Introduction and background
Artist brief outline
Visual Arts Commission for Children’s Capital of Culture
Value: £3,500 (inclusive of all delivery costs, including materials, transport, DBS checks, etc)
Purpose
Children’s Capital of Culture would like to commission up to four visual artists to create outdoor artworks that will effectively promote and celebrate Children’s Capital of Culture.
The commissioned artists will work collaboratively with children and young people in local schools to co-design and co-create the artworks. The artworks could include, but are not limited to, street art, murals, graffiti, feature walls, mosaics and free-standing sculptures. The finished artworks will be sited in the school’s outdoor spaces.
This commission forms part of the Children’s Capital of Culture’s creative learning programme for our 2025 Festival Year.
Background
In 2025 Rotherham has become the world’s first Children’s Capital of Culture. This has been designed and delivered by children and young people from the borough, enabling them to reshape Rotherham and take charge of their own future. 2025 is a transformational year of creative events that will celebrate Rotherham’s identity through the fresh ideas of its young people.
All activities in the Children’s Capital of Culture Festival Year programme respond to at least one of our programming themes. These four themes have been developed through in-depth consultation and co-production with local children, young people and families:
- You’re Not From New York City, You’re From Rov’Rum: This theme is focused on celebrating the brilliant people, places and stories that already exist in Rotherham. It champions the gems of our borough, and helps make people feel proud to call Rotherham home.
- Who We Are, Where We Come From: This theme is focused on celebrating the diverse individuals and communities who call Rotherham home. Work under this programme strand might include activities targeted at meeting the needs of and/or championing specific marginalised and underrepresented groups. Overall, work under this programming strand aims to increase equality, accessibility, and inclusion, and build community cohesion, through platforming and celebrating diverse stories and identities.
- Plug In & Play: This theme is focused on all sorts of play and games. It covers elite sports, grassroots games and play-based activities – for all ages! It also includes videogaming, coding, and different forms of digital making such filming, photography, projection mapping, AR, VR – and much more!
- World Beneath Our Feet: This theme is focused on celebrating our borough’s natural environments. It has a focus on sustainability and conservation, helping make sure Rotherham’s woodlands, meadows, parks, rivers and lakes can be enjoyed by generations to come.
A core part of Children’s Capital of Culture is our creative learning programme, which works with schools, colleges and other educational settings across the borough. The creative learning programme aims to enable:
- Children and young people to feel proud to call Rotherham their home
- Children to have more access to arts, sports and culture.
- Children to become creative thinkers and learners who make decisions about things that are important to them.
- Children to find out about more creative careers.
Over 110 of Rotherham’s 130 schools have signed up to be part of the creative learning programme to date.