Opportunities for artists and local community groups: creative commissions in Axbridge, Cheddar and the Polden villages

Seed is calling for expressions of interest from suitable community-based artists/artworkers with experience in social arts practice, to work with the community to initiate and deliver participation based creative activities in the areas of Axbridge, Cheddar and Polden Villages in 2022.

Seed’s primary aim is to enable more people in Sedgemoor to actively engage in the creative arts, particularly those who don’t usually do so. We seek to remove barriers to participation, increase opportunities for people to see and engage with the arts, and for the arts to become a part of everyday life. We believe that everyone is creative and can benefit from the opportunity to explore and develop that creativity.

Through a multi-stage community consultation process with people living and working in in these three areas, we have identified a great local appetite for arts and other creative activities, but the main barrier to participation is access.  As a result, we are commissioning activities to take place in Axbridge, Cheddar and the Polden Villages within Sedgemoor in order to directly address that issue of access.

The opportunity for artists + community groups

We are seeking expressions of interest from suitably experienced artists (or teams of artists) to develop, facilitate and deliver artistic activities that will:

• Connect people within and between communities;
• Take place at a local level;
• Respond to the existing strengths and distinctive character of the three places and their communities;
• Specifically address and respond to one of more of the priority activities for each area and/or the ideas for unique or distinctive activities as listed in the attached Creative Accelerator report
• Provide opportunities for people in one or more of the three areas to participate actively in creative activities, skills development, and/or co-creation processes; and
• Have some kind of wider benefit or outcome for the community.

Budget:

Projects will fall into one of these three categories:

CATEGORY 1: Short term/one off activities to a maximum commission of £2,000
CATEGORY 2: Medium term activities (up to 9 months) to a maximum commission of £5,000
CATEGORY 3: Activities lasting 9-12 months to a maximum commission of £10,000

There is no minimum commission amount. You should request the amount needed to enable your project to go ahead, as demonstrated by your proposal budget, rather than the maximum available. Your budget should include any other income sources and in-kind support you intend to secure.

You can download the full Expression of interest for artists + community groups HERE and access the background Creative Accelerator Report for Axbridge Cheddar and the Polden Villages Here