Public Art – Hilltown, Co Down Expression of Interest / Tender Brief The Mourne Heritage Trust is requesting expressions of interest for a piece of public artwork from experienced and suitably qualified artists or design teams. The public artwork will be located in the village of Hilltown within the Mourne Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Co Down. The total budget available is £15250 (inclusive of VAT where applicable). The deadline for receipt of expressions of interest is 4 pm on Friday 2ndJanuary 2015. Late submissions will not be accepted. All submissions shall be written in English and should be posted in hard copy. Applicants are requested to read the full contents of this document carefully as it contains important information about the Expression of Interest Application Process and the terms of reference. 1 Section Contents Page Number 1. APPLICATION PROCESS 3 2. BACKGROUND: MOURNE PUBLIC ART PROGRAMME 3 3. ARTIST’S BRIEF 5 4. PUBLIC ART SELECTION PANEL/STEERING GROUP 7 5. STAGE 1 EVALUATION OF ARTIST / EXPRESSION OF INTEREST 8 SUBMISSIONS 6. BUDGETS, FEES AND EXPENSES FOR SHORTLISTED ARTISTS 9 7. ARTIST/DESIGN TEAMS RESPONSIBILITIES 10 8. MOURNE HERITAGE TRUST RESPONSIBILITIES 11 9. PROJECT TIMELINE 12 10. OWNERSHIP, INDEMNIFICATION AND INSURANCES 12 11. CONTRACTUAL ARRANGEMENTS 12 12. SUBMITTING AN EXPRESSION OF INTEREST 13 13. FURTHER INFORMATION 14 APPENDICES 15 APPENDIX 1A: Artist / Organisation Details 16 APPENDIX 1B: Insurance / Health and Safety 17 APPENDIX 1C: Experience 18 APPENDIX 2: ASSESSMENT CRITERIA 20 APPENDIX 3: MOURNE PUBLIC ART PROGRAMME 21 APPENDIX 4: FACILITATOR’S REPORT 30 2 1.0 APPLICATION PROCESS Stage 1: Expressions of Interest Expressions of Interest are sought from artists (or a team of collaborating artists) to deliver a piece of Public Art. Shortlisting will be based on the information provided (see Appendix 1A – 1C). Please read Appendices 1A, 1B and 1C carefully and comply fully with the requirements. The deadline for receipt of applications is 4pm on Friday 2nd January 2015. The selection panel will consider submissions received by this deadline and select up to three artists to go forward to Stage 2 of this process. Stage 2: Proposal £300 will be made available to up to three artists / design teams who will be invited to present their proposals to the selection panel. The proposal must include: sketch designs, visualisations and / or a maquette as well as an explanation of the concept for the artwork, how it relates to our theme and how the artist / design team would approach its design, fabrication and installation. Details of maintenance requirements and lifespan expectations should also form part of the presentation. The artist / design team must demonstrate how the work can be implemented within the allocated budget and details of the anticipated duration of the project with timescale broken down into research, production and delivery. The selection panel aims to select one artist / design team to undertake the commission. The community of Hilltown will be at the heart of this project and the selected artist / design team must demonstrate how they will work with the community to develop a sense of ownership / pride in the piece, the environment and, most importantly, help create a shared space for all. Therefore the artist / design team must also outline the approach they will take to engage and work with the local community and showcase the successful project. Selected artists / design teams must submit their presentations to: Mandy McAvoy, Sustainable Tourism Officer, Mourne Heritage Trust, Unit 3 Cornmill Quay, Annalong Marine Parade, Annalong, Co Down, BT34 4QG before 4pm on Friday 2nd January 2015. Submissions should be marked “HILLTOWN PUBLIC ART” 2.0 BACKGROUND: MOURNE PUBLIC ART PROGRAMME The Mountains of Mourne and SlieveCroob, together with the surrounding countryside and coast, is one of the most picturesque landscapes in Ireland. The Mourne Mountains contain 12 peaks over 2000 feet tall and include SlieveDonard, Northern Ireland’s highest mountain. Uniquely for a mountain range, most of the high summits are grouped together in a compact area only seven miles broad. 3 This area has provided inspiration for many artists. For example, Percy French was inspired by the beautiful landscape and this was captured in the words of his famous song “Where the Mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea”. The Mountains of Mourne are also said to have been the inspiration for C S Lewis’ magical land of Narnia. This project is the final stage of the Mourne Public Art Programme (Appendix 3) which has already installed 10 pieces of art across the Mourne Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty - the Mourne Public Art Trail will provide an interesting and innovative means of interpreting the landscape/culture/heritage of the area whilst helping to disperse visitors across the area, allowing more marginalized communities to benefit from tourism and thereby stimulating economic development. 