All the City is a Stage

Call out for artists commissions in Aberdeen

Aberdeen Performing Arts, on behalf of Culture Aberdeen, are pleased to announce All the City is a Stage, a new commissioning opportunity for artists in Aberdeen and the North-East of Scotland. We invite artists practising in any art form to support the re-imagining and re- invigorating of Aberdeen City centre post pandemic, through the creation of new artworks across the city.

‘A city which inspires, where exciting cultural experiences are around each and every corner and where there are no creative boundaries; a place where all the city is a stage.’ Aberdeen Cultural Strategy

This commissions programme is part of Aberdeen City Council’s commitment to putting culture at the heart of Covid recovery. We want to ensure effective and meaningful engagement with all citizens in recovery and especially our most disadvantaged and disenfranchised. All the City is a Stage responds to the fact that the region’s economy has been more exposed to the immediate fallout of COVID-19 than the Scottish average.

Artists are creative problem solvers, can help unlock and drive civic innovation, have the creative skills to enact change, transform the urban realm and they are resourceful risk takers. We want to ensure that our city is defined by its creative solutions going forward and not our problems.

The commissions’ budget is £100K, which will cover the fees and materials for up to 4 established* artists and 4 early career* artists to create new work for the City of Aberdeen. The funding has been provided by the UK Government Community Renewal Fund.

Application criteria

• Artists need to have a connection to North East of Scotland, this could be that they currently live or have lived there, work or study in the region or were born there or have family connections
• The work must be in and around the Aberdeen’s city centre
• The work will be inspired by the north-east and what makes this area unique, for example, (but not limited to) landscape – cultural or physical, people, place, architecture, economy, transition, climate
• The established artists must commit to being mentors to early career artists to guide their creative practice
• The work should be temporary and be in place at the latest by May 2022
• Projects must be carried out within the Covid guidelines at time of opening and throughout
• Artists must hold up to date Public Liability Insurance (this can be obtained by being a member of organisations or unions such as Scottish Artists Union or A-N artists network)
• We welcome artworks from any artform
• We welcome applications from individuals and organisations

*For this programme we are defining established artists, creatives and performers as those who have been practising for 5 years or more. Early career artists are those who have been practising for less than 5 years. Artists can be of any age and the years as an artist do not need to be consecutive.

Aberdeen Performing Arts is an equal opportunities employer, committed to diversity in all our work. In that spirit, applicants with diverse backgrounds, experiences, ability and perspectives, and those from backgrounds under-represented in the arts, are encouraged to apply.

Budget & support

Aberdeen Performing Arts, on behalf of Culture Aberdeen, will provide the following:

• Producing support – we have a dedicated commissions producer in place who will be the main point of contact and who will advise both on a creative and administrative basis
• Links to local businesses and cultural organisations through the Culture Aberdeen network
• The early career artists and creatives will be allocated a set budget of £5,000, to include all fees and materials.
• The established artists and creatives will be allocated up to £20,000. We are aware that some projects will require less and some more than 20K and we can try to accommodate this, depending on the commission and the needs of each of the artists
• Additional costs for access requirements – artists do not need to include these in the budget outline. Reasonable access costs will be ring fenced so that artists and collaborators will be able to deliver their projects as required.
• Basic technical and front of house support where required can be provided

HOW TO APPLY

Please read the following carefully and take note that the application requirements for the established and early career artists are slightly different.

We will pair the established artists with early career artists – we do not expect applicants to make the pairings.

Established artists

Please combine your application into a PDF to include the following.

Project proposal 1 A4 page outlining:

• What you would like to create and why
• A little about your relationship to Aberdeen
• How you will engage with an audience/s in the city
• Your experience of mentoring, and what you can offer as a mentor

A simple budget outline no more than 1 A4 page outlining fees, tech, research and contingency

Artists’ Statement and biography, up to 300 words

Examples of previous works, up to 8 images, links to audio or video. Images should be resized to under 1MB per image. Audio and video excerpts should be no longer than 5 minutes in total. Works should be accompanied by a 1 line description of what is in the image/link

An artist CV of up to 2 A4 pages or a link to a list of your experience on your website

Early career artists

Please combine your application into a PDF to include the following.

Project proposal 1 A4 page outlining:

• What you would like to create and why
• A little about your relationship to Aberdeen
• How you will engage with an audience/s in the city
• What you need from a mentor

Artists’ Statement and biography, up to 300 words

Examples of previous works, up to 8 images, links to audio or video. Images should be resized to under 1MB per image. Audio and video excerpts should be no longer than 5 minutes in total. Works should be accompanied by a 1 line description of what is in the image/link

An artist CV of up to 2 A4 pages or a link to a list of your experience on your website

Application process

Applications to be submitted by no later than midnight on Friday 28th January.

Email your application with the subject line Aberdeen Performing Arts commission application to: susan.whyte@aberdeenperformingarts.com

Application assessment

Applications will be assessed based on the criteria above by a panel made of representatives from Culture Aberdeen and the project producer.

We will be assessing the applications on Monday 31 January.

If you have any questions, please get in touch with susan.whyte@aberdeenperformingarts.com ahead of the deadline of 28th January 2022.