Cheadle Skate Park Mural

Artist Call

Mural artist

OUTSIDE is looking for an artist working in public art/mural art to work with a community based in Cheadle (ST10) in the Staffordshire Moorlands.

OUTSIDE wish to recruit a lead artist for a mural project that celebrates young people’s aspirations of Cheadle, a market town in the South Staffordshire Moorlands. You will be supported by the OUTSIDE team including, Sarah Bird, creative director; Katie Aldous, operations manager and Emma Dawson Varughese, creative communities producer. The contract will run from August to October 2023.

Where and What? The mural artwork is for a series of skate park ramp walls. The skate park is located will in the central park in Cheadle, a market town in the South Staffordshire Moorlands (ST10).

A lead artist…
We are looking for a lead artist to co-design, co-curate and complete the artwork for the walls on the side of the ramps in the skate park. The artist will work with a youth community based in Cheadle (ST10), co-creating the designs and co-curating the final product. This is an established group who meet and socialise in the skate park in the town’s largest park.

Fee: £3-4000 inclusive of materials and travel expenses.

Applicant criteria:
• An artist who is committed to, and has previous experience in co-creation with community groups (not necessarily ‘youth’ communities). This experience should demonstrate strong verbal communication skills and the ability to communicate with people at all levels with a solution focused approach;
• An artist who is an active listener;
• An artist who has experience and the necessary facilitation skills producing medium-scale public art pieces;
• Willingness to work evenings and weekends if necessary;
• An artist who is connected to or interested in the Staffordshire Moorlands (desirable).

About OUTSIDE and the market town of Cheadle (ST10)
OUTSIDE is a new Creative People and Places project, funded through Arts Council England. A participatory arts programme, OUTSIDE is led by people in the Staffordshire Moorlands working with professional artists. Together, they are co-curating arts and cultural activities that take place in, and are about life in, the rural and isolated landscape and settlements, villages and market towns of the Staffordshire Moorlands.
outsidearts.org

The Brief
As lead artist, you will co-design, co-curate and complete a public art mural that brings together ideas of the young people’s aspirations for the town of Cheadle and the surrounding area. With an overarching theme of ‘heritage’, you will capture the young people’s ideas of what Cheadle has been, what it is currently, and potentially will/could be in the future (2070 as a chronological marker to work to).

Important themes we would like you to explore:
• Identifying as a ‘Staffordshire Moorlander’ and as a resident of Cheadle (or the surrounding area)
• Heritage in terms of local trade, making, ‘talk’ (dialect), aspirations
• Celebrating the potential of the town and its surrounding area and imagining how a ‘future history’ of Cheadle might look/read/be visualised particularly with reference to the two points above (‘Staffordshire Moorlander identity/ies’ and ‘heritage’)

The Process
The artistic process will involve engagement with an established local community who socialise at the skate park in the town’s largest park. The lead artist will explore the young people’s aspirations for Cheadle through hands-on workshops with the young people, with the ambition to upskill the group in basic mural art techniques and offer insight into the craft. The outcomes of these workshops will feed into the final artwork that the lead artist will complete for the skate park.

Timeline and celebrating the completed artwork
Call out to artists: early August
Submission of EOIs: Friday 18th August
Appoint artist and approval of work package: end of August
Completion of work: early October

To apply, submit your application (including the below information) by email to hello@outsidearts.org by 5pm on Friday 18th August 2023.

• a proposal for the skate park artwork, including responses to the ‘applicant questions’ (see questions below).
• attachments or links to your existing work, if you would prefer, you can also apply by uploading video or audio formats (up to 5 minutes only).

Applicant Questions:
• Your name and contact details (phone number, email and preferred methods of contact)
• Where you are based
• Tell us about how you would approach the brief and how you would organise your time
• Please tell us if you have any connections with Cheadle or the Staffordshire Moorlands
• Is there anything particular that you may need support with?
• Please tell us about any specific access needs

For any questions, enquiries or support, please email hello@outsidearts.org with the subject line ‘Cheadle Skate Park’

DEADLINE: 5pm on Friday 18th August 2023, send to hello@outsidearts.org