Our Big Move Residencies

Leicester Print Workshop is excited to announce its new project, Our Big Move Residencies, a call for proposals to create new work to mark Our Big Move from the Highfields area of Leicester into the city’s Cultural Quarter. LPW invites artists to propose an idea that relates to print but in the widest of senses. The idea can be as traditional, extreme, alternative, innovative or as conceptual as desired. The call is for artist to explore notions of print, incorporating and/or subverting the wide range of print techniques and presentations. Artists are free to work in any medium, working either individually or collaboratively with the studio users, LPW staff, the architects, and the contractors.

Our aims for the project are to:  promote and celebrate our move to new premises and tell the story of LPW and printmaking  promote LPW as a provider of artist development opportunities  animate the building/relocation process for the public

Three commissions will be awarded. Each selected artist will be given a fee of £500, plus twelve months of studio time during open access hours1 (valued at £480), which can be used in the Highfields studio, the new City Centre studio or both studio spaces. A total materials budget of £900 will be distributed amongst the selected artists dependent on requirements of each of the successful proposals. A total CPD (continuing professional development) budget of £550 will be distributed amongst the selected artists, allowing for an average of 6 hours with an LPW tutor including any materials for that purpose.

The selected commissions will be ideas-led. The timescale for the creation and the final delivery will be individually determined, with all commissions complete by September 2016. If at the time of the new Studio opening in late 2015 some or all of the commissioned work is not complete an exhibition of work in progress will be displayed as part of the opening event. It is envisioned however that some of the proposals will be integral to the new workshop itself so will be installed before the opening.

The closing date for this opportunity is 31 March 2015. Applications should be marked ‘Our Big Move Residencies’ and sent to [email protected].

1 Studio use is available to competent and confident printmakers. Artists with no printmaking experience who wish to use printmaking techniques within their project and who thus want to use the studio must arrange for tuition or attend courses at a cost to them

1 | P a g e How to apply To apply for one of our 3 commissions please send us your proposal using the application form template, making reference to the project aims, the budget and timescale, and the other requirements outlined above, and up to 6 examples of recent work (either in jpeg/png format or via web-link). Your application should be sent to [email protected] with ‘Our Big Move Residencies’ as the subject heading by 31st March. (Please don’t send us your CV)

There will be opportunities to visit the building on St Georges Street on Thursday 19th February at 11am and Thursday 19th March at 5.30pm; please contact us to register your attendance at [email protected].

Requirements LPW expects that the selected artists will:  be independent practitioners and able to work within the resources available (fee, materials, limited teaching, membership/studio use)  produce a finished piece of work  engage with the workshop team and have a presence in the workshop and in our communications  produce original and new pieces of work (which do not have to be permanent)  contribute to our archives, recording their work in progress, experiences of making in the studio and responses to the project  be willing to be part of any publicity and be good ambassadors for LPW as they will be part of the PR about Our Big Move

Participating artists do not have to be LPW members.

Budget Artist fee £500 fee per artist x 3 £1,500 Studio time 12 months studio time per artist x 3 £1,440 Materials To be divided between the selected artists according to their £900 project proposals CPD Tutorial time in specific print medium, to be divided between £550 3 as per artists’ requirements Total £4,390

Selection & recruitment Artists will be selected at interview by a panel comprising:

 Takero Shimazaki: New Premises Architect (Toh Shimazaki Architecture)  Lucy Phillips: Director, Leicester Print Workshop  Ruth Sumner: Senior Lecturer, Fine Art, De Montfort University  Alison Cox: Head of Programming, Compton Verney

Timescale The deadline for applications is 5pm, 31 March 2015 Shortlisted artists will be notified by the end of April 2015 Interviews will be held in Leicester in May

2 | P a g e Leicester Print Workshop: A History

Founded in 1986 in Knighton Lane, Leicester Print Workshop has become home to local artists working in fine art print. We moved to St Stephens Road in Highfields in the late 1990s. Our studio in Highfields has served us well since we moved, but it does present some significant challenges, not least: poor access, parking problems, lack of space and therefore no opportunities to achieve economies of scale, no rooms for classes of students, no exhibition space, no room for visitors, nowhere to eat or come together, amongst others. So we did some research and asked our artist members and friends what they thought and in April 2012 the LPW trustee board decided that we should start looking for new premises.

