commission: outdoor spectacular

COMMISSION: OUTDOOR SPECTACULAR
Batley, West Yorkshire, 10th September 2016
This is an exciting opportunity for an arts organisation or group of artists to work with Creative Scene
and the volunteers from Batley Festival, to make something truly special for the finale of this year’s
festival, which celebrates it’s 5th year in September 2016.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Creative Scene and Creative People and Places
This commission opportunity is a partnership between Creative Scene and Batley Festival.
Creative Scene “a place where people make art a part of everyday life” is one of Arts Council
England’s Creative and People and Places projects. Creative People and Places is about more people
taking the lead in choosing, creating and taking part in art experiences in the places where they live.
There are 21 independent projects, each located in an area where people have traditionally had fewer
opportunities to get involved with the arts. Creative Scene commissions, promotes and produces
high quality professional projects and events, developing partnerships to make great arts experiences
that are socially relevant and that attract and engage new audiences. Our vision is to create a vibrant
and varied arts scene, which bubbles up from the people and the place, with new partnerships, new
ways of taking part in, and of presenting art.
For more information about Creative Scene and the Creative People and Places, please see the
attached document.
Batley Festival
Batley Festival is a volunteer-led community festival, which happens in September each year in
Batley, West Yorkshire. The festival takes place in the town centre for one day, with a variety of
activities in and around the market square- home to some of the town’s most iconic buildings
including the library, town hall, and memorial gardens. These spaces are tightly knit within the town
centre. You can have a look at the festival site here:
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.7134671,-1.6332479,242m/data=!3m1!1e3
The festival traditionally runs from 11am-5pm with the following activities open to the public:
The Town Hall- a festival of local talent
• Singers, dancers, magicians, comedians and everything in between take to the stage to show
their skills.
The Market Place- a festival of craft
• Local artisanal crafts, foods and other items are up for sale from local traders.
The Library- a festival of words
• Poetry workshops and performances.
• Making workshops with local artists
The Memorial Gardens- a festival of fun
• High quality, interactive arts activities including street theatre, installations and workshops.
• Successful past collaborations with Artizani, Urban Canvas, Impossible & Thingumajig.
Last year, for the first time, Batley Festival hosted an evening finale, “Spellbound” by Walk the Plank.
Spellbound was an evening show using a combination of shadow puppetry, traditional Indian dance
narration and fiery effects. This was a highly successful event where over 1,000 people form all
sections of the community came out to see the town square transformed. Over 100 children and
adults participated in the procession, which preceded the show, carrying handmade lanterns made in
workshops during the 3 weeks prior to the festival.
The festival attracts an audience that is as diverse as Batley itself, with high percentages of South
Asian audiences attending for both the daytime and evening activities. We aim for our festival to be
a welcoming and inclusive event for all to enjoy, and try to maintain the ethos that everything we do
be fun, family-friendly and free to take part in.
In 2016, Batley will host it’s 5th festival- a milestone year for the volunteers who make it happen.
This is a chance for us to build on what we have done over the past years and also up our game,
including commissioning a site- specific magical experience for our evening audiences.
A short film about our festival and the volunteers that make it happen can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnZaAN68Emc
ABOUT BATLEY
Batley is a town in the metropolitan borough of Kirklees. It lies 17 miles southeast of Bradford, 7
miles southwest of Leeds and 1 mile north of Dewsbury. It has a population of 49,448 people.
During the 19th century, Batley, along with neighbouring Dewsbury became the centre of the “shoddy
trade”, which was an early form of recycling where wool rags and clothing were deconstructed
reweaved into blankets, carpets and uniforms.
The textile industry in the town brought a great deal of immigration to the town in the late 1950s.
Predominantly these people came from Gujarat, Punjab and other parts of modern day Pakistan and
India. The South Asian population in Batley is now around 33% in Batley West and 54% in Batley
East.
Fox’s Biscuits started as a small confectionary in Batley in 1853. The head office and factory are still
located in the town, making it one of the biggest employers locally. The Batley Variety Club opened
in 1967 and is renowned for hosting some of the biggest stars of the era including Frank Sinatra,
Shirley Bassey, Tom Jones and Roy Orbison. The club closed in 1978 and re-opened as The Frontier, a
nightclub with capacity of over 1,600 people.
COMMISSION DETAILS:
Creative Scene and Batley Festival are looking to commission a company or group of artists to create
an evening performance that will be the finale for the festival. The group is interested in work that
includes:
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A programme of engagement which would involve at least 6 open workshops with young
people and families in late August 2016.
Elements of the engagement to be incorporated into final performance. For example
processional elements, lanterns, dance, etc
A performance that happens in the evening (8pm approx. start) and lasts no more than 1 hour.
A piece that is created to fit in the specific town centre location which highlights the historic
architecture including the Town Hall, library, police station and market square.
Inspired by Batley- it’s history, it’s buildings, it’s people - and still relevant today.
Suitable for a diverse audience, including a large proportion of South Asian attendees and
being sensitive to the different cultures of our area.
Creative Scene and Batley Festival would like to work with the successful artists or organisations
collaboratively to:
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Motivate local people to be part of the festival in the run-up and on the day to improve local
investment in the event.
Bring a high level of skill and experience to the Festival group in producing high quality arts
experiences for audiences and participants.
Provide a “wow factor” for the event, helping to provide lasting memories for people in Batley.
SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:
We are looking to work with artists or arts organisations with a strong track record of delivering
medium to large-scale outdoor arts events. The team that we commission will evidence skills and
experience in:
• Working with diverse communities, including leading engagement workshops.
• Managing medium to large-scale projects within timescales and within budget.
• Working outdoors in public spaces.
• The ability to understand, appreciate and interpret the characteristics of the local area.
• Work collaboratively with a variety of stakeholders including volunteers and local people to
create great art.
TIMELINE:
Deadline for expression of interest: Friday 11th March 2016, 5pm
Interviews: Monday 21st March 2016 (Dewsbury, West Yorkshire)
Contracting, Research & Development: April-June 2016
Engagement work: late August 2016
Performance Date: Saturday 10th September 2016
BUDGET:
£20,000 approx
This must include all artistic, research and development, project management and production costs.
Some things to consider:
• We would expect that artists to deliver engagement work would be factored into the budget,
however Creative Scene/Batley Festival will support in finding venues and groups for this
work to be delivered.
• Batley Festival is a volunteer-run event however we do employ professional event
management for the event itself. If additional site management or technical support is
needed in advance of this it will need to be considered in the budget.
• Our festival takes place in a well-used town centre. This should be considered when planning
the build and de-rig of any equipment. If time is needed to rig equipment etc this would need
to be factored into your plan, including any permissions or licenses needed for this work to
happen. We would expect that all equipment be de-rigged by Sunday 11th September for a full
get-out.
• Creative Scene will consider an additional budget for the creative team’s subsistence and
accommodation costs.
HOW TO APPLY:
To express an interest, please complete the following:
• An Outline Approach- (no more than 2 sides of A4) detailing: core team members, draft budget
and indicative project plan.
• Examples of your previous relevant experience and any accompanying images or videos (no
more than 1 side of A4).
• Details of two previous clients we could contract for reference.
The deadline for expressions of interest is Friday 11th March at 5pm.
Please address your applications to Rebecca Legg, Creative Producer to:
[email protected]
or
Rebecca Legg, Creative Scene, 2nd Floor, 9 Wellington Road, Dewsbury, WF13 1HF.