Service Director, Arts, Culture and Leisure: Julie Russell Arts, Culture & Leisure Wakefield One PO Box 700 Burton Street Wakefield WF1 2EB Wakefield Museums & Castles Artist Commission Brief Wakefield Museums & Castles is looking to commission an artist to work with the local community to develop an innovative, co-produced display at the South Elmsall Library museum hub. Wakefield Museums & Castles Wakefield Council’s Museums & Castles service is responsible for managing three museums in Wakefield, Pontefract and Castleford, and two designated Ancient Monuments, at Pontefract and Sandal castles. We are fully Accredited under the Arts Council England Museum Accreditation Scheme and care for a collection of around 111,000 objects that document the human, social and cultural history of Wakefield and district from the distant past to the present day. Our aim is to work in partnership with communities to tell stories that unite them in creative and innovative ways, by delivering the highest quality exhibitions, learning and events, based on our museum collections, in welcoming, family friendly spaces that are close by and have free entry. Wakefield Museums & Castles has a successful track record of working with artists and groups. We are currently developing a major special exhibition at Wakefield Museum, working with a paper sculptor, animator and audio-visual artist to create an immersive, multi-sensory experience. We are also currently working with audio-visual artists, Matthew Rosier and James Bulley, on an artist’s installation at Pontefract Castle. South Elmsall Library museum hub Wakefield Museums & Castles became an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation (ACE NPO) in 2018. One of the key aims of our business plan is to develop and deliver outstanding learning and engagement opportunities for existing and new audiences, especially for young people. To achieve this aim, we are always looking for creative ways to take the Wakefield Museums & Castles collection to more people. Over the last few years, we have started to put objects into established community venues where there is a potential captive audience, including our museum hubs. The hubs are bitesize changing exhibitions located at the heart of communities. These vibrant displays aim to gain the trust of a new audience by demonstrating our commitment to preserving and sharing their heritage. The hubs consist of: a display case to hold museum objects, items lent by the community, or new artworks graphic panels explaining the displays and their contents a screen for audio visual content e.g. films, image slideshows interactive content e.g. comment cards, hands-on activities The South Elmsall Library museum hub was installed in 2017 as part of our ambition to engage with people from every Wakefield district postcode. The hub represents the south east of the Wakefield district, an area which has traditionally seen low levels of cultural engagement. Previous displays at the hub include a celebration of a local boxing hero, and an exploration of the history of shopping in the town, which is the site of the first purpose-built ASDA supermarket. South Elmsall, the town South Elmsall appears in the Domesday Book, known as Ermshale, meaning ‘village under Norman rule’. Until the industrial revolution, the area was a small farming community before it was transformed by the lime quarrying and later coal mining industries. Frickley and South Elmsall Colliery was opened in 1903 by the Carlton Main Colliery Company Ltd. With miners coming to work at the pit, new homes and schools were built and the colliery funded welfare schemes including a hospital and maternity home, and recreational Warde Aldam Hospital, 1920s facilities such as swimming baths. The pit closed in 1993 and the former site has been reclaimed as a country park. Today, South Elmsall’s traditional market and High Street are at the heart of the town. South Elmsall has many diverse and surprising stories to tell – from the nationally important section of coral reef visible at the former quarry, to a former dolphinarium at a High Street, 1890s disused swimming pool! Market, 1920s 1960s The brief Wakefield Museums & Castles is now inviting artists working in all disciplines to submit proposals to develop a new co-produced installation at the South Elmsall Library museum hub. This is an exciting opportunity to collaborate with local people to discover and interpret their stories in an innovative and visually exciting way. The successful artist will: Identify and recruit community participants from South Elmsall and the south east of the Wakefield district. Facilitate participants to develop content for the display that tells an engaging story about South Elmsall’s history and/or contemporary identity. Work with participants to create and install an innovative