- Are you an emerging artist or creative practitioner/team who values community and socially engaged practice?
- Do you thrive creating community art and interacting with a diverse range of participants and audiences?
- Do you want an opportunity to develop your workshop skills in a supportive environment?
About the project
For Cambridge Pride 2024 (Saturday 15 June), Cambridge Pride and the University of Cambridge Museums (UCM) are partnering for the first time to deliver an interactive activity or display on the theme of queerness and inspired by one of the UCM collections.
To deliver this, we are commissioning an emerging creative practitioner to create the activity or display through a series of community art workshops (minimum of two), culminating at the Cambridge Pride event on Jesus Green with a further workshop and display or presentation (depending on the creative discipline). The community art workshops will be led by the commissioned creative practitioner in partnership with recognised community artist and experienced workshop leader, Hilary Cox Condron.
At Cambridge Pride and the UCM, we pledge to champion equity, diversity, inclusion, anti-racism and accessibility. Due to the theme of queerness being explored, the theme of Cambridge Pride and the identities of the target audience, we particularly welcome applications from members of the LGBTQIA+ community.
About the theme
The creative output should be inspired by the UCM collections, but also reflect contemporary life and lived experience in Cambridge today. It should build on Cambridge Pride’s 2022 community art project, entitled ‘What does Pride mean to you?’, and aim to capture the ethos and aims of Cambridge Pride.
We particularly welcome inspiration from the Museum of Classical Archaeology and the Museum of Zoology, which both run regular tours, Bridging Binaries, exploring a selection of fascinating stories about gender and sexual identity through a range of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer-related objects from across their collections. They both also have their own trail available for visitors to follow independently, which are Queer Antiquities and Pride in Nature.
About the creative output
The project should be created with a beginning, middle and end, and should aim to leave an identifiable legacy for the beneficiaries of the project, including all participants – and you. We expect that this legacy might include confidence building, wellbeing, a feeling of ownership and togetherness.
The community workshops in the lead up to the event should:
- be inclusive and accessible, enabling the participants the opportunity to bring their feelings and opinions to life through the chosen creative medium.
The final output at Cambridge Pride should:
- give Cambridge Pride event visitors the opportunity to participate and share the experience in some way.
- be eye-catching with the scale necessary to have visual impact at a one-day event that attracts visitors from all walks of life across a large, busy event.
- be accessible and family friendly.
- be created with sustainability in mind, including plans for responsible use and disposal of materials if applicable.
- be created to be transported, put-up, and packed away at the one-day festival located on Jesus Green.
All media and disciplines will be considered.
About you
We expect that you will:
- provide clear plans for the creative output, including an agreed budget and agree to regular progress meetings with the internal project lead contact(s) during May and June.
- work with the internal project lead(s) to agree appropriate staff/volunteer support for the project and work with volunteers.
- organise transport, set up and break down at the festival.
- be aware that the commission will be representing the UCM and Cambridge Pride.
- ensure that all Health and Safety requirements are adhered to, including providing Risk Assessments and Method Statements for delivery.
- have a clear enhanced DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) check or be willing to undertake one.
- have valid public liability insurance, minimum of £2 million.
- provide evidence of your right to work in the UK.
We are also looking for someone who is willing to work in partnership with Hilary Cox Condron to document and evaluate the process.
Fee
We expect that the project fee will be up to £8,000 inclusive of materials and a written evaluation. The successful applicant will receive a fee of approximately £3,150 for approximately nine days of project delivery time (including three days’ workshop/event delivery, four days’ creative preparation following the initial fee for the development of your idea, and two days for evaluation analysis and write up), up to £4,000 for material and production costs, and up to £750 for travel, administration and meeting attendance (based on £30 per one hour meeting.)
This is the first year that we have trialled this creative partnership between Cambridge Pride and the UCM and we are keen to invite applicants using a range of creative mediums, and learn from the process. Therefore, there is a degree of flexibility in the materials and production budget depending on the creative idea.
The successful applicant will be paid by Cambridge Pride.
Application process
We are inviting you to provide a short expression of interest by 5pm, Sunday 14 April. Based on the received expressions of interest, we will shortlist up to three applications to progress to the next stage.
Expected timeline for application process:
- Expression of interest deadline: 5pm, 14 April
- Shortlisted applicants notified: 16 April
- Follow up meetings: Between 17-21 April
- Final presentations of developed idea: 3 May
- Delivery timeframe: 7 May – 28 June
- Key delivery dates: Weeks commencing 27 May and 3 June (community workshops), 15 June (Cambridge Pride), 28 June (project completion, including evaluation write up.)
Idea development: Each shortlisted application will receive a fee of £600 for this stage where they will be required to attend a meeting to discuss their initial idea with Cambridge Pride and UCM staff in more detail before putting together a small project plan (including a provisional budget) and presenting their final idea.
How to apply
Please read the full Open Call Brief (PDF Document).
To express interest, please complete our online expression of interest form.
You will be asked to provide us with:
- a one-page A4 CV or resume for your creative organisation.
- a 400-word or two- or three-minute video or audio (not exceeding 50MB) proposal outlining how you might respond to the open call including what Cambridge Pride means to you.
- two examples of your arts practice including images (can be links to images from documents).
If you have an informal enquiry about this project, please email Jenny Bull, Acting Inclusion and Engagement Manager: jfb53@cam.ac.uk
