👉Get free email job alerts!

Artist Commission Etruria Canals Festival: Canal Connections, B arts

  •  West Midlands
  •  Under £10K (pro rata)
  •  Part time
  •  Closes April 29, 2025
  •  Rebecca Frankenberg
  •  etruriacanalsfestival@gmail.com
  • #Combined arts

Description

Job Summary

Artist Commission (any artform) to respond to the theme of canals as a gateway to the world; exploring the exchange of ideas, materials, culture and creativity carried in and out of the city along its waterways, as part of Etruria Canals Festival (Stoke-On-Trent on Sat 31st May and Sun 1st June

Job Description

Background

Etruria Canals Festival (Sat 31st May & Sun1st June) is a free festival based on the sites surrounding the Etruria Industrial Museum and on the Trent and Mersey and Caldon Canals in Stoke-On-Trent, open 11am-5pm daily, including an historic boat gathering, stalls, live music, dance, participatory creative workshops.

It is well attended by a diverse audience of all ages both from the immediate neighbourhoods in Stoke-On-Trent and from further afield

Theme of commission

Each year the festival celebrates a different aspect of the canals and how they connect to the story of the city. This year we are celebrating the idea of the city's canals as a gateway to the world; exploring the exchange of ideas, materials, culture and creativity carried in and out of the city along its waterways.

Canal Connections: Global Stoke Stories, draws on the original motivation of the Stoke canals - the ambition to connect the potteries to the rest of the world-as a starting point to explore the connective threads between Stoke and the different destinations reachable via the canal. Across the programme we aim to explore stories of global connection, celebrating both heritage and contemporary examples of cultural cross pollination.

We are seeking one commission at £1800 that:

  • Creatively explores an aspect of canals and global interconnectedness
  • Will work within the festival opening times (11am-5pm daily)
  • Responds to the site/sites in some way; The majority of the event takes place outside, sites include main field adjacent to the canal, a former gasometer site, towpaths adjacent to the canal, the on-site visitor centre and mill, and potentially narrowboats who have given permission to be part of a commission.
  • We would welcome proposals from a range of art forms: performance, illustration, visual and kinetic art, sound installation, music, word and narrative, participatory arts, site responsive dance, digital media, crafts or a combination of these art forms.

Job Requirements

Fee

The fee for the commission is £1800 inc VAT

Based on a day rate of £200-250 (£27-£33 per hour) (and approx 6 days/ 45 hours work, including an online meeting)

The commission fee is inclusive of time/travel and subsistence and is open to individual artists, collaborations and organisations working in any artform.

Details and Logistics:

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

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

There will be support for ensuring the work is accessible.

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.

Job Responsibilities

Timeframe

The event will run over the weekend of Saturday 31st and Sunday 1st June 2025, open to the public 11am-5pm.

Commissioned artists/organisations will need to be available for a project development meeting (this can take place online)

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.

Successful artists will be notified by Thursday 1st May 2025

https://www.facebook.com/events/482965034536209

Useful Links

How to Apply

You can apply via PDF document OR video.

The PDF should contain:
●CV and 250 word statement about you and your practice/artistic background
● a max 1000 word proposal for the commission with up to 5 images/audio/video file links of your work to date and/or sketches/ mock-ups
● a link to your website or equivalent, where relevant
● an indicative budget

Alternatively the video should be:
• Up to 3-minutes long (maximum)
• explain your previous experience (CV) and your practice/artistic background
• explain your proposal for the commission
• explain an indicative budget.

Send the PDF file or video via email, titled ‘Etruria Canals Festival Response from XXXX’ to [email protected]

Application closes: Tuesday 29th April 2025 at 5pm.

More arts jobs!