“Our mission is to get more people in Stoke-on-Trent to experience and be inspired by the arts” Appetite Background information Appetite is a three year artistic programme that aims to get more people in Stokeon-Trent to experience and be inspired by the arts. Appetite is part of the Creative People and Places programme and is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England. Creative People and Places aims to increase the number of people experiencing the arts in areas where arts engagement is significantly below the national average in the country. The programme aims to build an appetite for the arts in the city by putting on quality, family-friendly events in public spaces and placing people at the heart of what we do so they can take part and shape arts activity in Stoke-on-Trent. Appetite will engage local residents so they can get involved and influence more art in more places across the city.
Appetite’s focus is to better understand what the people of Stoke-on-Trent really want from the arts and how best to serve it to them. Appetite has several creative strands that will help develop skills and increase this hunger for the arts in the city. To find out more please visit www.appetitestoke.co.uk.
An ambition of Appetite is to deliver some of the best quality and most exciting arts activities that the local, national and international arts industry can offer.
Appetite is led by New Vic Theatre in partnership with B Arts, Brighter Futures, Partners in Creative Learning (PiCL) and Staffordshire University’s Creative Communities Unit.
On behalf of Appetite, B Arts is managing the development of the Artsbank. B Arts is a participatory arts organisation that has been based in North Staffordshire for thirty years. Its mission is to make art with people to improve lives and places (www.b-arts. org.uk)
Appetite Website Development to Date A developer was commissioned in April 2013 to build the initial iteration of www.appetitestoke.co.uk The emphasis was on providing general information and communicating activity and events as part of the Appetite programme. The site currently only has a limited number of interactive elements such as e-mail sign-ups and the ‘My Appetite’ user registration. The successful developer will need to integrate the Artsbank with the existing Appetite CMS.
In late 2013, a social media integration module was commissioned to encourage more user-generated content to the site. The module will pull in curated social media content using relevant hashtags and users’ social media feeds. This will be presented on the Appetite homepage and on an ‘Appetite Sharing’ page. This module is expected to be completed in May 2014.
The following social media pages are well-established: Facebook: Appetitestoke; Twitter: @appetitestoke; Instagram: @appetitestoke.
The Stoke Artsbank Appetite is looking for a digital developer to work with them to develop the concept of The Stoke Artsbank and help design and build the digital infrastructure for this online platform over the next 18 months.
The Stoke Artsbank will be an online platform accessed by the public through the Appetite website. The purpose of the Stoke Artsbank is to provide communities, organisations and individuals with a set of resources, tools and networks that will encourage more people to take action in managing their own cultural events. The Artsbank will support people by increasing their knowledge and abilities in working together to produce more arts activity for more people in more places in Stoke-onTrent.
The Artsbank is a key part of Appetite’s sustainability strategy and 10 year vision. Over the next 18 months we will be developing the Artsbank over a number of stages, where it will be rigorously tested to ensure it suits the needs of our users. The site must be fully completed and have engaged with a significant user-base by December 2015.
We have already defined the following functions as essential: • A user-updateable directory of assets and resources such as venues, equipment, skills and individuals etc. to help people/organisations create their own cultural events. The directory would be initially populated by Appetite but information would then be updated by participants. Individuals would be able to both ‘deposit’ their own skills, ‘draw out’ resources from the directory for events they are creating; and ‘exchange’ resources within the Artsbank in a reciprocal manner. Individual users would be able to draw on individual resources either through reciprocal transactions or through a hire/purchase payment if necessary; • A crowdfunding platform that will enable people/organisations to raise money from individuals interested in supporting/attending that event. We are in discussions with www.crowdfunder.co.uk about providing this and their open API will be the basis of how the crowdfunding function appears in the Artsbank; • A series of ‘how to’ videos for users on topics such as finding a venue, licensing,
health and safety, marketing, ticketing, recruiting volunteers, running an event on the night etc; • A well-designed interface that is functional and practical; • We anticipate that the user will access these resources through a menu and optiondriven interface that will enable users to easily define what it is they are seeking to do, create an event, appeal for help and publicise their needs (e.g. crowdfunding, volunteers etc); • Integration with the ‘My Appetite’ section on the Appetite website, and with both Appetite’s and users’ own social media streams to enable users to disseminate requests and updates to events quickly and easily.
Artsbank - Phase One Scoping (June 2014-August 2014): • Scope out and develop the overall build and design of the Artsbank. This will include concept development with the Appetite team to establish the purpose and the needs of the Artsbank; • Work with Crowdfunder on their API to ensure that pilot crowdfunding projects can proceed in summer 2014.
Development and Protyping (Aug-Oct 2014) • Design the wireframe and ‘beta-version’ of the directory; • Test the beta-version of the Artsbank with the ‘My Appetite’ section of the website.
Testing and User Feedback (Oct 2014-Dec 2014) • Enable users to link the Artsbank activity with their own and Appetite social media streams; • Engage with the Appetite team and people we are currently working with to test the site and to gather feedback to inform the development of the Artsbank.
We anticipate that Phase One will be complete by December 2014. In Phase Two we will run the Artsbank as a live resource on the Appetite website and support a number of events developed through it. We will also use the learning from Phase One to design additional modules that user feedback has determined as useful and necessary.
Freelance Developer Specification We are looking for a digital developer, artist or designer who can clearly demonstrate the following: • Expertise and experience in developing well-designed and easy to use digital userinterfaces that not only look great but serve the purpose of the site as set out by the client; • A strong understanding of managing the development of interactive digital platforms; • Strong communication skills and an ability to work with individuals /groups to ensure that the digital tools you build are functional, reliable and relevant to its users; • Excellent track record of successful project delivery; delivering on-time and within budget; • Experience in managing and sub-contracting staff such as programmers, designers etc.
Fee This is an ongoing engagement with an initial payment of £10,000 (inclusive of VAT) paid to the successful applicant to develop the concept and scope out the design, functionality and navigability of the Artsbank. The overall fee for the Artsbank over the next 18 months is circa £25,000 and we anticipate continuing to work with the developer if progress in Phase One is satisfactory.
How to apply? To apply please provide: • An up-to-date copy of your CV (maximum 2 A4 pages); • A written statement (maximum 1000 words) outlining your relevant experience and skills to support your application with reference to the requirements detailed in the specification; • Detailed outline of your proposed fee structure, including day-rate; • Contact details of two referees; • Examples of previous work relevant to this opportunity (no more than 10 pages, can include links).
Please email your application to info@b-arts.org.uk with ‘Artsbank Tender’ in the title. Or you can post this to:
B Arts 19 The Barracks Barracks Road Newcastle-under-Lyme ST5 1LG
If you have any questions relating to this please contact Trevelyan Wright at Trevelyan.wright@b-arts.org.uk or call 01782 717326.
Applications should be received by email or post no later than 1pm on 16 June 2014. We will be conducting interviews on 19 June at the New Vic Theatre in Newcastleunder-Lyme. Successful applicants invited to interview will be expected to deliver a ten minute presentation on a previous online platform they have designed and why it was a success.
We look forward to receiving your application and thank you again for your interest in Appetite.
For background information about Appetite please visit our website www.appetitestoke.co.uk. If you have any access needs in relation to your application and interview then please let us know in advance.