Commission - Artists in Communities Archive
Application deadline - 9am on Wednesday 8 January
Glasgow Life wishes to commission a curator to create an interactive online archive of the past 5 years of the Artists in Communities (AiC) programme.
Running since 2019, there have been 5 iterations of Artists in Communities to date, with artists of all disciplines working across the city in a variety of geographical locations. Glasgow Life has also been running the Velocity programme in the east of the city since 2017, which is also an Artist in Communities model and we want to capture and celebrate the output from this also within the website as a series of specific data points. In May 2024, Glasgow Life held a symposium exploring socially engaged practice with previous AiC artists and other key stakeholders and practitioners in this sector. This archive is a direct output from feedback at the symposium.
The programmes have generated a large output of work and data including images, videos, testimonials, podcasts, and other web presences. We need someone to curate this output into a meaningful online experience that informs the various publics (general and specialist) as well as celebrates the work of the artists and the communities they have worked with.
We are looking for the work to be done between February - April 2025 with a launch of the online archive in late spring/early summer.
Fee
The fee is £7800, based on 26 days work at £300 per day (SAU guidelines)
Background
From 2019 - 2022 we ran the Artist in Residence (AiR) programme which placed an artist in all 23 of Glasgow City Council’s wards. AiR ran across three phases and on the whole the same artists continued working in the same wards across all three phases. Phases two and three took place during Covid with phase 3 also supported by Bloomberg as part of the wider responses to COP 26 in Glasgow in autumn 2021.
A change in funding provided the opportunity to rework the programme, reimaged as Artist in Communities (AiC) programme. A fourth iteration ran in 2023 in the three community planning partnership areas with 5 artists/organisations in each area: the North West, North East and South of the city. A callout for artists was made from the existing AiR programme and in November the final selection was made. By opening out the geographic location, artistic collaboration between residencies has been actively encouraged and led to some important learning and cross-collaborations. This iteration was funded with support from UCI Cycling Worlds Championship 2023 cultural programme and Creative Scotland Recovery funds. We also invested in three Gaelic projects, one in each area of the city.
A fifth iteration supported by the Green Economy initiative and Glasgow Health and Care partnership ran between October 2023 and May 2024 with 6 projects.
The Velocity programme began as a public art/realm project within the wider Cultural programme of the 2014 Commonwealth Games. In 2017 the focus shifted to supporting a series of artists to work with communities in the east of the city with support from the 2018 European Championships cultural programme and with support from Clyde Gateway.
Overall 66 artists or arts companies have been involved in the programme since 2019 meaning that there is an extensive database of material in various formats to share and promote through advocacy.
Person Spec
We are looking for someone who:
- Has a proven track record in curating work from artists
- Has experience of working in an online/digital context
- Has previous experience of using CMS (content management systems) to update websites
- Has experience and understanding of socially engaged practise and work
- Has good communication skills and ability to work sensitively with a variety of stakeholders
- An up to date understanding of safeguarding issues around data and images
- A general understanding of the geographical identities and nuances of Glasgow
The fee is £7800, based on 26 days work at £300 per day (SAU guidelines)
Technical Information
Glasgow Life has an existing web provider and platform and this project will use existing templates and frameworks for the archive. The curator is not required to build or create a website - this is a commission to select, curate and upload material for the pre-built website framework.
It will have a landing page with a map of the city and then clickable links to explore specific projects/areas. The current Glasgow International website map page is a useful guide to the overall functionality of what is on offer.
The new archive website will have the following requirements:
• Clear and simple visuals
• A sense of the geography of the city and locations/communities where the work has taken place
• Simple clear descriptions of each project, covering the dates and timings of delivery
• Ability to showcase text, still images, weblinks and video
• Ability to search by: artist/company name; geographic area; artform; dates of residency; community groups; events
• Ability to layer and outline different activities or projects that have taken place in the same place at different times
• Ability to layer data so that research, academic and more extensive material can be accessed through more in-depth searches
• As with all Glasgow Life websites, the Reachdeck Toolbar, an accessibility tool, will be incorporated, and will allow visitors to translate pages into any language they want.
The curator will be given training on how to access and upload to the back end of the website and will be supported by the Glasgow Life digital and marketing teams with any technical issues.
Application
To apply, please send a CV and a maximum 2 page cover letter with links to any relevant previous work to AMCV@glasgowlife.org.uk by 9am on Wednesday 8 January 2025.
Please use the email title “AiC Archive Curator commission”
We aim to shortlist by Friday 10 January and hold interviews in the week beginning 20 January 2025.
Find out more about Artists in Communities
Visit our current Artists in Communities web section to get a flavour of the scope and range of the programme.
Glasgow Life Artists in Communities