Artist in Residence Opportunity, Buddleia
Deadline: March 11, 2013, 4:00 pm
Commissioning agency Buddleia is looking to appoint a UK based artist, at any stage of their career, to undertake a six-month residency in North Manchester. Buddleia is looking for an artist whose practice has a socially engaged or collaborative element and is concerned with issues of space, place and community.
Buddleia is a new Manchester based commissioning agency for art in the public realm, whose name is taken from the persistent shrub that flourishes in every environment. Buddleia seeks to pursue new approaches for public art, which are inspired by the diverse ways in which artists engage with people and public space. Their approach embraces art, people and place through artists’ commissions, residencies, projects and urban and social enquiry. They take a collaborative approach to commissioning by shaping a process which allows artists, residents and agencies to work together, and by advocating artist-led enquiry.
Since 2010, Buddleia has developed relationships with a number of organisations and individuals in North Manchester. North Manchester is currently an over-looked and under-resourced area just a few miles from the cultural city centre. It hosts a huge diversity of communities and cultures, as well as historic parks and open spaces. The residency provides an opportunity to build upon and develop these relationships, whilst also interrogating the physical and social specificities of the area. Rather than working towards a predefined outcome, the artist will be given an open brief and the necessary time and support to develop their ideas in relation to the place.
Buddleia was founded by the independent cultural producer Kerenza McClarnan and is the culmination of a ten-year track record of engaging with the complexities and social understandings of the public realm. Kerenza has led on some of the most innovative public art initiatives in the North West region in recent years, including Channel 4’s Big Art in Burnley Lancashire and Pavilions for Liverpool Biennial’s European Capital of Culture programme. More recently, Kerenza is a regular producer for Manchester International Festival, having produced Jeremy Deller’s Procession in 2009, Lavinia Greenlaw’s Audio Obscura with Artangel in 2011, and she is currently producing the public programme for the Biospheric Project in 2013. Last year Buddleia commissioned A Small Cinema, Moston with the artist Sam Meech from Re:Dock, which became a 70 seater permanent community cinema in the heart of a housing estate in Moston: www.asmallcinema.co.uk
The artist will be managed by Buddleia and will have the opportunity to be hosted by Northwards Housing - a social housing agency who will provide direct access to residents and community groups in the area. The residency will take place between April and September 2013, with a minimum of 30 contact days (approximately five days per month). Although the artist will not be expected to produce a ‘final product’, they will be asked to communicate and evaluate their processes, findings and observations via a mid-residency and a final public event, which may take the form of artist talks, exhibitions or community events. The artist will also be expected to contribute to a seminar in September 2013, which will evaluate Buddleia’s activities in North Manchester, within the wider context of socially engaged commissioning.
The fee for the residency will be £5,500, with a materials budget of £2,000. An additional budget will also be available for travel and subsistence, and accommodation will be provided by a local resident, subject to artist approval.
To apply for this opportunity, please send an expression of interest, detailing your possible approach to the residency, along with a CV and images or links to previous work to [email protected] by 4pm on Friday 1st March. Interviews will take place during the week beginning Monday 11th March. For more information, please contact Elaine Speight at: [email protected]
