Artist Opportunity at St Fagans National Museum of History

Project Brief

St Fagans National Museum of History is developing an Artist led exhibition co-created with young people showing how Wales will look in thirty years’ time - provisionally titled Tomorrow’s Wales. It is an exciting opportunity for a socially engaged artist, or artists working in collaboration, to work with 5-6 communities of young people in an attempt to answer the questions: What are the big things happening today, and what will be their impacts in thirty years’ time.

Young people with whom we’ve worked have identified four themes as key concerns:

• cradle to grave (lived human experiences) • gender identity • diversity • environment

These themes should be considered as part of Tomorrow’s Wales. How will we live and die in thirty years? How will we think about gender, what kinds of relationships and roles might we have? How will our National Identity be defined? What impact will diversity have on Wales? How might our environment change? We invite you to visit St Fagan’s “Life Is” exhibition, for inspiration on how these vast themes can be brought together.

The exhibition should bring together historical items from our collections with contemporary and made objects, such as; objects collected by young people, artworks created by young people and yourself, interactive elements, screens showing film or digital media, installation, etc. You will also work with young people (coordinated by Young Heritage Leaders and museum staff) to write interpretation panels and input into a programme of activities alongside the exhibition. During this process you will be supported by a wider project team who can advise on all aspects of the work.

The exhibition content will be produced in line with the Museum’s Welsh Language Standards, and therefore any text in the artworks and interpretation will need to be in Welsh and English. Amgueddfa Cymru has an in-house translation team who will support the delivery of the project. You are welcome to produce the text in Welsh or English (or both languages) and Museum Wales has an internal translation and policy team who can support you with the project.

Location

You will be based at St Fagans National Museum of History, but will also spend time at , and other Amgueddfa Cymru sites including National Slate Museum.

A shared space will be available at St Fagans for use as a studio.

The temporary exhibition space at St Fagans is 140 square metres.

Project Dates The project will run from September 2019 – mid-July 2020.

There will be key milestone dates throughout the project including (subject to confirmation):

14-18 October: Initial workshops with Young Heritage Leaders and meetings with curators

November – December: Workshops with Youth Groups to develop content

Early January: Sign-off of initial exhibition proposals and object list by internal Project Sponsor.

End of February: Exhibition text and any relevant text to be produced.

End of June: Exhibition opening.

About the opportunity

Participatory working and community engagement are key to the St Fagans ethos and we are looking to work with an artist who can help us deliver on these principles to produce an exhibition which takes our collections as a starting point and, in close collaboration, with a range of youth groups, produces an exhibition which reflects on the working title “Tomorrow’s Wales”.

The successful applicant will be expected to:

• Use objects from our collections; assisted by learning staff, curators and the Young Heritage Leaders, the artist will select a range of items from the collections which will lead into discussions about the future of Wales, particularly around environmental, relationship and diversity issues and the topic of life experiences. For example, a love spoon could serve as a starting point for discussions around gender, sex and the future of relationships. • Work with Young People; two Young Heritage Leaders will be recruited to help the artist. The artist will be expected to develop a productive rapport with Amgueddfa Cymru Young Heritage Leaders to develop the exhibition. Young Heritage Leaders will help with practical tasks, by connecting the artist to wider networks of young people, with their ideas and feedback. • Facilitate creative workshop sessions with groups of young people; creative workshop sessions will give the opportunity to create ideas, co-produce artworks and feed into the final exhibition. Workshops should involve objects from our collections. For example, creating responses to or remixing artefacts selected from the collections, using art, poetry, photography or other creative techniques. • Work with the internal team to design and produce the exhibition; you will be supported by museum staff with access to collections, procedures such as risk assessments, set-up and tech arrangements. • The exhibition is scheduled to open at the end of June 2020.

