Micro-festival creative commission Artists' brief

Micro-festival creative commission
Artists’ brief
Introduction
Creative Crawley is a group of people who have come together to expand creativity and
participation in the arts in Crawley through collaboration and innovation. We want to
establish a reputation for Crawley as a creative place beyond its boundaries and contribute
to creating an environment in Crawley that fosters happiness, confidence and pride in those
who live, work and study in the town.
Creative Crawley is:
Board: Laiba Baig (Chair of Crawley Youth Council) Annie Bowden (The Posh Club) Vanessa
Dell (Manor Green College) Andrea Dumbrell (Crawley Museum) Katie Gledhill (West
Sussex Library Service) Liz Hart (Crawley Borough Council) Adam Joolia (Audio Active)
Parveen Khan (Diverse Crawley) Sarah Maple (freelance artist) Dave Savage (Crawley
Community Youth Service) Steve Sawyer (Manor Royal BID) John Williams (Crawley
Community Action) Tony Witton (Crawley Festival) Karl Youngman (Storm Basketball).
Creative Caretaker: Louise Blackwell
Working in partnership with the local communities the board represents; we are producing
a micro-festival of cultural activity in Crawley in January 2021 remembering, celebrating
and exploring the resilience of residents since March 2020. Through a series of public
creative interventions in the town and/or online, the recent experiences of people who live
and work in Crawley will be drawn together, shared and commemorated, led by an artist of
vision based in the South East and ideally in Sussex.

Aims of the co-commission
Creative Crawley is seeking an artist or artist collective to create an imaginative response to
this brief. In particular we are looking for artists that can:

   •   produce creative interventions that take place online and/or in physical space in
       Crawley at the end of January 2021 over up to 3 days
   •   create family-friendly artwork(s) that connect with a range of diverse audiences and
       locations in Crawley
   •   co-curate the festival with Creative Director Louise Blackwell and the Creative
       Crawley board
   •   connect with different communities in Crawley in the lead up to and during the
       festival
   •   work with other artists to oversee the delivery of a series of creative workshops with
       local people in the run up to and/or as part of the festival
   •   work with partners to incorporate a range of existing projects in the festival such as
       the Crawley Youth Community Services’ Graffiti Wall project, LPK Learning and
       Crawley Museum’s Capturing Lockdown , Same Sky’s Awakening and Crawley
       Library’s involvement in artist Liz Torc’s National Haiflu project
   •   adhere to the ongoing restrictions due to Covid-19

We’re seeking to work in partnership with the artist(s) to develop the new work and the
festival programme and have a series of questions we will explore together:

   •   How can we ensure we are representing the stories of people in Crawley since March
       2020?
   •   How can we shine a light on creative projects that already exist in Crawley as part of
       the festival?
   •   How can we connect with those without access to digital assets?
   •   How can we understand and represent vulnerabilities as well as celebrating
       resilience?
   •   How can we make the festival hopeful?

Commissioning criteria
We do not have a fixed idea of the form the artist(s) work in. You could be a composer,
visual artist, theatre maker, digital artist, dance artist, writer or other creative (this is not an
exclusive list). We are particularly interested in artists who work in the following areas:

    • Performance and dance
    •   Music
    •   Comedy
    •   Visual Arts
    •   Digital

We are seeking artists who:

    •   Are experts in working with different communities to celebrate creativity and
        remove barriers to participation in the arts
    •   Are used to leading a creative process that leads to an outcome or series of
        outcomes
    •   Can make the most of limited resources
    •   Have track record in creating artworks that connect with place
    •   Live in the South East of England (ideally in Sussex)

We actively support applications from artists/artist collectives from diverse backgrounds
and protected groups.

Context
Crawley residents have been disproportionately affected by the outbreak of Covid-19. 1 in 3
residents are currently furloughed (over 20,000 people). centreforcities.org says, 57% of
Crawley’s job base is at risk. Currently 17,000 Crawley people are employed in aviation
related jobs. Crawley has a high proportion of Black and Global Majority Ethnic residents. A
recent UK government review found that the highest age standardised diagnosis rates of
COVID-19 per 100,000 population were in people of Black ethnic groups and death rates
from COVID-19 were higher for Black and Asian ethnic groups when compared to White
ethnic groups.

About Crawley
Crawley is full of imaginative, generous and skilful people. The town has many challenges.
There is a lack of confidence and a sense that it needs support. Creative opportunities are
one way of offering that support. This project aims to amplify the voices of those who live,
work and study in the town; changing perceptions and encouraging ambition.
Crawley is a large town and borough in West Sussex, England. It is 28 miles (45 km) south
of London, 18 miles (29 km) north of Brighton and Hove, and 32 miles (51 km) north-east of
the county town of Chichester. Crawley covers an area of 17.36 square miles (44.96 km2)
and has a population of around d 113,000 people.
Gatwick Airport, opened on the edge of the town in the 1940s, encouraging commercial and
industrial growth. After the Second World War, the British Government planned to move
large numbers of people and jobs out of London and into new towns around South East
England. The New Towns Act 1946 designated Crawley as the site of one of these. A master
plan was developed for the establishment of new residential, commercial, industrial and
civic areas, and rapid development greatly increased the size and population of the town
over a few decades.
Economically, the town has developed into the main centre of industry and employment
between London and the south coast. Its large mixed-use industrial area supports a wide
variety of business operations including manufacturing, logistics, service companies and
aviation and airport related services.

