Creative Commissions 2023: Call for Practitioners
Commission Themes: Health & Wellbeing / Environmental Sustainability / People + Place-shaping
Artform: open
2 x Commission budgets available: £20,000 (including VAT)
Location: Exeter
Timeline: January – March 2024
Deadline for Expressions of Interest: 12noon on Monday 27 November 2023
Background
Creative Arc is a collaboration between the University of Exeter (UoE) and Exeter City Council (ECC) to deliver a programme of cultural activity across the city. Over the next two years, the programme will commission six projects that speak to the themes of Health & Wellbeing, Environmental Sustainability, and People & Place-shaping.
Creative Arc is jointly funded by the University and through a percentage of ECC’s allocation of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (a central strand of the Government’s Levelling Up agenda). This funding is focussed on the role of culture and creativity in developing and shaping place.
From the University’s perspective, this involves harnessing the world-leading research expertise of its academics from across all disciplines to collaborate with communities and creative practitioners to develop projects.
For ECC, this means activating the Shared Prosperity Fund allocation with the aim of ‘building pride of place and increasing life chances’ across the city, by focussing on delivering tangible outcomes for community and place; supporting local business; and the engagement of people and the development of skills.
At the heart of Creative Arc is the aim to explore creative solutions to the challenges facing the city now and in the future. Our ambition for each Commission is to support the production of tangible, meaningful creative projects in the city.
The Commissions
Creative Arc is now inviting Expression of Interest applications for the first two of its Creative Commissions.
This is an open call in terms of artform and project outputs. While we are not pre-determining what the content of these commissioned projects will be, what shape they will take or their outputs, proposals must:
Involve an Exeter-based community (of interest, geography or need). By ‘Exeter-based’, we mean within the Exeter District boundary. This is due to the nature of the funding through the Shared Prosperity Fund. The Exeter boundary is defined by the 13 wards that make up the District Authority. Please see map for details. If you have any questions on this, please ask the Creative Arc Team.
Be led by an Exeter/Devon-based Creative Practitioner (an individual or a group/organisation) from any artform with a track record for community-engaged practice. To be eligible for this commission, you must be able to identify the community with which you intend to work, or already be working with a specific community. While we are open to applications from across Devon, we will prioritise applications from Exeter-based Practitioners/Organisations.
Be relevant to our programme themes of Health & Wellbeing, Environmental Sustainability, and People & Place-shaping.
Commission Process
A fundamental aspect of Creative Arc’s remit is to engage researchers from different disciplines from across the University of Exeter in the commissioned projects: to provide opportunities for knowledge exchange between academia, the creative sector and communities.
To support this, the Creative Arc team will facilitate workshops between the commissioned Creative Practitioners/Organisations, relevant community stakeholders, and researchers (from disciplines relevant to the project theme). The workshops will be facilitated using Design Thinking methodology – a human-centred approach to creative problem-solving that can be used to address a variety of personal, social and business challenges in new ways. The methodology focuses on learning directly from people, working collaboratively to explore a wide range of creative possibilities, and then focussing in on what’s desirable (what people actually want), feasible (what’s technically possible) and viable (what has the best chance of really working in the world). You can read more about the Creative Arc ethos and Design Thinking here.
This process will support the cross-pollination of ideas, experiences and approaches to result in a truly co-created, collaborative project that will then go onto to the production stage.
Once commissioned, the artist/group/initiative will engage in a Design Thinking-led workshop process in partnership with researchers from the University of Exeter and other stakeholders relevant to the theme area. Design Thinking is a human-centred approach to creative problem-solving and can be used to address a variety of personal, social and business challenges in new ways. The process focuses on learning directly from people, working collaboratively to explore a wide range of creative possibilities, and then focussing in on what’s desirable (what people actually want), feasible (what’s technically possible) and viable (what has the best chance of really working in the world). This process will support the cross-pollination of ideas, experiences and approaches to result in a truly co-created, collaborative project that will then go onto to the production stage.
Timeline
2 November 2023: Expression of Interest (EOI) application process opens.
9 and 20 November 2023 at 4pm: Online Information Sessions – to be considered eligible for these commissions, you, or a representative from your organisation, must attend one of these sessions. Please email b.dillon@exeter.ac.uk to indicate which session you wish to attend, and to receive joining instructions.
