Artist Brief
1 Introduction
Are you an artist or fllmmaker interested in storytelling and with a commitment to working with community participants?
We are looking to commission a cohort of up to 3 artists / filmmakers to work in the Borders and South West Scotland over the period of July to October 2016. The team will work with three groups of community participants and adopt a multi- disciplinary approach that explores both the use of cinematic and oral storytelling techniques, and the use of local archive film material. Artists will also devise and deliver a process of documenting the project. The resulting work will be presented in events towards the end of the project as part of the BFI’s Britain on Film and Scottish International Storytelling Festival programmes.
2 Background
Sensing Place was founded by creative producers Andrew Ormston (Drew Wylie Projects) and Shona Thomson (A Kind of Seeing) to pioneer projects that deliver new models of cultural participation opportunities to people in locations with reduced cultural infrastructure and capacity. Our work is guided by our experience of developing and delivering major events that bring together film, archives, local heritage, artists and community participation in places that are perceived as being remote and/or rural.
Sensing Place is a process driven project that aims to establish new approaches to arts and screen based development in rural locations. It is piloting an action research based method that brings local communities into creative and curatorial processes as equal partners. We assemble creative teams to work with the local stories preserved in screen archives and storytelling traditions as a pre-cursor to establishing community driven cultural events and activities.
Sensing Place outputs derive from the co-designed process involving artist, community and curator/researcher. Outputs fall into three categories:
1. Promoted events and activities that arise from the work of the team and
delivered with local event partners
2. Local capacity established to provide partnership opportunities for cultural
organisations and promoters
3. Process logs, learning and tools to support future developments, including:
• Online/social media forum for remote/rural cultural participation models
• Comprehensive documentation of action-based research activity carried out
• Presentations and film material devised as part of the project
We are working with a range of national and local partners to develop a pilot programme for 2016 in three adjacent areas: the Scottish Borders; Dumfries & Galloway; and East Ayrshire. The national partners are Film Hub Scotland, Regional Screen Scotland, National Library of Scotland Moving Image Archive, Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland (TRACS). The project is supported by the National Lottery through Creative Scotland, and is part of BFI Britain on Film: bfi.org.uk/britain-on-film.
3 The role
The Sensing Place project is recruiting a team of artists with a strong interest in working with local communities to tell their stories. The project brings together cinematic and oral storytelling traditions and techniques and we are looking to recruit a team with a combination of relevant skills and expertise.
The role of the artists will be to use storytelling, filmmaking and/or archive curating techniques and materials to devise three creative projects: one in each of the three areas with local participants The project will create a combination of performance, exhibition and screen material that can be introduced into the public programme of local events later in the year. The artist will mentor and support the participants to make the key creative and technical decisions in the production process. The artist will also keep a record of the work employing an appropriate medium (film, diary, visual representation etc.), paying particular attention to the learning that emerges from the project. The artists will contribute to the final project presentation and seminar, as well as the evaluation process for the project.
The artists will:
- Work as part of an interdisciplinary cohort of artists to combine cinematic and oral storytelling.
- Research local storytelling material and traditions and local film archive material with participants. An initial collection of local archive material is being prepared.
- Explore new ways of working with community participants, and devise activity to explore the themes of the project, and a programme of creative activities with participants.
- Ensure that the resulting work is of sufficient quality for presentation in public promoted events.
- Devise and deliver a process of documenting the project and maintain a project log.
- Present the work locally, participate in associated talks and debates and work as part of the team producing a documentary film of the project process.
4.
The most important requirement is a commitment to the collaborative and
The interdisciplinary approach of Sensing Place. We are aiming to recruit a cohort of three artists that, between them, can encompass the following abilities, skills and experience:
• experience of working with community groups to produce artistic / creative work
• experience of working with young people (artists will need to hold or obtain PVG
membership)
• experience of working in rural areas
• a strong track record of relevant artistic / creative work
• skills in facilitating and leading group discussions
• skills in working with stories in at least one art-form or medium
• skills in photography and / or film-making
• the ability to work collaboratively and to create work that is interdisciplinary and
crosses different art-forms
• the ability to work effectively with local partners
5 Delivery
The project will be managed by Andrew Ormston (Drew Wylie Projects) and Shona Thomson (A Kind of Seeing). Community participants are being recruited in liaison with local partner organisations in each of the three pilot areas. There is a budget set aside to support project costs such as equipment or materials. The critical path is:
June 2016 – meet all partner organisations and agree scope, timing and themes for the project.
July 2016 – a project workshop day for partners and participants in Dumfries. Appoint artists and kick off work programme.
August – September 2016 – deliver workshop programme in each of the three areas.
October 2016 – deliver presentations and sessions in events programmes in each of the areas. A final event and discussion in the Scottish International Storytelling Festival. Prepare a project evaluation report.
6 Terms & how to apply
It is estimated that each artist will work for 7.5 days over the period of the project. An inclusive fee of between £1,200 and £1,950 will be payable, depending on the experience of the artist and in-line with SAU recommended rates. All work resulting from project activity will be the property of the Sensing Place project.
Please send your CV and an expression of interest of no more than 2 sides of A4 to: info@sensingplace.eu by 9am on the 11th July. If applicants wish to submit supporting material please use web and video links and / or PDF formats. Please supply two professional references who can comment on your work. Interviews will take place on the 19th and 20th of July and the project kick off meeting will be on the 2nd August.