CREATIVE BRIEF
Background
The creative industry was one of the hardest hit sectors during the pandemic and one that depends on venues being open and audiences to survive. For our young creatives (18-25), it’s been even harder. Getting their foot in the door and getting their name known in the industry is vital step in their career, but for many, this has been put on hold.
We believe culture is what makes Cardiff, so it’s important that we support the young creative community and its budding talent to make sure it can continue to be a cultural hotspot for years to come.
This St. David’s Day, FOR Cardiff wants to get young talent involved in a big digital art celebration. We’ll be working closely with Creative Cardiff to shine the light on Cardiff’s incredible young creatives and celebrate their talents on Wales’ ‘Welshest’ day.
Creative brief
We’re calling on Cardiff-based creatives aged 18-25 to submit an art concept that tells a story about Cardiff city centre. See the specific area we cover in our map below:
As part of the brief, we also want you to tell us a bit about why you’ve chosen to focus on this area of the city centre – perhaps what it means to you or why it’s of interest – and the story behind your concept.
We’re welcoming concepts from all creative disciplines – a painting, song, sculpture, ceramic, film, poem, sketch, dance – you name it. Anything that can tell a story about our city centre. You can get as creative and imaginative as you like.
We want to celebrate the diversity within Wales and are hoping to receive submissions from all background and cultures within the art community. We are also welcoming concepts in both English and Welsh.
If you’re coming up with a concept that involves film or video, we ask that you keep it under 2 minutes in length and in a format that we can display across all social media channels on the day of the digital exhibition.
A specialist panel will judge the art concepts and choose 10 of them to commission on 2 February. The ten artists will have 3 weeks to develop their piece of art, ready to be showcased in a virtual exhibition celebration on March 1st.
For our 10 commissioned artists:
Our 10 commissioned artists will have three weeks to develop their creative concept following the announcement on 2 February.
In addition to the piece of art, we’d also like our artists to document their creative journey and its connection to Cardiff city centre. This could be a time-lapse of the process, a piece to camera explaining the piece, an audio flyer, or a written description of it – however you like. The exhibition will be celebrating our capital, so we want to hear all about it!
The final pieces, along with the artists’ Cardiff story behind the pieces, will be revealed at a virtual exhibition across FOR Cardiff’s social media channels as part of an art celebration of homegrown talent on St. David’s Day.
There may also be an opportunity to exhibit the pieces permanently in the city centre. More to come on this soon.
Commission budget
The ten chosen artists commissioned for the virtual exhibition will receive £500 each which includes fee and expenses.
Panel
The judging panel will consist of:
- Keith Murrell, Creative Director of Butetown Arts & Culture Association and one of the commissioned artists of Creative Cardiff’s 2020 ‘Our Creative Cardiff’ storywall project.
- Carolyn Brownell, Head of Marketing and Communications at FOR Cardiff.
- Becky Davies, theatre designer, artist and lecturer of Creative & Therapeutic Arts at the University of South Wales (also an access consultant).
Timeline
- Applications for art concepts open: Friday January 22nd 2021.
- Deadline for art concepts: 12noon Friday January 29th 2021.
- Winners announced: Tuesday February 2nd 2021.
- *Commissioned artists will have 3 weeks to create their piece*
- Final artwork deadline for commissioned artists: Tuesday February 23rd 2021.
- Digital Exhibition: March 1st 2021 (St. David’s Day).
How to apply
Complete the following questions:
How to apply
Complete the following questions:
1. In less than 700 words or a 2 minute video/audio recording tell us:
a. about the art concept you’d like create – what story will it tell about the city centre? Feel free to enhance with photos, pictures, graphics.
b. Your relationship with Cardiff City Centre – what does it mean to you?
c. How you would document the ‘making’ of your piece and its connection to Cardiff city centre?
2. Show us a couple of examples of work you’ve produced before.
Email your application to: forcardiff@wearecowshed.co.uk.
If you have any questions about your idea or would like any assistance with your application, you can call us on 02920 789 321 or email us using the address above.
We are committed to supporting creatives whose background and/or identity is underrepresented. This includes but is not limited to creatives with disabilities or long-term health difficulties, creatives from lower socio-economic backgrounds, creatives with LGBTQIA+ identities and creatives from Black, Asian and ethnically diverse backgrounds. We also particularly welcome applications from creatives working in the medium of Welsh.
All projects must adhere to Welsh Government social distancing guidelines at the time of submission.
