Oxford’s Christmas Light Festival 2018

CALL FOR ARTISTS TO DESIGN LARGE LANTERN STRUCTURES AND LEAD MAKING WORKSHOPS

We are inviting artists to submit proposals to work with schools and community groups to create outstanding centrepiece lanterns for this year’s Christmas Light Festival procession.

The procession will take place on Friday 16th November 2018 in Oxford City Centre, with eight workshops in late September, October and early November.

Oxford is a spectacle of light as the lanterns weave through central Oxford accompanied by music and dance. This popular event attracts around 45,000 people and launches the season’s celebrations. The prestigious lantern procession is an incredibly popular event and is a highlight of the festival, involving around 350 participants from schools and community groups, who will illuminate the city with handmade lanterns. We are looking for imaginative and awe inspiring creations!

Producing Partners: Oxford’s Christmas Light Festival is produced by Oxford City Council and Ian Nolan Events Limited.

Artist’s Brief: This year’s festival theme is Undiscovered Oxford.

We are looking for artists to design and create large lantern structures or puppets with our partner schools and community groups to feature in this year’s lantern parade. These will then be displayed over the Festival weekend at Oxford Castle. While the lanterns collectively respond to the theme of Undiscovered Oxford, they should also be considered as individual installations.

Depending on applications these centerpieces may each be designed by individual artists or by one artist designing upto four large structures.

The structures should each be created within two day long workshops with secondary/college students and community groups.

Artist’s Role:

* The appointed artist(s) will be required to design the structures for the lantern parade. The design should include rough material quantities and costs.
* The appointed artist(s) will work in collaboration with a small team of artists and the producers to ensure there is a cohesive vision.
* The lanterns will be striking and memorable. They must be easily carried as part of the lantern parade and work well as an installation following the parade.
* Consideration should be given to making the lanterns as durable as possible (consider rain and outdoor weather!)
* The appointed artist(s) should prepare and deliver a workshop/training session for college students who will assist in the workshops with schools.
* The lanterns will be made during workshops with individuals from secondary schools, colleges and community groups.
* Artists taking part in this project will be experienced in leading inclusive, enjoyable and engaging workshops to diverse groups.
* Artists are expected to represent and accompany their work as part of the Lantern Procession

Applying artists are required to have their own public liability insurance (£2m) and provide a detailed risk assessment for the make.
Please be aware that you will need a valid DBS certificate for the role, issued within the last 12 months. Please make us aware when you apply, whether you have this. This can be facilitated by Fusion Arts.

The producing partnership retains all rights over designs commissioned, creative themes and content at all times.

Timeline:

August: Submissions received, Designs to be confirmed by the end of the month, Artists Confirmed
September: Workshop delivery
October: Workshop delivery
November: Workshop delivery, Event delivery – artists are required to attend the parade
December: Evaluation and Debrief

Sessions and Fees

We are open to discussion regarding the delivery of the workshops and number of lanterns being commissioned per Artist. Artists/Organisations can apply to design and lead workshops for one lantern or multiple lanterns.

* Expectation is that each lantern will require two full days of workshop for it to be built.
* The fee is £250 per full day (pro rata) inclusive of expenses e.g travel, accommodation etc.
* An £80 fee is available to each artist to attend the Friday night event.
* An additional £80 design fee will be paid per lantern commissioned.
* 4 Lanterns to be commissioned in total.

On application please let us know your availability throughout October and November when workshops will take place.

Procession info:

The procession team will arrange for collection of all lanterns and delivery to the start point of the procession.
The supervision of children during the event will remain the responsibility of the school/group leader.

How to Apply

To apply to be part of our team of artists working on the Oxford's Christmas Light Festival procession:

Please send us a CV and a short cover letter outlining your experience of working on artwork of this scale with school and community groups.
Please include a number of images of previous work and/or links to relevant websites and social media.
Please include a short statement (max. 300 words) and sketches describing your initial ideas in response to this year’s theme Undiscovered Oxford.

If co-curation is of interest, please propose how you might go about this.

If you would prefer to submit a portfolio of sketches rather than providing a written statement (accurate to scale drawings are not required at this stage), please include this with your CV and short cover letter.

Applications should be sent to info@fusion-arts.org by end of day 24th August . We will meet with artists to discuss commissions in early September.