Our Big Move We invested time in drawing up the criteria for the perfect studio space and then we began our search. It took until October 2013 to find a site that would suit our very particular needs and then it got busy:

 October 2013 first viewing of 50 St George Street, a 1970s warehouse in the cultural quarter, well situated near the station and bus station, on street parking nearby and close to the Phoenix, Curve and the LCB Depot.  November 2013 recruited an architect and engineers, cost consultants and other professionals and drew up and costed plans to change the single storey warehouse into a two storey, well insulated, well ventilated, well lit, well serviced, exemplary printmaking studio with education and exhibition space and room for members and visitors to come together, with private hire studios spaces on the upper floor and a couple of offices for the LPW staff and volunteer team.  December 2013 submitted an application to Arts Council England to their Small Capital Grants fund to part finance the purchase of the lease, the building work, the fees, new equipment and the move costs. We also received confirmation from Leicester City Council that subject to us finding the funds to buy the long leasehold, it would provide the freehold.  May 2014 we received planning permission for the building work.  July 2014 we received confirmation from Arts Council England that our application for a capital grant was successful (we also found out our application for ongoing revenue funding for 2015 – 2018 was also successful)  May – September 2014 applications to other funders reaped rewards and contributed to our funding target.  31 Oct/1 Nov 2014 the Bazaar saw the launch of Our Big Move, the public fundraising campaign to raise the final 10% of our finance target, £75,000.  Today – the architects and engineers are scrutinizing every cost to take out anything that is not imperative to the design in preparation to go to tender in December/January. Our Big Move, the public fundraising campaign has been launched and LPW is looking to friends, volunteers, artists and audiences to help raise the remaining target. We hope we will be on site in February to start building and we plan to move in the Autumn.

Leicester Print Workshop has a great opportunity to create a new arts flagship, a thriving centre for printmaking, in the heart of Leicester. Providing facilities for artists, the local community and visitors to our city, to learn and practice lithography, letterpress, wood and linocut, etching, engraving, silkscreen and much more; our new home at 50 St George Street will give us a fully accessible studio with education and exhibition spaces. We are working with our friends, artists, volunteers, trustees & staff to raise the final 10% of the £750,000 we need to relocate and we plan to make the big move in Autumn/Winter 2015. 3 | P a g e Our Big Move Residencies Application form

Before completing the proposal form, please read the guidance document carefully.

Date:

Name:

Address:

Email:

Telephone:

Please provide a short statement about the work that you propose to make (please give us an indication of how it will be made, how you intend for it to be presented/installed/performed) and how people might engage with it. (250 words maximum)

Please explain how the proposed work will celebrate or mark Our Big Move, making reference to our aims for the project, which are to: promote and celebrate our move to new premises and tell the story of LPW and printmaking; promote LPW as a provider of artist development opportunities; animate the building/relocation process for the public. (250 words maximum)

4 | P a g e Please outline what support you might need in order to realise your project. Artists with no printmaking experience who wish to use printmaking techniques and therefore the studio, must arrange for tuition or attend courses at a cost to them. (150 words maximum)

Please outline the timescale and production details for realising the work that you propose to make. (150 words maximum)

Please provide an indicative budget and outline the expenditure for your project.

5 | P a g e Image list

Please send up to 6 examples of work you have made in the last 2 years to support your proposal (in jpeg/png format or via web-links). Complete the form beneath detailing for each work the title, the medium and the year it was created:

No Title Medium Year 1

Please send us your proposal and up to 6 examples of recent work (either in jpeg/png format or via web-link) to [email protected] with ‘Our Big Move Residencies’ as the subject heading by 31st March. (Please don’t send us your CV)

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