Site visits and artists engagement
We envisage a series of site visits to Crawley and that the artist(s) will connect with and
meet a range of people who live, work and study in Crawley as part of the development of
the creative interventions. This maybe be a combination of virtual or physical meetings.

Artwork development, creation and installation/production
A project plan with milestones will be devised in consultation with the Creative Crawley
Board. All agreed terms will be incorporated into the artists’ contract at point of acceptance
of the proposal.

Communities, audiences and demographics
Crawley is made up of a series of 14 neighbourhoods and 3 key employment zones; Manor
Royal, Gatwick Airport and the Town Centre. According to the Local Insight profile for
‘Crawley Borough’ area report created on 11 December 2019 there are 112,450 people
living in Crawley Borough.

50.2% are male and 49.8% female. 72.1% (76,890) identify as White British compared with
88.9% average in West Sussex and 13% (13,825) as Asian as compared to 3.5% average in
West Sussex. 31% (34,895) are aged 0 – 24. 13% (15,050) are aged 65+.
57% (60,751) of residents are classified as Multi-Cultural Metropolitans; concentrated in
larger urban conurbations in the transitional areas between urban centres and suburbia,
high proportion of Black and Global Majority groups, high proportion of families. This
compares to an average of 8.5% in West Sussex. 20.1% of the population is non-white
ethnicity. Source: Place Survey (2008), Active Charities - National Council for Voluntary
Organisations (NCVO) (2009). Note all information is collected at Local Authority level.

The age 0 to 24 population of Crawley is predicted to increase to 36,405 by 2020, an
increase of 4.3% on the 2016 figure of 34,895. There are 35 schools in Crawley, of which 25
are Infant/Primary Schools, 7 are Secondary Schools, 1 is ‘16 plus’ and 2 are Special
Education Needs (SEN). Academy Schools make up just under a third of these schools (9
primary and 2 Secondary).

41% of all school age children in Crawley have a non White British ethnicity. This compares
to 18% across West Sussex as a whole. (Crawley Community Profile May 2018) 15% of
children are living in poverty in Crawley Borough compared with 11% across West Sussex
(Local Insight Profile)

49% of those aged 65+ rated their health as ‘very good’ or ‘good’, compared to 56.3% in
West Sussex. 53.6% of those aged 65+ reported that their lives were limited by a long-term
disability or illness, compared to 47.5% in West Sussex. (Data from: 2011 Census -
https://www.westsussex.gov.uk/media/3092/6_health.pdf)

Crawley is the most deprived district for older people in West Sussex, ranked 161st out of
326 local authorities in the country. (Data from: West Sussex Life - 2013 -
https://www.westsussex.gov.uk/media/3075/8_deprivation.pdf)

Team

The artist will be supported by a small, part time freelance team including a Producer,
Trainee Producer and Production Manager. They will also be able to draw on the expertise
and resources of the Creative Crawley board members.

Marketing
Creative Crawley will work with a PR agency to support the publicity for the project. The
small Producing team is responsible for the marketing of the festival alongside the Creative
Crawley Board.

Schedule
Monday 28th September 2020           Artist call out launched
Thursday 22nd October 2020           Deadline for applications at 12 noon
w/c 26th October2020                 Interviews take place
Friday 30th October 2020             Decisions made
Monday 2nd November 2020             Artist begins work
Thursday 19th November 2020          New commission project plan finalised
Friday 27th November 2020            Festival programme finalised. Marketing copy and
                                     images finalised
w/c 7th December 2020                PR & Marketing Campaign for the Festival begins
w/c 14th December 2020               Festival launch
w/c 25th January 2021                Festival takes place over up to 3 days
Friday 19th February 2021            Evaluation complete

Budget
Artist fee: £4000 (based on £250 per day for 16 days from 2nd November 2020 – 19th
February 2021)
Production budget for creative interventions: £2000 (inclusive of all materials and technical
costs necessary to realise the work plus travel and any other expenses)
   ❖ Stage one: £1000 initial artists’ fee to work up proposal
   ❖ Stage two: £3000 balancing artist fee payment (£2000 on acceptance of proposal,
     £1000 on delivery of work)
   ❖ Stage three: £2000 – a schedule for release of this production budget will be agreed
     on acceptance of the proposal and at the end of Stage One

All figures are INCLUSIVE of VAT

Responding to this commission
Please send a one page proposal (no more than 500 words total) OR a film up to 3 minutes
long (recorded on a phone is fine) with your responses to these questions:
   1. How will you approach the commission? What processes and forms will you use to
      inform the new creative interventions you make? What is your initial response to the
      project?
   2. Why are you interested in being part of this project?
   3. What have you done in the past that will inform your approach to the commission?

Please also send a one page CV with two referees for your application. Send it to
louise@louiseb.co.uk
The deadline is 12 noon on Thurs 22nd October 2020
Interviews will take place online w/c 26th October 2020

Co-commissioning partners and funders
The Creative Crawley board are Co-Commissioners and the project is supported by:

Images by Woodard Photography as part of ‘Capturing Lockdown’ project by LPK Learning
and Crawley Museum