27 November 2023: EOI Application deadline at 12noon
w/c 4 December 2023: Shortlisting and Interviews (online) with commissioning panel
w/c 11 December 2023: Successful commission confirmed
w/c 8 January 2024: Commission commences
January-March 2024: Collaborations, engagement, and creation of work
By end March 2024: Public presentation of work (location and format according to needs of the project); dissemination via social media, events; documentation and archiving of work; legacy planning.
Application Criteria
We are looking for creative proposals that showcase:
Exciting creative ideas which respond meaningfully to the brief and are possible to be realised within the timeframe and budget. Your application can present new creative concepts for a work or the further progression and development of existing projects/initiatives – we are as interested in adding value and depth to existing projects as commissioning completely new projects.
Collaboration and partnership - if you are applying as a single Creative Practitioner you should show how you plan to collaborate with communities in the making of the piece.
Ideas for dynamic creative and community engagement that is socially and environmentally impactful.
Ideas that capture the attention of academics across the institution as well as diverse public through the idea of developing ‘pride in place’.
Thoughtful representation with regards equality, diversity and inclusion and/or addressing under-representation which have a ‘local’ or ‘place-based’ significance.
Your application should also demonstrate:
Experience of developing work that is place-based.
A willingness to challenge stereotypes and think critically about your own ideas and narratives.
An interest in recognising and celebrating diversity of perspectives in your creative practice.
Your skills in facilitating engaging with a range of different stakeholders – e.g. examples of creative approaches to focus groups, public consultation and partnership working.
We actively encourage applications from practitioners/groups who have experienced barriers to making new work – LGBTQI+, female, non-binary, disabled, global majority, and those from low socio-economic backgrounds.
HOW TO APPLY
You – or a representative from your group/organisation – must attend one of the Online Information Sessions (to be held at 4pm on 9 and 20 November) to understand the context of the commission before submitting your application. Please email b.dillon@exeter.ac.uk to indicate which session you wish to attend, and to receive joining instructions. Your application will not be considered eligible if you have not attended a session.
Application format
When you are ready you can complete your Expression of Interest in the format that works best for you by answering all of the application criteria, questions and budget.
Video and Film Submissions: Please complete and upload your video (no longer than 4 minutes in total) to a vimeo or unlisted YouTube account and send the link to b.dillon@exeter.ac.uk
Audio: Please record and send your audio file (no longer than 4 minutes) to b.dillon@exeter.ac.uk
Written: Please answer all the questions (no more than 4 sides of A4 please) and email to b.dillon@exeter.ac.uk
Support: If you would like to submit an Expression of Interest another way or need support to talk through the options, please contact Belinda at b.dillon@exeter.ac.uk to arrange a follow up call.
Please note: you must be available to deliver the project within the stated time frame of January-March 2024.
Application questions
Please tell us the following:
Your name and contact details (email and phone).
What is your creative idea? What is the question or challenge that you would like to explore creatively?
Why is (your chosen theme area) interesting to you?
How does your practice/project idea meet the needs of the brief?
Why would you like to work on this commission?
What are your values and ethics when making place-based work?
Who else is involved within your creative project e.g. other practitioners, communities?
Where do you imagine your project taking place?
How would you work with the academics and communities?
How would you intend to use the budget*?
Any access or additional support requirements?
Submission
As well as answering the questions above, please
provide 4-6 images/video or sound links of your practice, which can include artworks as well as documentation of community-engaged sessions.
where relevant, include links to websites and social media platforms that share your work.
include a letter of support from a member of the community that you are intending to collaborate with on this commission.
Budget
*As part of your application we want to know how you intend to spend the budget. For clarity, your budget of £20,000 inclusive of VAT must include the following:
All practitioner & participant fees to deliver the project.
Production costs for the project.
Any travel, accommodation and subsistence required.
Practitioner/group representative attendance at planning, reflection, evaluation and dissemination meetings.
In addition to your budget, the Creative Arc Programme Team will support with:
Marketing and publicity
Hospitality at any sharing events - in agreement with the Creative Arc team
An element of documentation including photography/film – as the commissioned Practitioner, you will also be expected to document the process as part of your work.
Shortlisted applicant interviews
Shortlisted applicants will be invited to a zoom interview the week commencing 4 December 2023. A fee of £100 p/p will be provided to cover the practitioner(s) time (max of 2 people per interview). All applicants will be informed of the outcome the week commencing 11 December and feedback will be offered where possible to all unsuccessful shortlisted applicants.
This project is part-funded by the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.