Artist brief Convergence etruria canals festival 2018

ARTIST BRIEF Etruria Canals Festival 2018 Convergence, a celebration of ingenious mechanical devices

What?

Etruria Canals Festival, 2nd and 3rd June 2018, is a two-day festival based on the sites surrounding the Etruria Industrial Museum and on the Trent and Mersey and Caldon Canals in Stoke-On-Trent. The core elements of the festival are an historic boat gathering, stalls, games, live music and dance run by a range of organisations and charities. This year’s festival will celebrate the combination of arts and engineering, drawing on both Western and Eastern (particularly Islamic) examples.

As part of this we are seeking to select 3 new commissions that respond to the festival in the following ways: • Explore the intersection between artistic and engineering exploration.

This may be in form e.g. kinetic artworks/puppetry, conceptual (for example the drive in engineering to find solutions to the seemingly impossible) or historical/narrative based.

• Relates to ideas around canals/the canal network/ steam technology in a broad way (i.e. exploring connective routes and pathways, the exchange of goods and ideas, how water functions, modern forms of connectivity etc) • Responds to the site/sites in some way (sites for potential installations/performances include Jesse Shirley Bone and Flint Steampowered mill, the towpaths adjacent to the canal, bridges over the canal, the main field, potentially narrowboats who have given permission to be part of an art piece(s)) • One of the three commissions selected will need to draw on Eastern (Islamic) heritage/ ideas /technology/ aesthetic.

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The artworks will need to work within the festival opening times which are 105pm daily (daylight hours) We would welcome proposals from a range of art forms: performance, visual and kinetic art, sound installation, word and narrative, site responsive dance.

There are 3 commissions at varying levels - the commission fees are all inclusive of time/materials/travel and subsistence etc and are open to individual arts, collaborations and organizations working in any artform.

One Commission at £3,000 inc VAT - this will be from an artist/organisation with experience of responding to site-specific briefs based and working anywhere in the UK. One Commission with an Eastern (Islamic) focus at £3,000 inc VAT - this will be from an artist/organisation with experience of responding to site-specific briefs based and working anywhere in the UK. One commission at £750 inc VAT aimed at emerging artists/organizations.

Details and Logistics: There are a number of practical considerations to take into account when making your application. Due to the nature of this public outdoor site, works need to be robust enough to withstand the foreseeable weather conditions for the time of year, plus any works requiring power need to self-powered.

As a public event, works will be viewed by a range of ages, and one of the main groups attending the festival will be families with children.

Works/performances will need to installed and deinstalled each day, so a relatively quick and safe install will be necessary.

There will be some technical support for installation etc. but each artist needs to be responsible for overseeing and supporting this process.

Artists need to have public liability insurance up to £5 million and be responsible for their own tax returns. Each artist will be required to complete a risk assessment in relation to the works/performance commissioned.

When: The event will run over the weekend of Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd June 2018, open to the public 10am-5pm (daylight hours) Commissioned artists/organisations will need to be available for a project development meeting in Stoke scheduled with successful artists.

All artists are required to be on site during the weekend of the event, plus the development meeting, so please take this into account when making your application.

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Successful artists will be notified by 11/4/18 Background The festival is run by a volunteer committee Etruria Canals Festival Group made up of representatives from Etruria Industrial Museum and Jesse Shirley’s Bone and Flint Mill, Etruria Boat Group, Etruria Artists and local residents working in partnership with B arts, Stoke-On-Trent City Council and Canals and River Trust. The festival website is www.etruriacanalsfestival.org.uk Who should apply?

We hope the commissions will appeal to creative practitioners/ organisations at varying stages of their career.

We wish to programme a range of high quality, exciting commissions from a wide range of creative practice including: Performance, participatory works, music, dance, visual art, literature, film, digital media, crafts, or any combination of these or other artforms.

How to apply: To apply please create a downloadable PDF, titled with your name. The PDF should contain: ● a CV and 250 word statement about you and your practice/artistic background including which commission opportunity you are responding to and if you ● a max 500 word proposal with up to 5 images/audio/video file links of your work to date ● 3 images/sketches/mock-ups or another 500 words maximum of written description of your proposed work for the opportunity ● a link to your website, where relevant ● an indicative budget that matches the commission opportunity Send the PDF via an email, titled ‘Etruria Canals Festival Response from XXXX’ to etruriacanalsfestival@gmail.com Application closes: 5/4/2018 at 12 noon If you need further information please email us at etruriacanalsfestival@gmail.com well before the deadline on and we will get back to you.

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