2.1 The Mourne Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) The Mournes were first designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in 1966. In 1986, however, the AONB designation was extended to include the Mourne Mountains, SlieveCroob, their farmed foothills and coast. This designation brings a commitment to safeguard the National beauty, wildlife and historic heritage whilst at the same time promoting its enjoyment to the public. At the heart of the AONB is the range of mountains, which gives the area its name and image. These mountains are unique because their peaks are grouped closely together, stretching 24 kilometres from Newcastle to Rostrevor, sweeping down to the sea, at both places. Not only one of Ireland’s most beautiful mountains ranges, the Mournes are also probably the best known, thanks to Percy French and his famous song. However, the AONB extends much beyond this upland core to embrace a wide range of hill, lowland and coastal landscapes. Although relatively small in area, the Mourne AONB combines the stunning scenery of mountains, coast, farmed drumlin and hill country, with a diverse range of habitats. A range of activities including farming, forestry, fishing, mineral extraction, water supply, tourism and recreation give the countryside and its settlements their distinctive character, provide local employment and influence the quality of life for its inhabitants. The mountains, countryside, coast and settlements of Mourne comprise a diverse resource of immense importance in respect of their landscape, wildlife, built and culture heritage. It is vital that Mourne is conserved and managed to safeguard these values, traditional industries and national resource. 2.2 Facilitator’s Report As a first phase of the project the Mourne Heritage Trust developed a local steering group to help manage the process. A facilitator was recruited to carry out creative community consultation with a wide range of stakeholders in the community. She presented a report containing her findings to the steering group including possible themes for the proposed artwork. The steering group agreed ‘Meeting of The Ways’ as the theme most open to artistic interpretation. The facilitators report is attached at Appendix 4. The location for the public art is in the Square in Hilltown. See below a photo and map of the site. 4 3.0 ARTIST’S BRIEF 3.1 Theme: Meeting of The Ways Hilltown is a very ancient community which has had human habitation for almost 5000 years. It nestles in a beautiful location to the eastern side of the Mourne Mountain range and is one of the highest settlements in the Mournes, making it a popular area for hill walkers. It has an ancient and vibrant agricultural community. Farming, particularly sheep farming, is still an important livlihood for local people and there is still a busy livestock market near the centre of the village. Over the centuries Hilltown has become an important meeting point and ‘watering hole’. Formerly known as ‘Eight Mile Bridge’ (describing its distance from nearyby Newry), it was a stopping point for people travelling to and from other places, such as Newry, Downpatrick, Castlewellan, Rathfriland, Rostrevor and of course, through and over the Mourne Mountains. It was a final destination on the famous ‘Brandy Pad’, a notorious smuggling route from the coast near Bloody Bridge, over the Mournes. 18th and 19th century smugglers brought illegal contraband across the route and it was eventually distributed in Hilltown, accounting today for the many public houses that still exist! There is a sculpture located at the beginning of the Brandy Pad called ‘The Smuggler’s Head’. Today, the Brandy Pad no longer brings smugglers and contraband to Hilltown but, instead, many walkers, who either commence or end their journey across the Mournes from here. As in the past, the site of the sculpture is still therefore a site of ‘wayfinding’ - a place for people to stop, reflect, take their bearings, move on and start new journeys or, indeed, finish a journey. As can be seen from the photo of the proposed site for the sculpture, there are still many road signs, picking out the directions for modern motorists. The proposed site is also located at the village square (now a car park behind) and, if you examine an older photo of the site, you will also see a square shaped object that local people called ‘the pump’. This served as a watering hole for travellers and their animals and also for local people during the monthly sheep fair on the site. 5 However, most significantly, ‘the pump’ was a very popular meeting point for local people, and entered into the community vernacular with sayings like ‘I’ll meet you at the pump’ or ‘You’ll be on the pump in the morning’ – indicating that a person had done something silly and would be exposed in the most public of places! The artwork needs to capture the sense of this most public of places in Hilltown, as a place of confluence and merging – a ‘meeting of the ways’, not just in the physical sense, but in a metaphorical sense, a place of past and present, of memory and imagination, where people encounter each other, find their bearings and move on.