Artist Callout for Lantern Making

Made With Many are looking for an artist to create lanterns with the residents of Corby and Wellingborough for the festive period.

Made With Many is a programme of new arts activities focusing on working with local communities, artists, arts and voluntary organisations, businesses and the public in Corby and Wellingborough to ensure that the arts are at the heart of positive change. To find out more visit www.madewithmany.org

Artist Callout

DOWNLOAD a pdf of this Artist Callout

We are looking for an artist or group of artists to deliver lantern-making workshops in the Corby and Wellingborough areas. Artists will need to provide materials for 500 lanterns including a lighting element that is safe for children to hold.

Your design will need to:

• Will appeal to a family audience, with a wide range of ages
• Be made quickly (less than 20 minutes)
• Often outside (in cold weather)
• Have an element of co-creation/customisation incorporated.

Please note: The lanterns do not need to be directly Christmas themed

As part of your application we would invite artists to consider ways that the lanterns could be used to bring local people together at events e.g. creating a frame that houses multiple lanterns as a temporary structure.

We expect artists to work with communities in line with our approach to co-creation and you can find out much more about this at https://madewithmany.org/our-approach

Timescale

Artists will need to deliver 6 workshops in late November and early December 2023.  This will include 3 events in Corby and 3 events in Wellingborough. 3 of the 6 events are confirmed and you must be able to attend:

• Saturday 25th November (times TBC, afternoon/evening) at Wellingborough Lights Switch on. 
• Friday 8th December 3pm – 8pm at Corby Lights Switch on.
• Saturday 9th December 10am – 4pm in Wellingborough

All subsequent dates will be confirmed with the successful applicants at the contracting stage (early November).

Fees/Contractual information

There is a budget of £3,000 inclusive of fees, materials, expenses and VAT (if applicable).

Some equipment can be provided by Made With Many if needed e.g. table, gazebo, chairs etc. This should be clearly outlined in your proposal.

A contract will be issued by Groundwork Northamptonshire, the accountable body for Made with Many. The commission will be made to an organisation or as a freelance contract. The organisation/practitioner will be responsible for all tax liabilities and National Insurance or similar contributions. Ownership of the final work will rest with Made With Many and the works may be gifted to the groups that created them and/or displayed elsewhere in the towns.

How to Apply

To apply: please send your application to info@madewithmany.org

Application deadline: 9am on Tuesday 24th October 2023

Your application must include the following information:

• An outline of your relevant experience in delivering arts activity, preferably in community settings.
• An explanation of your project idea and why you think it will be successful.
• A breakdown of costs involved

You can present your application in the format that feels most appropriate. This might include:

• An artist CV, project proposal and budget (no than 4 sides of A4 total)
• A video to camera (of no more than 3 minutes in length)

If you would like to discuss an alternative format or would like to have an informal conversation about your application please contact Tom Briggs (tom@madewithmany.org or call 07923221759)

Applications will be assessed by a panel of volunteers in both areas and Made With Many in late October. You will be contacted about the outcome of your application no later than 31st October.

Advice on tailoring an application to community panels

Every community panel is different and it’s not always possible for us to pre-empt what will be successful, but these are some common themes that we think lead to the best applications.

• Be concise.
• Use clear language when explaining elements of the project – the most common feedback we get from panels is that they couldn’t imagine what the project would look like.
• Write about what participants will learn, make and feel.
• Use the format that allows you to best communicate your ideas, this might mean using images, videos or illustrations but feel free to get creative.
• Consider why your work will be successful in engaging your target audience.
• Emphasise local knowledge or research if it feels appropriate.

Published 29th September 2023