Take part in Lancashire’s brand new festival

Artistic Commissions Call Out

Background
Building on the fantastic cultural legacy of Preston Guild 2012 and the Harris Flights 2013, Preston’s Cultural Framework board are launching an exciting new festival for Lancashire.

The aim is deliver a dynamic, high quality and large scale event for Lancashire rooted in Preston that celebrates and explores connectivity, mobility, relationships and sense of place. This year will lay the foundations, pilot ideas and relationships, building towards the finale in September 2016.

The festival, will take place over the weekend of the 25th – 27th September 2015 in the heart of the city centre: Bilrey Street, Markets, Former Post Office and the Flag Market.
Forming the centre piece of the test event will be the People’s Canopy commissioned by In Certain Places and designed by the People’s Architecture Office from China. The Canopies will start at the University for Fresher’s Week and move into the city in time for the festival.

The Canopies link together the covered market, Birley Street, The Birley Studios, former post office, Flag Market and the Harris. Depending on the range of commissions the footprint of the festival may extend to other areas of the city including Winckley Square, Fishergate, the train station however to build a critical mass of activity and maximise the resources available the main focus will be around the areas of the canopies.

Draft Programme

Thursday 24 September

• UCLan invited to populate the canopies, introduce new student intake to the city, host lectures and meetings
• City Partners invited to host seminars, meetings and conferences in the space.

Friday 25 September

• Arts Exchange conference, hosted by Arts Lancashire with local and regional arts organisations, artists, partners, funders and supporters of the arts. Opportunities to participate will be available in due course
• Evening launch of the festival and preview of all the commissions.

Saturday 26 September

•  Preston Pride on the Flag Market
•  Full daytime festival programme
•  Evening entertainment, live music and bar

Sunday 27 September

•  Run Preston
•  Full daytime festival programme

Festival Commissions

We are inviting proposals from arts organisations or individual artists to respond to the themes above, to animate the canopy structures and city centre over the three days. We will choose a number of cultural commissions within a range from £200 up to a maximum value of £2000 per successful proposal.

We are looking for a range of activities and works of any scale from single one off performances and interventions to more ambitious proposals. The budget for the programme is limited so we are looking for projects which offer value for money. Proposals can be for new work or for adaptations of existing projects.

Preston Commission

In addition we are seeking one large scale and ambitious proposal from a local Preston organisation/s or artist/s to deliver a commission with a value of £5000. The end product should be high quality, open to large audiences, challenging and innovative. We are open to collaborations between organisations.

Timescales and Applications Process

If you would like to discuss potential projects, please contact Tim Joel on [email protected] by Monday 20 July

The deadline for proposals is 12noon on Friday, 24 July.

To apply for the festival commission please submit no more than one side of A4 (around 500 words) outlining the details of your proposal and how it meets the festival themes. In addition to any mock-ups and illustrations you may want to include with your proposal/s.

To apply for the Preston Commission please submit no more than two sides of A4 (around 1000 words) outlining the details of your proposal and how it meets the festival themes. In addition your Preston address and any mock-ups and illustrations you may want to include with proposal/s.

We will announce the successful commissions by Friday 31 July.

Send your proposal to: Tim Joel on [email protected] Alternatively, you can post hard copies to the attention to T.Joel at: Customer Services Directoriate, Town Hall, Lancaster Road, Preston, PR1 2RL.