installation in the hub showcase, with accompanying interpretation, including audio/visual and interactive content where appropriate. Use environmentally friendly, sustainable materials and methods wherever possible. We are open to artists using a wide range of art forms and media, who have experience of working successfully with community groups. We are keen to ensure the brief is not prescriptive and that the response from artists is imaginative and broad, drawing upon the strengths of the individual artists themselves and the interests of the community participants. Case backboard, Graphic panel graphic panel for interpretation Display case: 1960 x 877 x 877mm (h x w x d) AV screen 2 optional glass shelves Space for further interpretation, comment cards, marketing material The content of the display should be decided in partnership between the successful artist and their chosen community partners. However, applicants may wish to respond to any of the following: Women: our wider programming and collecting for 2022 will focus on the theme of women, exploring and celebrating women who have lived in, worked in or contributed to the district. Climate Crisis: Do A World of Good is Wakefield Museums & Castles’ response to the climate crisis, launching in July 2021 with a new exhibition at Wakefield Museum and feeding into all areas of our work. Hobbies & Social Life: Consultation with local communities has revealed that people in South Elmsall fondly remember cinemas and disco nights, popular pubs where they played billiards, and their favourite fish and chip shops. The Wakefield Museums & Castles collection: Photographs and objects from South Elmsall and the wider Wakefield district. It is vital that the project is firmly rooted in the people and stories of South Elmsall, shining a new light and perspective on this area of the district. It should provide a platform for the communities of South Elmsall to share what makes their town unique. Plough Inn, 1934 Chequers Inn, 1983 Objectives: Engage new audiences with our collections and local heritage Develop relationships with community groups Gather new stories and perspectives from local people Encourage loans or donations to the museum collection and help to address the current lack of objects relating to the south east of the district Interpret local heritage in an innovative and exciting way Meet the four Arts Council England (ACE) Investment Principles o Ambition and quality o Dynamism o Environmental responsibility o Inclusivity and relevance Project management The successful artist will work closely with Wakefield Museums & Castles staff, who will retain overall editorial and curatorial control of the display content. The project will be managed by the curator, who will work with the artist to establish a sign off process for content development. The curator will also advise on any relevant object conservation requirements and ensure all applicable museum standards are met. Budget There is an available budget of up to £4000 for this project. This budget is inclusive of the artist’s time and expenses and all materials, with the exception of the production of the graphic panels and any marketing material, which will be organised and paid for by Wakefield Museums & Castles. Timeline The artist will be appointed in August 2021 and the display will be installed in November 2021. There is flexibility in this timescale, particularly if necessary to recruit and co-produce with community partners. Once installed, the display will run for at least a year. How to apply Please send an Expression of Interest with an outline of: your initial ideas for this commission why you are interested in this commission details of your practice with images your experience of working with communities an indication of how you would spend the allocated budget Expressions of Interest should be no longer than two sides of A4. Please submit this alongside your CV to [email protected] Deadline for Expressions of Interest is 9am on Monday 26 July 2021. Interviews will be held via Zoom call on Friday 30 July 2021. Contact For further information about this opportunity, the Wakefield Museums & Castles collection, and the South Elmsall Library museum hub, please contact Steph Webb (Curator) for an informal discussion: 07917 790931 [email protected] Supporting information https://www.wakefield.gov.uk/museums-and-castles http://wakefieldmuseumsandlibraries.blogspot.com/ https://experiencewakefield.co.uk/venue/museum-hub-at-south-elmsall-library/ http://collections.wakefield.gov.uk/index.asp?page=summary&mwsquery=%28%7BCategory%7D%3D%7 Bphotographs%7D%29&mwsQueryTemplate=%5B%7Bcontrol%3DwhereList%7D%7Bindex%3DPlace%7D %7Brelation%3D%3D*%7D%5D&whereList=South+Elmsall&submit_button2= http://www.twixtaireandcalder.org.uk/pages/searchresults.aspx?k=south%20elmsall#k=south%20elmsal l .