Metal is looking for an artist or collective to create a beacon for writers as part of Essex Writers House, our partnership programme with Essex Book Festival.
About Essex Writers House
For the month of June, Metal Southend becomes Essex Writers House, a space for writers to read, to write overlooking the Thames Estuary, to get help and feedback on their work or to have lively, meandering conversations with other writers. 2024 marks the seventh edition of Essex Writers House and we’re always amazed by the connections made and the ideas that come up when writers take over Chalkwell Hall.
About the artist commission
As part of our work to encourage, celebrate and connect writers across Essex, we’re commissioning an artwork or creative outcome which acts as a beacon for writers.
We’re looking for ideas which are fun, engaging and celebratory of writing as an art form. Your proposal might give writers a creative reminder to stay playful, to trust in their writing process or to keep writing! Perhaps it will inspire people to start a new writing journey.
We welcome proposals from artists and creatives of any kind, from any discipline. Your ideas might initially take inspiration from the landscapes, people and/or histories of South Essex. You might like to create a temporary artwork, a printed series or a digital outcome. Or it could be a performance, a mural or an event!
We’re excited to work with you to help bring your idea to fruition, install it or give it a platform, and ultimately share your work with our audiences and through our wider networks.
If you have a site-specific location in which you would like to share your work, for example a local bench or viewpoint which writers return to, then please ensure that this is included within your proposal. Metal is also able to support you in researching access to specific sights and can offer Chalkwell Hall, Chalkwell Park and our online platforms as an exhibition location if suitable.
Application
To apply, we ask you to send us:
- Your name and contact details.
- Your artist bio or a simple CV, which shares some of your past work with us (max 2 pages or 1.5 mins digital format).
- A simple proposal of your idea – this isn’t a formal pitch, instead we would like to receive an idea of your process and what you might like to produce as a response of this call out. You can include images, sketches or references and we would like to see a simple budget which shows your fee and materials costs (max 4 pages or 3 mins digital format).
- There is a final notes section too, for anything else you might like to tell us.
Find our application form here!
Closing date
The closing date is Tuesday 28 May. Work to be developed and created during the month of June, ready to share at the end of the month.
Fee
There is total budget of £2000 for this work, which includes artist fee and materials or fabrication of your work. This opportunity can flex around your art practice and experience.
We ask that you share a simple breakdown of this within your proposal and suggest that you refer to the Artists Unions Rates of Pay guidelines to calculate your own rate of fair pay as an artist.
Some examples to help inform your budget:
Example 1 – A printed project such as a zine or poster campaign. £750 artist fee (3 x days at £250 per day), £500 designer (2 x days at £250 per day), £250 print costs
Example 2 – A collaborative installation at Chalkwell Hall between a writer and 2 graduate performance artists. £500 writer (2 x days at £250 per day), £1200 between 2 graduate performers (2 x days each at £200 per day), £300 materials.
Example 3 – A film or digital offer. £1000 graduate artist fee (5 x days at £200 per day), £600 videographer (£300 per day), £250 voice actor, £250 materials and travel expenses.
Support
Metal will support you with project management/administrative help throughout this project, as well as offering marketing opportunities to share your work across our channels and via our partners. Our programme partners Essex Book Festival will also celebrate your work and share it across their channels.
