rarely appropriate. Jill Salen is a retired lecturer in costume. As a freelance costume maker she has made costumes for many clients, including Shakespeare's Globe, Cosprop, and the Welsh National Opera. She is also the author of a number of successful publications on corsetry, costume history and construction. This event is hosted by RAMM and will take place online, for more info follow this link.
Freelance Project and Partnerships Coordinator: South West Museum Development
This tender is for a freelance Partnerships and Projects Co-ordinator to co-ordinate the delivery for this National Lottery Heritage Funded project alongside the South West Museum Development (SWMD) project team. Rebuilding the Foundations: Gloucestershire’s Museums focuses on securing a future for museums that is engaged, relevant and sustainable. It is a development journey for eight to ten participant museums to critically examine and improve their approaches to audience development and volunteer involvement. The successful applicant for this role should have expertise in developing, planning and delivering successful projects within a museum, heritage or cultural sector environment. Effective interpersonal skills and demonstrable experience of successfully working with volunteers and delivering effective projects with a volunteer workforce. Experience of effective partnership working, proven experience and commitment to the value, development and delivery of project evaluation and experience in delivering grant funded project activities and reporting processes for funders. For further details, including how to apply and greater detail around what the project will involve, click here.
Artist Commission: The Story Museum
The Story Museum is seeking to commission an artist or theatre prop maker to create a sculpture, based on the illustration The Hope Tree by Axel Scheffler, which will form the central focus for a family-friendly temporary exhibition inspired by The Book of Hopes, from July ’21 onwards. They are looking for an individual who can realise the brief in an imaginative and impactful way, has a demonstrable track record of creating large scale public sculptures or theatre props which engage and inspire family audiences, are able to produce something which is of high artistic quality and durable, are passionate about stories and story making in all form and are able to work within the specific budget and timeframe. Follow this link to find out more.
|
|
In Conversation
SIMON LEE DICKER: ARTIST AND CO-FOUNDER OF OSR PROJECTS
|
|
This week Simon Lee Dicker shares with us insight into OSR Projects, their previous work and background and their rather exciting upcoming festival 'Alone With Everyone' part of their Od Arts Festival programme.
OSR Projects connects people through artist-led activity – exploring new ways to see, hear, feel and think.
From our base at the Old School Room (OSR) in West Coker, rural Somerset, we have produced ambitious, critically and socially engaged art projects locally and further afield, bringing artists and communities together since 2011. By placing people at the centre of artistic activity through creative partnerships and community collaboration we celebrate artistic activity as a way to develop rich and multiple understandings of the world around us, and the people we share it with.
Previous projects include: Weather Station (2015-18), a mobile pavilion and cumulative project for the collection of images, objects and ideas inspired by beautiful and broken landscapes of the South West; Ropewalkers (2016), a series of residencies and commissioned works by artists made in response to the architecture, history and materials of the historic Dawes’ Twineworks in West Coker; and Od Arts Festival, taking its name from the Od: a crooked stream that meanders through the villages of East and West Coker where I live and work.
The first iteration of Od Arts Festival‘ The Art of Rivalry’, took place in 2018 and explored artistic, romantic and neighbourly frictions through multi-site curated exhibitions, new commissions, and participatory projects by artist-led groups. Venues, public spaces and the landscape became the sites for making and sharing of contemporary art, performance, music, discussions and workshops, each playfully addressing themes of animosity, conflict and rivalry, but always with the intention to bring people together.
This years festival, devised with co-curator Vickie Fear before the hiatus of the global pandemic, has the guiding theme of ‘Alone with Everybody’. Exploring notions of solitude, loneliness and isolation through playful, experimental and performative artworks that probe different aspects of aloneness, we’re asking how it might be liberating as well as difficult to be alone. Alongside the three day festival taking place in Somerset we are also presenting an on-line programme where you can access workshops, screenings and events from a distance (27 May – 6 June)
The programme brings together newly commissioned and existing work by 25 artists and collectives, from the internationally renowned to those still at school. As well as selecting via open call we worked with creative partners from across the South West including Hardwick Gallery, CAST, The Mothership, Caraboo Projects, CAMP, Contains Art, ‘a space arts’, Obsidian Coast and WITH KIN, to co-select artists.