We are looking for a socially engaged artist who is experienced in working collaboratively and is comfortable working with a brief that will evolve through the contributions of others. Workshops The Artist will be required to conduct a minimum of 4 workshops with groups of Young People. These workshops can be designed and held to the Artist specifications to assist in creating the exhibition brief and the artwork. Individuals from different backgrounds and abilities will be attending these workshops and the Artist is expected to be able to support and treat everyone fairly and with respect.

This exhibition has a strong youth focus and you should be prepared to take young people’s voices, visions and concerns seriously. You will get assistance from ‘young heritage leaders’; these young people from diverse backgrounds can help with making, filming and planning. They will be there to discuss ideas, provide feedback and help to connect the artist to communities of young people. Please think about what they can learn from you and how you will involve them in your work.

The workshops will need to be run bilingually and therefore a Welsh speaking artist would be desirable. Museum staff will be available to enable the sessions be bilingual should the artist not speak welsh.

Amgueddfa Cymru will expect the Artist to conduct/assist with gaining feedback from participants of the process. Fee/Payment Artists will be paid £14,000 for a period of 70 (7 hour) days (or equivalent). They will be paid in three instalments, with the last payment made upon opening of the exhibition and a short project report. There is separate funding for materials and travel costs if needed.

Since you will be working with young people (some under the age of 18) your appointment will be dependent on a clear enhanced DBS check. How to Apply Please email the following to [email protected]

• A statement of intent (no more than 800 words) outlining your particular interest in this opportunity and its relevance to your practice as well as your experience of working with different audiences and groups. • An artist CV • Examples of your work which should include no more than eight images or four video links. Please make sure that the email size does not exceed 10MB

Deadline for Applications: 11pm on 18 August 2019.

Interviews: Week commencing 16 September 2019.

Amgueddfa Cymru Amgueddfa Cymru is responsible for Wales’ seven national museums: National Museum Cardiff; St Fagans: National Museum of History; Big Pit: National Coal Museum in Blaenavon; in Dre-fach, Felindre; National Roman Legion Museum in Caerleon; National Slate Museum in , Snowdonia, and the National Waterfront Museum, Swansea. Amgueddfa Cymru also has a National Collections Centre near Cardiff.

In 2015 Amgueddfa Cymru agreed a new Vision, "Inspiring people, changing lives", to guide all future activities. Our purpose is to inspire people through our museums and collections to find a sense of well-being and identity, to discover, enjoy and learn bilingually, and to understand Wales's place in the wider world.

Our work is based on the principle that culture is created by people and communities. Our collections and other resources partly come from the society of which we are part, and are continually renewed through our work with the public. In 2019, St Fagans: National Museum of History won the Art Fund’s Museum of the Year in part for exemplifying these principles.

Hands on Heritage The Hands on Heritage project at Amgueddfa Cymru | National Museum Wales, aims to transform the way young people work with national museums across Wales. The project intends to actively change the way young people interact and perceive the museums, and will act as a catalyst to give young people a voice in various aspects of the organisation’s work.

Empowering young people to be co-creators of programmes, shaping, implementing and evaluating projects of their choice will create more diverse opportunities for young people, leading to more young people and a wider range engaging with heritage.

Project Background St Fagans is one of Europe's leading open-air museums and Wales's most popular heritage attraction. It stands in the grounds of the magnificent St Fagans Castle, a late 16th-century manor house donated to the people of Wales by the Earl of Plymouth. The site has recently benefited from a £25.5 million project which included the redevelopment of its permanent gallery spaces to tell the story of people in Wales from the first human inhabitants to the present day and beyond. A new 140m2 temporary gallery space was also created, and this project will produce the first exhibition to be held in that space, opening in June 2020.

The museum’s collections span the range of human experience from the time of Neanderthals to recent history, and include everything from extinct Ice Age species, to the wealth of Iron Age chieftains, to lovespoons, costume and the stuff of daily life.

This project is supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, through their ‘Kick the Dust’ programme, aimed at increasing youth engagement in heritage.