Achieving critical acclaim for the inaugural Serpentine Galleries’ Augmented Architecture Commission, New York-based artist Jakob Kudsk Steensen takes viewers to a deserted island. His work, Primal Tourism will be shown at Coker Court, a manor house in East Coker that dates back to the fifteenth century. For an opening night event, streamed live through IGTV on Thursday 27 May, Katrina Brown will perform 3 Em[bed]ding Circle, a durational solo performance and score combining body, material, time and space.
Fairland Collective’s socially engaged practice centres around cooking and meals. A Moveable Feast will invite participants to visit the only surviving Victorian rural twineworks with its original machinery, pick up a specially prepared food parcel and become part of a collective but distanced picnic.
As part of the digital programme Od presents two works with a literary connection. Bram Thomas Arnold’s Bibliotherapy for the Anthropocene brings people together for a quiet happening in the guise of a reading group, meditating on ecology. Lydia Ashman and Ania Bas, using the moniker The Walking Reading Grouplead the latest iteration of their walk series On Care. Connecting via phone, participating walkers are encouraged to walk and discuss texts by Olivia Laing, Maya Angelou and others before convening on Zoom for the post-walk ‘pub chat’.
Other participating artists include Sadie Hennessy, Zoe Toolan, Phil Owen, Tania Kovats, Anna Chrystal Stephens, Ben Sanderson, Dylan Fox, Heidi Kilpeläinen, Tim Mills, Laurence Dube-Rushby, Isis Whiteaway, Natasha Cantwell, Verity Coward, Eden Mitsenmacher, Rossella Nisio, Duncan Poulton, Marcy Saude, Adam Turner, Ruth Waters and the Perrott Hill Potters.
We are indebted to our brilliant host venues, our wonderful team of volunteers and the always supportive local committee for helping us shape the festival over the past 2 years. We are also grateful for the generosity and support of our funders and sponsors, Arts Council England, South Somerset District Council, The National Lottery Community fund, Somerset Community Foundation, Old Mill Accountants, John Burton Signs, West Coker and East Coker Parish Councils.
Click here to take a look at the full programme and plan your visit.
OSR Projects is led by founding directors Simon Lee Dicker and Chantelle Henocq, and new directors Bob Gelsthorpe and Rowan Lear, each of whom bring experience of instigating exemplary artist-led projects connecting people and place. Od Arts Festival 2021 is co-curated by Simon Lee Dicker and Vickie Fear.
|
|
|
|
Connecting with communities
|
|
We've been checking out who's connect with communities and audiences right now, and seeing what great work and projects are taking place. This week's highlights include;
Artist Lou Baker and The Art Cohort have collaborated to create 'Social Knitwork' a collaborative project looking at how we make connections between one another as we emerge from the extended isolation of lockdown. You can find the outdoor installations within walking distance of The Art Cohort which also includes a walkable trail with a map and there's further work within the Art Cohort space itself. People are being encouraged to take along their own material to contribute to the pieces and help build the community. Sounds like a really awesome project, which you can read more about here.
Plymouth based orgs START, Plymouth Hope and DCRS are hosting a virtual online meal to celebrate all the people from outside the UK that live in Plymouth (and their allies) Originally intended as an in person event that was halted due to covid, the hosts have been determined to find a way to still bring this community together to have conversations, learn, eat and celebrate together. Sounds like a really great way to at least start connecting some more! You can read all about the event, including how to sign up, here.
|
|
|
|
This week's article in focus is an opinion piece in The Guardian which examines what's really going on behind the scenes for many in the arts sector as they recover from the effects of Covid 19.
The piece reflects on the need for greater help for the sector and the loopholes around support for freelancers and revised rules around insurances that are preventing organisations and events from feeling secure enough to continue activity.
"You can judge a society by the respect accorded to its artists, and there’s something going badly wrong in a country that leaves someone who’s trained half a lifetime to achieve a pitch of miraculous skill unable to use it."
The piece is opinion but (in our opinion) shares a very accurate snapshot of the issues that the creative industries are facing right now and the potential ongoing implications of those issues. You can read the full piece here.
|
|
|
|
|
|
